Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-01-13
PARTY of Five Mem Narrowly
Escaped Death by Indians ON
Yellowstone River i'm 1865

munition. Still keeping up a rapid pace.
for they were not yet out OF dangerous
territory. the three pressed onward ar
irving at the canyon Of the Yellowstone
June 10. after a journey of four days.
On leaving the canyon. their provisions
consisted almost entirely of q quarter OF
antelope; limited fare for the company
during their four days race for life. Evil
IDENTIFY there we're supplies stored at the
canyon. where the boats were built, as
nothing more was said of the three suf-
fering from hunger after they reached
this point.
Bower. although badly wounded, re-
gained his strength sufficiently to follow
the others, whom he joined % hours
after they reached the canyon.
Colonel Smith. who was killed in this
encounter, went through the Civil war
without being wounded, although he
fought at Pittsburg Landing and at the
taking of vicksburg. 1t was his fate to
meet death not at the hands of one Of
his own race, but from the bullet OF an
Indian.
Tribes Are Aroused
BY the year 1865 our more intelligent
Indian tribes were becoming thoroughly
aroused, n preparing to cooperate In
war against the whites. This was no
more than any civilized people would
have don n under similar circumstances
Steadily they had been pushed westward
by the invading white men until on the
Custer battlefield n in the Bear Paw
mountains, they made their last stand.
They fought in a literal sense for home
and country. The lands given to them
by innumerable treaties was taken from
them if 1t found favor in the eyes of
enough of the invaders to influence gov
ernmental action in their behalf. Now,
the country granted to them in per-
petuity under solemn promise OF our
government, was Don to be taken from
them. 1t is not surprising that the Indi-
ans, rendered desperate by this treat
ment, should feel perfectly justified in
killing any members OF the white race
they CHANGED to meet, whether these
were hunters, trappers, miners, emigrants
or settlers, If they had ever shown any
computations of conscience at such
butchery.
This was the Indian side of the ques-
ton. AS for the invaders, they believed
the Indian, like the negro, had mo rights
a white man was bound to respect" and
what they wanted they took regardless
Of treaties, which were no more to them
than scraps of paper to be thrown into
the wastebasket. when the occasion de-
manded it. They were going to farm
along the Platte. dig gold in the Black
hills and other western territory, and 1t
behooved their rulers to get busy and
provide troops for their protection. These
westward trekkers bore the emblem of
progress. and they refused to be turned
back by any barbarian hords.
In considering the situation after the
lapse of over go years one cannot but
vision what might have CHANGED here, II
our northern Indians had united with
the Sioux to make common cause against
the residents Of Montana territory. Its
vast expanse showed but a few stray
CLING settlements and a comparatively
small number of ranches. Notwithstand-
age and greater military ability Of the
pioneers, it is nevertheless certain that
without organization, which in this case
would have been impossible, there might
have ensued a massacre like that OF
Minnesota.
Little ear of Uprising
Our people were beginning to realize
this, at least those who best understood
Indians; but on the whole there was lit
tie fear of an Indian uprising until after
the Marias massacre. Most treated the
subject as a Joke, as we CLEAN from this
letter written Feb. IS, 1865, from "Silvel
Bow City" to the Post:
Considerable sport was occasioned
this morning by a notice signed g. B. G.
advising every one in Deer Lodge to look
we'll to their firearms. as hostile indians
were lurking in the vicinity, in proof OF
which the author asserts that a man who
had bin eight years among hostile In
dians had seen signal lights burning or
a high peak to the southwest of this
place on the night Of the 18th instant
and warning all to be on their guard Al
we are liable to be attact at any nc
ment.'"
1t is just possible the inhabitants Of
Silver Bow City q few months later might
not have INDUCED in undue hilarity ovel
such q notice, regardless of its spelling