Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-12-20

TEDDY Blue" Abbott, who married Stu
arts daughter and who is frequently
mentioned in Russell's stories. was an
other of the roundup men. He and his
wife are still living at the old Granville
Stuart homestead.
When the steamer Butte brought the
Leavens up the river in 1881, they stopped
at the mouth of the Musselshell, where
wood-choppers, hunters and traders
lived. A few years later this place became
the rendezvous for gangs OF horse thieves
who infested the country until the cow
men cleaned them out in 1885,.
Five years later, Mr.. Leavens took a
herd of cattle to the mouth OF the Mus
selshell and urned them loose. The cab
ms in which a number of the outlaws
met their fate when besieged by cattle
men, were used by him as quarters for
himself and saddle horses. He spent
several months here alone and knowing
the stories of the place, 1t was a ghostly
spot to winter.
To add to his uneasiness just before he
left, Sitting Bull and his cohorts had
been threatening to go on the warpath
and it was feared that they would again
attempt to break through to Canada.
AS near the mouth Of the Musselshell
was a frequent place of crossing by the
Indians, MIR. Leavens fully expected any
day to find Sitting Bull and his Indians
coming into the neighborhood and he
put in more than one anxious day on the
lookout. Some time after Christmas, he
went up the river to Rocky Point, to see
If he had any mall and learned there
for the first time that Sitting Bull had
been killed about q month before and
that his fears had been groundless.
In 1894, Mr.. Leavens took the contract
for running the Lewistown to Billings
49, NJ III No. - Lot AntnR
having been split in two at that time.
The Fort Benton stage was established
by It. c. Power but was afterwards added
to the Gilmore and Salisbury lines until
the route was divided. The schedule was
81 hours in the summer and 80 In the
winter time.
One of the Concord coaches left Bill
lings every morning at z o'clock. Five
coaches were employed, two or four
horses being used, depending on the
number of people and the amount of
mail and express to be taken. While eight
passengers were considered a load, many
more were crowded in If the need arose.
Sometimes q passenger would be
obliged to ride on the boot and MIR. Leav-
ems recalls that once Lewis Lehweldt
rode from Billings to Lavina. lying on
his stomach on top of the coach. Travel
was often far from comfortable.
The coaches all carried a treasure box
in which cash and registered mail was
carried. These strong iron lock boxes
were more than once rifled by bandits
in earlier days, but although the drivers
were always armed, there were no hold
ups after the time that MIR. Leavens
took over the stage. During the winter,
sleighs were used over certain areas,
known as snow belts, where the now
was always the heaviest. Stations along
the route were at Antelope, six miles
beyond the present Action, Lavina, Hal
bert's ranch, where the change was made
at midnight, and Ubet. From Ubet, the
stage swung to Lewistown and back the
same day.
During the Cheyenne disturbance in
1896, in which q settler was killed, ex-
element among both Indians and whites
was for a time quite high. Governor
Rickard authorized the raising of q
troop Of go men, the first troop of volun-
teer calvary in the state, and Mr.. Leav-
ems was commissioned a lieutenant.
When the Spanish war came on, the
troop became the nucleus for troop M of
the Third Volunteer Cavalry, known as
Grigsby's Rough Riders. The outfit was
stationed at Fort Thomas at Chicka-
maugua. where they fought typhoid
fever instead of Spaniards. Mr.. Leavens
was first lieutenant In the troop.
During the Boer war, Mr.. Leavens