Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-05-11

compare in beauty and grandeur with the
White Rock canyon. He adds. when the
light-draught pleasure steamers shall
take tourists from the National Park and
Three Forks to the Great falls of the
Missouri, travellers will admit that they
never enjoyed such treats Of scenery as
will reward them on the way
"The descent by rail and river from
the national park may hereafter be made
in a single day, If the time tables are
properly constructed" Here Is something
to be considered by the Chambers OF
Commerce in the towns along this route.
While camped at the Dearborn rivers
mouth, another band of mountain sheep
passed them-all of them ewes and kids.
None were shot. Below Flenniken's rip
pie. they entered the wrong channel-a
very dangerous II Only with the
greatest difficulty" records Mr.. Roberts,
did we succeed in getting the boat
urned by vigorous rowing sufficiently
near the shore for the bowman to jump
with the line. He succeeded, with the
aid OF others promptly extended, in
checking the boat as 1t rounded to and
we beached her not more than 20 feet
above one OF the worst boulders Of the
reef, where She certainly would have
been dashed to pieces had our motion
4lOI Null &t4NDhC0F LAlN9f IA o&ANtt w.
the most dangerous place in the entire
route.
Lots of Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes were plentiful at the Long
Pool. Here, to tighten the boat, Mr..
Barker and Mr.. Scott kindly offered to
walk and meet the boat lower 10y the
river across the bend The latter proved
to be five miles in extent. Just as l
expected" says Mr.. Roberts, land with a
certain degree Of malicious satisfaction,
I found our friends on the bank, after
an noun or more, frantically fighting the
clouds Of mosquitoes which had followed
them up by myriads through the under
brush"
Near here some men were engaged in
cutting hay for Fort Shaw, their horses
protected by coverings from their APP
parently insignificant foes. l observed
to the boss hat the mosquitoes were
very annoying on this part of the river.
Oh said he, this is nothing at the
same time bringing up his whisp that
he used as a hy-brush, and smacking his
swollen neck and pimpled forehead with
the fiat of his other hand. You ought to
(srnackl whackl) see the mosquitoes
(whackl smackl) in southern Illinois
where l (smackl whackD come from.
Early residents of Great Falls, who came
~ LlltIt WIFI WDS1QllDCS dllQ ldblltolldhGH
held undisputed possession of what is
now the townsite, will appreciate the
foregoing story. Men worked there then,
when able to work at all, with heads and
necks covered with mosquito netting, and
wore gloves.
The company camped for several days
at Sun river, While arrangements were
being made for the portage of the boat
around the falls. While this was being
done and later, a survey was completed
! for a railroad to connect with the future
I boats that would run below the falls.
One day, while engaged In this duty,
says Roberts. "a sharp and exceedingly
swift whizzing u was heard by all
the party, high overhead, which we
thought must have been caused by the
passage Of an aerolite through the air,
nothing of which was visible. Levi and
Clark spoke of a peculiar sound heard
most frequently in this neighborhood,
similar to that of a cannon fred at a
great distance to the southwest. We
heard 1t three times at intervals of about
Is minutes. Altogether there was some
thing strange in the coincidence.
Z Close to Rattlesnake
proportionately increased. Those were
saw a rattlesnake coiled in his blanket
t about six inches from the head of Mr.
Il Ddihtls wiz 10y tkltlt lCdQlllB. DOOlt
(, fished it out of the tent with a loop, and
chopped its head and tail off.
l On the little island that was once in
the river below Black Eagle falls, there
stood a gnarled and crooked tree In
which an eagle nested. The nest was
there when l came to Great Falls. Mr.
Roberts thought the top of the tree had
and records: when l first approached
the place, riding, n appeared on the
} bluff above 1t. an old eagle sailed out
) directly toward me and scared immedi-
ately over my head, so close that l be-
came almost alarmed for the safety OF
/, my hat. After a moments survey II
/ alighted on a jutting rock within a hun-
/, dred feet of me, where it remained, until
/, one Of the men coming up, discharged o
!, pistol at 1t before l could stop him. He
missed the eagle. AS l had q good OPP
%portunity to judge the age of the bird,
his feathers being soiled, and otherwise
old looking, I came to the conclusion
) that. probably he was the same eagle,
whose nest in the same position. on the
same island, was seen bv Lewis and Clark
in 1905" According to my recollection,
the eagle still nested on the island, and
in 1884 was seen by the surveying party
that laid out the ~neighboring townsite.
From below the Great falls, Mr.. Rob-
erts completed his journey by boat 10
Fort Benton. and the same year exam
= iued the Missouri from there TO Sioux