davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25
Blacksmith of the Old Days
HAS GONE to JOHN the D0d0
as Relic 0fthe Romantic Past

"DENEATH the spreading chestnut
tree the village smithy stands
was all right in its day and To-
cality, but it does not and never did
apply to Butte-not so far as it re-
lates to the chestnut tree. Nowadays
it does not even apply to the smithy
of the type described by the poet.
Twenty-Five years ago Butte had
To-day, with a half dozen exceptions
the great aux. The half dozen that
are left of all that goodly crew are
masqueraders. They are nearly all OF
them more concerned with matters
pertaining to trucks and automobiles
than with horses, wagons, harroWs and
ploWs, with horse-shoeing and tire
fitting.
Every town or city in Montana could
match the story OF Butte's blacksmiths
with only the number of blacksmith
shops varying with the size OF the com
munity. The flourish of the smithy
and this decline from popularity and
power is the same tale everywhere.
OF those old-time shops established
Is years ago only remains, the
Butte Carriage company which now
is really an automobile shop. 1t has
not turned out a carriage in 20 years
Another of the old-time shops was
that Of Cy Retallick, which is listec
in this years directory. Mr.. Retallick
died several months ago.
Auto Sounds Death Knell
The automobile sounded the death
kneu for the picturesque blacksmith
and horse-shoer of the earlier day
Not that the blacksmith himself has
become extinct along with the pub
lie service shop. On the contrary nu-
merous blackSmiths are still employed
In Butte. They are to be found about
the mines where drill sharpening is
still In vogue-the Hawksworth elec-
trically cast drill now threatens tt
cripple the drill-sharpening trade
and are engaged in the repair worf
required by the industries; but The
village" smithy, the horse-shoer, tht
tire-setter and general bellows pump
er is passing out of the picture. The
horse-shoer is already gone excep
around racing stables, 1t is declared
One OF the first to sense the passing
OF the blacksmith was Charles Miller
Miller was a partner in the Butte Car
riage Works. The firm was Christie
Gagner e. Miller. One day Charlie.
rolled up his cowhide apron and tol(
his partners that he was through. HI
had sold his interest to John Hurzle'
and was going to try his hand as
farmer and stockgrower over "in th'
Big Hole"
Charley Raises Beef
Christie and Gagner received tn
news with regret and with beconlni
gravity, but when Miller's back wa
turned they punched each Other il
the ribs with glee and whispered tina
Charley will be buying back into tn
business at the end of q year" Thu
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

of them old hands in Indian fighting,
were Immediately on the firing line
and posted themselves on a higher
point to the left of the guard where
they could fire into the TANKS OF the
assailants. The Indians were driven
pack but came again in greater num-
bers.
Attack Causes Confusion
At first, there was confusion in the
camp, but the troops and infantry
battalions speedily fell in line in the
company streets. Captain RaWn, COM
mander of the infantry, reported to
Major Baker and found him still in
bed and refusing to take the attack
seriously. He finally directed Rawn to
hold the men in camp but Rawn de-
ployed two of his own companies be-
low the camp and facing the thicket
where the Indians who had crossed
the slough were still in ambuscade.
This action as we'll as the hardness
of the Indians in attacking from this
side, probably saved the command from
a serious disaster. AS bullets we're fly
ing freely, the rest of the command
was ordered to lie down in the COM
pany streets.
In the meantime, Captain Thompson,
the officer of the day, had succeeded
IN impressing upon Baker the need
of more energetic action and Lieuten-
ant Hamilton with 30 men was sent
to support Logan and the prospectors
whose fire had caused the Indians in
their front to draw off to a safe dis
lance. More soldiers were speedily de-
ployed until a line had been flung
around the camp.
AS the light of morning came, the
Indians concealed on the island, be-
1ieving that the attack from the land
side had drawn the soldiers away from
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25
Weather by Radio
From Falls, Butte
Stations Planned

Location Of a department of COM
merce radio station at Butte as n OF
a chain on the Great Falls-Salt Lake
airmail line, is contemplated, AL Frank,
president Of the National Parks Air
ways. said at Butte recently. The ra-
dio station at Butte and others prob
ably at Salt Lake, Pocatello and Great
Falls, would keep pilots informed OF
weather conditions and would give i'm
mediate check in arrivals and depar-
lures of all planes.
The department of m has
already leased ground for beacons for
night flying, Mr.. Frank said, lighting
Of the first leg from Salt Lake to Po-
catello to be completed by Oct. Is.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

for the protection of surveying parties
in determining the route of the railway.
Knowing that the building of a rail-
way would precipitate trouble with the
Sioux and Cheyennes, the government
for several years evaded the agree
ment.
First Railroad Survey
In 1871, a small survey party was
given an escort of a troop of cavalry
under Captain Ball. They started from
Fort Ellis near Bozeman and worked
down the Yellowstone river. The sur
veyors got as far as the mouth Of
Pryor creek, a short distance from
where Bakers battle was fought the
next year, where the work was
abandoned before the starting of Sc
we're weather.
The next year plans for a more
elaborate and ambitious survey were
decided upon, with a view of complet-
ing the preliminary lines across the
country infested by hostiles. One party
was to go up the Yellowstone from
the east while the other was to start
from Fort Ellis again and pick up the
survey where it had been abandoned
the year before. The survey from the
east only got as far as Powder river
that year.
Col. John Gibbon
Colonel John Gibbon, who after
wards o o an important part in the
campaigns of 1876, was in command
of the district Of Montana and he was
assigned the duty of gathering together
the escort for the surveyors. A larger
force was thought desirable than on
the Ball expedition as the work would
take them beyond the Crow country
into a region Of hostile tribes. Colonel
Gibbon assigned a force of 400 men
for the purpose, consisting of COM
panies c, E. G and 1 of his regiment,
the Seventh infantry stationed at
Fort Shaw and troops F, G, H. and L
of the Second cavalry at Fort Ellis.
The two attachments marched from
their forts to the Shields river, near
the big bend of the Yellowstone in
the present Park county, which had
been determined upon as the rendez-
vous and where they were joined by
the surveying party. headed by Colonel
Hayden.
In command of the troops was
Major Eugene M. Baker Of the Second
cavalry. Baker had won quite a repu-
tation as an Indian fighter in Oregon.
Transferred to Montana, he was put
in command of about 500 men who
were sent to chastise the Piegans at
their winter quarters on the Marias
river for their failure to turn over five
murdererS of a family of settlers.
Marching in the dead Of winter in
January 1870 with the thermometer 40
below zero, Baker surrounded the
camp and poured in a deadly fire.
1t was estimated that 173 savage war
riors besides SO women and children
were killed and 300 ponies were cap
tured. Bakers attack brought a storm
about him in the east because of the
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

idea of a blacksmith s~tockgrower was
really too much for gravity.
Last year the Miller Development
company of which Charley Miller, the
blacksmith, is the head, sold $54, 900
worth of beef in one shipment. The
narrowing of the field of a blackSmith's
activities made a successful cOWman
out of Charles Miller.
What became of other blacksmiths
who were crowded out by the autOmo-
bile? Alex Gagner went into the orrla-
mental iron work business. John Hurz-
Ter went into lines connected with
automobile work. Another Smithy has
taken up the business Of repairing and
selling auto springs. Many Of them
ceased to be shop owners and obtained
employment in the large industrial
plants while others like Miller have
turned their attention to other pur-
suits.
In 1903 the only gas company in
Butte was the Butte Light 81 Heat
company. There was not a single auto
garage in the city. The city directory
carried nearly $4,000 names and the
population was estimated at about 61,-
600. The blacksmith shops were in
their glory with the streets full of ore
wagons, trucks and light delivery We
hicles with a dozen livery stables to
be looked after.
Many Shops Year Ago
The list of names of the shops OF
that day embraces many of the we'll
known citizens of Old-time Butte: The
Butte Carriage Works composed OF
Christie, Gagner and Miller and, later
on, Hurzler; Evengeliste Cote, Dan
Elgie, H. Gilbert, Hennessy Brothers,
Hopper and Graham, Charles w.
Lane and company, Mcdonnell and
Egan, George Martin, Packard and Tip
pet, Fred Pfau, Cy Retallick, Rundel
and Bate, August Sjoberg, Smell and
Alix, and Stoneberg and Dubois.
The tables are turned-the black
smith shop has given way to the
march of progress They have been
succeeded by the garage.
Today there are listed 80 repair
shops, 20 gas stations, 20 garages and
more than IS businesses hat are di-
rectly connected with the automobile.
The shops listed as blacksmith shops
are: Butte Carriage Works, Carl Ege-
berg, j.. j. Harrington, Allan Mcleod,
M. J. Mullen, T. G. Murphy and Cy
Retallick. The population is estimated
to be 62,416.
The modern critic declares that the
line about the modern smithy stand
ing around under a spreading chest
nut tree is largely bunk. Blacksmiths
do not like to stand around" That's
why they have abandoned the village
smithy for the village garage, have
betaken themselves to the mines or
have gone to growing stock.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25
Chinese LOue of
Fine Furs First
Started Trade

FAD affected by fat, long nailed
l Chinese mandarins sent the first
4 pell nell scramble of European
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

A FAD affected by fat, long nailed
n Chinese mandarins sent the first
"A pell nell scramble of European
merchantmen to the shores of the
great northwest. The sleek and glossy
fur of the sea otter was the magnet
that drew a flotilla of hunters from
nearly every nation in the world.
After 100 years or SO OF haphazard
expeditions to find the tabled north
west passage from the Atlantic to the
Pacific, a group of Russians discovered
the fur bearer.
Wealthy mandarins in northern
China at that time were in the throes
of a fur fad. They valued the pelt
Of the sea otter so highly it is re-
corded, that a wife or two was paid
willingly for a few furs, and some
went SO far as to pay 81 900 for pelts
enough to make a suit Of clothing.
Others were willing to barter a fortune
in silks, spices, ivory and other COM
modities for the skins. The traders,
in turn, peddled these wares to the
nations Of Europe for q handsome
profit.
Although Russia first opened the
fur trading, other countries were not
slow in expanding commerce to the
northwest and in a few years the
Wy WOO H. Ny q otdlllpCON LA
would put a first class gold rush to
shame. Out of it grew great business
establishments.
In this mad rush for gold through
pelts, empires were established and
others threatened with destruction in
the crazy hunt. AS soon as the market
in China was glutted, fur madness
seized Europe in a grip that holds it
to this day.
Through the entire struggle for the
supremacy of the industry, the north
west was the center upon which the
eyes of most of the civilized world Of
that time were focused.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

notably Logan, Rawn, Reed and
Thompson and of the p~rospectors I'M
der Lieutenant Jacobs, a serious dis
aster would have befallen the COM
mand.
After the battle, the camp was
broken and the march was resumed
down the Yellowstone. They reached
the neighborhood of Pompey's Pillar
on August 20. Friction arose between
the surveyors and the military forces
A%fterward, the officers claimed that
Hayden after the battle was in con-
slant apprehension OF another attack
and insisted on changing the route
while Hayden sought to fix the blame
IN the lack of cooperation by the SOL
diers. AT any rate, the Yellowstone
survey was abandoned and the COM
mand marched north to the Mussel-
shell river. From that point, the sur
vey was continued back toward the
west along the Musselshell river.
Survey Finally Completed
On September Is, the expedition was
abandoned, the soldiers returning to
their respective posts. The next year,
General David Stanley, with a force
Of 1000 men with General George
Custer in command OF the advance
guard, came up the river, fighting
several battles with the Sioux and COM
pleted the preliminary survey by cover
ing the remaining ground as far as
Pompey's Pillar. They also made a
detour to the Musselshell and then
retraced their steps down the Yellow
stone. 1t was not, however, until eight
years later that the final surveys were
made and construction of the road
along the Yellowstone begun. BY that
time, the power of the opposing Indian
tribes had been crushed.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

tile Indians n
gagged in it. Per-
haps its chief re-
suit was to black
en- the military
reputation of the
officer W h 0 S e
name it bears and
who only a short
time before had
o fame in n
other Indian fight.
The government
had agreed as
part of the COM
pact for the build
ing of a transcon-
tinental line by
the Northern Pa
cific railway COM
pany to furnish
the needed troops
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25
lRY w. Ill. RANEHLl

EARLY maps Of Montana territory
II before there were many settle
ments in the Yellowstone valley,
frequently showed a few miles east of
where Billings is now a place marked
Bakers battlefield. The battle which
Is thus concentrated was not one of
a large force OF troops nor of hos
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

Manufacturers are now making many
helpful machines and tools for the
home and the kitchen that will save
time and labor.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

Cook County hospital, Chicago, will
establish a cancer research laboratory
to study the disease.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

Germany is shipping II 900 tons Of
furniture a year to other parts of the
world.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

OF the SO commercial minerals, As
are found in the state of Georgia.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-07-25

Hungary has only about 100000
unemployed.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-02-14

Why such apparently unwarranted treatment?
Simply because the average person isn't interested. There's
so much of that stuff comes thru the mail, ETC."
Now this isn't a TRADE against direct by mail advertising.
The firms who advertise by this method are not extravagant.
They get returns or they wouldn't spend the money.
The point we wish to emphasize is simply this:
YOU SELDOM, IF EVER, FIND THE HOME TOWN PA
PER IN H O OFFICE WASTE PAPER BASKET.
The home town paper is taken home and is read by the
whole household Its typography and rhetoric may suffer
tragcally when compared with that of the thigh pressure
pamphlet, but it has a direct appeal which attracts at once
the interest of the home folks.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-02-14
A air Proposition

The post office waste paper basket is a graveyard of
wasted effort.
Several times each day the post office janiter empties that
bulky receptacle of its contents.
Trash?
Yes-and No..
The major portion of the baskets contents is the highest
priced product of some of the foremost printing offices of
the country.
Commercial artists, engravers, and ad| writers of national
repute have all contributed their best efforts toward the pre-
paration of these booklets, pamphlets and catalogues, that
receive scarce a glance from the people who receive them
and find their ignoble end in the post office waste paper
basket.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-02-14

We Advise Advertising in the Home Paper in Pref
erence to the Direct By Mail Method
For the Above Reasons
An ad in the nome paper not only bring bgse returns but is far more economical
I'M and adheingm are also tens of expense which are not to be overlooked The 1d-
vHting literature ako costs money tut even it cam free of charge the. advertiser
would get far greater reMnsfp from what he paid in newspaper advertising than he could
epeuh from the bt type of pamphlet BOOKLET or pMr printed
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23
Riddles.

On some of these warm days IL takes too
much energy to do anything strenuous, but you
can always find q comfortable place to lounge
and there try TO guess Q few riddles. These
aren't too hard for the hottest day.
/. what is 1t, though black itself, enlightens
The world?
g When is sugar like pigs tooth?
g. Why do British soldiers never run away?
4. What is 1t which divides by uniting and
unites by dividing?
5. Why Is proud girl like music book?
ANSWERS.
1. Ink. 2. When in a hogshead. 3. Because
they belong to the standing army. 4. The
scissors. 5. Because she's so full of airs.
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23

to his cheeks. Was he going to let q girl
beat him love game? He took her service
and dropped it far back In her back corner
racing into the net Immediately. Madge
pounced his shot and lifted q gentle lob
that went over his head and landed an inch
inside the base line.
That's game" said Madge, and as she batted
the balls over to him, she finally smiled. You
see. I took advantage of that hint you gave
me about being weak on lobs," she said.
Dawes only answer was grunt. He thought
he had detected smiles ON the faces of some
of the spectators. Did they think . girl was
going to beat him? His mood was positively
savage as he prepared to serve. Let's see what
she could do with some real speed!
He put everything he had into his first serve
but he was angry, and the bali was out. His
easier second serve was just to the girls liking,
and she drove it back deep and hard. Dave
returned the ball to the far corner. but Madge
was there, and again low, whi4zing drive
came back to him. Again he returned, this
time TO the other corner, but she was across
the court like flash. He was all set for
another deep drive, but she crossed him with
q soft ball Just over the net and the point
was hers
Dave forced the game to deuce only to lose
1t, and the score was two love against him. BY
this time he was not only angry but bewildered
Who was this Madge Olney? She played like
a champion, but he had never heard OF her.
Beneath his resentment, which was famed by
the evident delight Of the spectators, was q
feeling Of reluctant admiration for his opponent.
She was good, and there was no denying thatl
In fact. she showed about the best tennis that
he had ever played against.
But Dave was not beaten with only two
games Of q set gone. Doggedly he settled down
to tire the girl out, driving arst to one corner.
then to the other, making her run and run
for every point. But always the bali came back.
low and sure, and when he went to the net
for kill those perfect, tantalixing lobs dropped
over his head.
The set was wonderful fight, but the end
was inevitable. After desperate rally, Dave
tied 1t at four ALL but Madge put on a burst
of speed and ran through the next two games
to win Ga. wild burst of applause came
from the spectators as they walked toward the
bench.
Had enough9" said Madge with low smile.
Dave saw red.
"If you want to play q couple more, I'm
ready" he barked.
more, more!" cried several of the onlookers,
and they changed courts to continue the battle.
AS Dave passed Betty, he paused for moment
TO glover at her.
Say, what did you get me into anyway"
he asked angrily.
Betty's smile was full of triumph. "She's
just poor weak woman, Daveyl" she Knocked.
But she's been playing with some of the French
stars, and winning lots of tournaments over
there. Just try to take your medicine like
man."
Dave prepared to receive Madge's first serv-
ice in daze. He had been trapped, and now
he was to be Inundated before the whole resort
And his sister had done it,!
To Be Continued Next Week
Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-23

Try these two word chains Be careful that
each new word formed by changing one letter
at time Is a real dictionary" word.
Change SAND to PAIL in three moves.
Change BOAT to DOCK in five moves.
j.
I am q three-letter word and I am very
cold. BY putting different letters In front OF
me. become small animals, cereal and
pleasant Can you guess me?