davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02
AGENTS DISCUSS
INDIAN WORK
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IN SERV-
ICE MEET AT BOHEMIAN TO
DISCUSS PLANS

The annual conference for field
representatives Of the United States
Indian service was held at Montana
State college, June % TO rs, accord
ing to j. C. Taylor, director Of the
Montana Extension service. Field
workers of the service from Mon
tana, Canada, and Surrounding
states attended.
With the cooperation Of the Mon
tana Extension service and the facili-
ties provided by the State college, a
comprehensive program covering the
major lines of agriculture was pre-
pared. Some Of the more important
sections covered livestock, dairying
horticulture, field crops, poultry and
club work.
The livestock division of the pro-
gram was held the first day. This ses-
sion was held during the forenoon and
covered such subjects as livestock di-
seases, marketing and range manage
ment.
That afternoon the representatives
took up management, feeding and care
of institutional dairy herds and judg-
ing dairy cattle. That evening the
conference discussed the use of farm
chapters in putting over industrial pro-
grams with Indians.
During the next mornings session
the discussions and addresses included
vegetable gardens, potatoes, shelter
belts, alfalfa growing, summer falloW-
ing and weed control. The first part Of
the afternoon was taken up with field
crops for Indian reservations and irri-
CATION problems. General subjects
coming up for discussion the latter
part OF the afternoon were the max
ing and handling Of reimbursable loans,
workmen's work and flour mills on
reservations. Impromptu round table
discussions by the entire group and
consideration of administrative prob
lens was included in the evening pro-
gram.
Management of farm poultry f1ocks,
the Miles City school in range live
stock production, the Indian service
extension program, general informa-
ton about boys and girls All clubs,
and All clubs for Indian boys and
girls were the features of the closing
program On Thursday.
College faculty members who assist
ed in the program were DR.. Alfred At
kinson, president; DR.. Howard WEIGH
veterinarian; Ross Miller, livestock spe-
cialist; Louis Vinke, head of the ami
NAL husbandry department; j. O
T~retsven, dairy specialist; E. E. Isaac
extension horticulturist; Clyde Mckee
head of the agronomy department
Miss H. E. Cushman, extension poultry
specialist, and Charles Potter, state
club leader.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02
Hundreds OF Northern Montana Indians Died From the
Smallpox Plague; Disease Broke Out Among Them in
1887 When Mando1 Chief Stole Blanket From Steamer

tWenty-seven persons remained. and
n hundred and fifty thousand persons
persisted, and the details are too hor-
rible TO relate. Added to this, the few
whites were alarmed lest the Indians
should massacre them as the cause of
the evil. One influential chief at
tempted to instigate the Indians to
kill the whites, but was himself seized
and died before his plans could be
carried out, but in his last moments
he confessed his wickedness and eX-
pressed sorrow for it, and begged that
his body might be laid before the gate
until it was buried, with the supersti-
tious belief that if this we're done the
white man would always think of him
and forgive his meditated crime.
Under date of November 8, 1869.
General Sully, superintendent of Indi-
ans at Fort Benton, was informed that
no less than five hundred of the Gros
Ventres, OF one-half of the tribe, were
carried off by smallpox. To escape
the epidemic many of the savages
committed suicide. The bodies Of the
deceased were strewn along the road
from the Forks to Mix river, yet the
few whites in the district escaped the
more serious phases Of the disease,
those who were attacked being sub
jected to only a light variola.
Surgeon F. L. Town, U. S. A., in his
report for 1869, refers to the ravages
of smallpox thus: "A Catholic father
tRev. A. La Combe), who is laboring
with the Blackfeet Indians, gave me
the following statement of deaths from
smallpox in the Blackfeet nation
alone, from Dec. /, 1869, to May l,
1870: Men, 681; women, 378; and of
children, BAL. This gives a total of
i 400 deaths from smallpox in a popu-
lation of perhaps 1000 to 5000 souls.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

Shaw for government mules, MI. Con-
nelly saw the little fort where soldiers
had entrenched themselves in their at
tempt to keep the Nez Perces from
helping themselves to freight while on
their retreat northward in 1877. Near
this spot he found the skull Of a
freighter named Barker, who had been
killed the previous year by the Nez
Perces.
Mr.. Connolly came to Montana in
July of 1877, travelling on the Northern
Pacific railway as far as Bismarck,
N. d., and then up the Missouri by
boat to Fort Benton. AS he remembers,
there were no stations then from
Moorehead, Mimi, to Bismarck, the
sidings being identified by a~~nNmber.
At Bismarck he took passage on the
steamboat Red Cloud, and recalls how,
from the mouth of the Yellowstone
river on, a gauge IA used to determine
the depth of the water SO freight could
be put off if necessary to decrease the
vessels draft. The Red Cloud was
obliged to do this at Cow island and
later at the Coal banks, as Virgille
was then called.
In the fail of 1877 Mr.. Connolly
went back down the river on a fiat
boat to Eagle creek to cut pine knots
for steamboats,. This fuel made the
intensely hot fire needed in steaming
over the rapids on the upper river.
While in a long canyon about four
miles from the Missouri, looking for
pine knots, he came upon fresh bear
tracks in soft ground and at the same
time heard a rumbling noise, which re-
echoed in the rocks and steadily grew
louder. S%crambling to the top of the
cliff, he saw a great herd Of antelopes
winding down from the direction of the
Bear Paws. The long line strung out
from Eagle butte, four miles north of
the Missouri, across the river and
headed south for the HighwUod noun
tains. AS the leaders passed him, there
were still more coming from the butte,
eight miles away. Prairie fires had
swept the country farther north and
it was reported that they had burned
all the way from the Rockies to Min
nesota. The antelope were on their
way south for feed.
The winter of 1877 was even milder
than that of 1881. Mr.. Connolly cut
saw logs in the Belt mountains until
February and says there was not
enough snow to track a deer. In Feb
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

The younger members Of the tribe
suffered most, since many of the older
members had previously had the di-
sease. A famine fever (relapsing
fever, probably also prevailed in con-
nection with smallpox and increased
the mortality. The white population
has also suffered from smallpox to
some extent the past year Within the
last decade war and pestilence have
continued to accomplish the reduction
of the Indian race, so that now only
thousands remain to represent the tens
OF thousands who found plenty among
the mountains, and who were so near
their heaven in the Hills of the Set
ting Sun.
The Mandans
The Mandans, a branch of the Sioux
nation, and an offshoot of the Winnie
bagoes in 1640, were called the OF
chipwes, Wabash Mishidonagans, or
White Boards. From the earliest peri
cd in the history of the Jesuit mis-
sions in the West the Mandans were
distinguished from their brother Sioux
by their gray hairs, and their mud
wall and dug-out dwellings. On the
return of Captains Lewis and Clark
from the Pacific they remained a few
days at the chief village of the Man
dams, and took with them down the
Missouri the venerable chief of the
tribe, Big White. On April 25, 1907,
the chief was returned to st. Louis
from Washington, and sent home in
charge of Captain Ezekiel Williams and
twenty men. Once in the village, Will
liams failed not to notice the gray hairs
marked male and female, old and
young. This branch of the Sioux was
never very numerous. The epidemic
of 1887 reduced their numbers, as told
in the history of the dreadful disease.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

The meal over, he set out in his
wagon while the freighters resumed
their journey in the opposite direction.
After they had gone a few miles six
mounted police clattered past in n
of their red wagons. They returned
inc hour later with the mornings &C
quaintance as a captive. He was con-
victed of smuggling whisky and SEN
fenced to Is years at Stony Mountain
penitentiary.
And" added Mr.. Connolly, they
didn't get any time off for good be-
havior in those days, either"
Flour, sugar, coffee, ham and bacon
made up the greater part Of the load
hauled into Canada. Protected as well
as possible by huge canvases, it was
still almost sure to get wet.
II remember" says Mr.. Connolly,
unloading sugar with big tunnels
followed out in it by water that had
leaked in. They wouldn't accept freight
like that nowadays, but they had to
then"
In each train there were eight bull
whackers, the wagon boss and a night
herder. Each driver had one team, or
eight yoke of oxen, which pulled three
big Murphy wagons loaded with five
or six tons of freight. The drivers re-
ceived. $50 a month and board. They
took turns at cooking, a week at a
time. An average days journey COW
! cred 10 miles. Bull whacking was a
very literal term, for the drivers had
to- walk beside their oxen with a big
rawhide whip as the sole guide and
pcrsuader.
At Fort Walsh Mr.. Connolly first
saw a scalp dangling from the belt of
an Indian. When the drivers saw that
it was the hair Of a white woman the
wagon boss had difficulty In restrain
ing them from taking a shot at the
'red devils" Sitting Bulls band OF
Sioux were camped in the Cypress hills
near Fort Walsh at that time.
MI. Connolly purchased his first
buffalo skin at Fort Walsh, getting a
black head and tail robe for IS. Il
had my pick of 10000 robes in l. G.
Bakers warehouses;" he said.
On the return wagons were heavily
loaded with furs, most of them buff
falo robes, but also with many coyote,
marten, otter, bear, wolf and beaver
skins.
On another trip. this time to Cow
island for corn to be taken to Fort
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02
By MARGUERITE MARMONT)

~
Few residents along the 'high line"
in northern Montana remember that
country as far back as does Joseph
Connolly, who celebrated his 10Th
birthday at Shelby May S. Travelling
up the Missouri on the steamer Red
Cloud in 1877, bull whacking on the
Whoop-Up trail in 1873, mining at
Y0g0 and Barker, ranching on the
Shonkin, and riding the range over
much of Montana are experiences
he wildly recalls.
In 1873 there were no ranches be-
tween Fort Benton, then the trans
portation center Of all the upper Mis-
souri, country, and Fort Walsh and
Fort Macleod, mounted police posts in
Canada. During that year Mr.. Con-
nelly was employed on a ~freighting
train sent out by I. G.. Baker & Co..
which held a contract to deliver sup
plies to the mounted police. The road
from Fort Benton to Fort Macleod,
called the Whoop-Up trail, led across
Teton river to Ponderh springs SOUTH
east of the present site of Conrad,
across the Marias river at Fort Con-
rad, north to Rocky Ridge springs and
then forded Milk and ST. Mary's rivers
before reaching the post. Fort Con-
rad, on the south bank of the Marias,
where the present railroad bridge
crosses the river at Naismith, was the
only settlement on the route.
A. B. Hamilton was in charge of the
Baker trading post there. The set
Element" consisted Of a group of log
buildings about 100 feet long, including
a store, dwelling house, warehouse and
corrals. Mr.. Connolly tells of buying
a tanned deerskin there to be cut UP
into triangular peppers" fastened at
the end OF his bull whip.
When their train reached the al
kali fiat below the present site OF
Kelvin, the freighters saw the last great
buffalo herd In that part Of Montana.
Thousands of the great animals left
their northern feeding grounds in a
half-mile-w wide column, which took
seven hours to sweep past the wagon
camp on its way to the country around
the Bear Paws and lower Milk river,
where they were hunted extensively
during 1879 and 1880.
Another time on this trip the men
were Joined at breakfast by a stran-
ger driving a team and small wagon
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

ruary he cut wood to be burned for
charcoal, then used by blacksmlths. NO
sign of frost was found in the ground
when he dug charcoal pits. Rains start
ed in May and there was plenty OF
moisture all summer.
Later years were spent In mining
and ranching. In 1885 Mr.. Connolly
gained his share of "reminiscences Of
the cowboy artist. Charley Russell. He
rode with Russell that year and he
smiles now to recall how Charley kept
the boys laughing with his pictures.
jokes and witty answers. Mr.. Connolly
remembers Russell best in the garb Of
the Red river half breed-a big soft
hat with a rattlesnake skin for a band,
buckskin shirt, fringed pants and a
gay sash with loops and ends hanging.
Years later, when on a trip to England,
Russell sent pictures back home" to
illustrate his experiences. Once he
wrote that he had been presented at
court and had adopted court dress
Sure enough" chuckled Mr.. Connel-
ly, there was his picture in a full
dress suit and those sash ends hang
ing down below the coat"
Asked whether he had ever had
trouble with Indians, Mr.. Connolly
said they always treated him fine.
When the buffalo left the country
north of the Missouri, they went down
into the Yellowstone and the Piegans
followed them. The Indian trail ran
right by Mr.. Connelly's ranch on the
Shonkin, but they never caused him
trouble.
"One time I went to their camp to
trade some whisky for a pony" he
said. "As I got close to the tepees
an Indian came out and I told him
that I wanted a pony for the whisky
I had.
"'You stay here. I go see,' he said.
soon he came back with the chief,
White Calf, and an interpreter. I told
them what I wanted.
when White Calf heard, he walked
up and put his hand on M shoulder.
He wants you to go to your home
said the interpreter, and bring your
whisky with you. He don't want his
people to drink whisky. They might
do something bad
Trading whisky for ponies was q
common practice in those days but I
got to the wrong Indian that time
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02
(By JOHN X.

THE smallpox" Able Domenech
said, was first introduced among the
Indians in 1887 by the white men. In
the space of one month it carried of
from among the Riccarees, Assinni-
BONES, Grows, Mandans, Monctarees
and Blackfeet, twelve thousand per-
sons. The scourge spread consterna-
ton and despair throughout these pop
ulations. Many people, arrived at the
climax of agony, were seen to plunge
daggers into their breasts, others threw
themselves down precipices, or rolled
or the sand, uttering at the same time
most piteous cries; while others pre-
cipitated themselves into the cold
waters of the lakes or rivers, where
they met with their death instead of
the alienation they had hoped to find
from the internal fire that consumed
them"
The origin Of the dreadful plague
was due to the cupidity of a Mandan
warrior. 1t is stated by Topping on
good authority hat early In the spring
of 1887 the steamer Assinniboine ar
IltCQ az IOlU Old1h WILL SCNCld1 ldJCS
of smallpox on board. There an In
dian stole a blanket belonging to a
Waterman on the boat, who was then
at the point OF death, and took it away
to SOW the seeds of death among his
tribe, which caused his own death and
the death of thousands of his nation.
When it was known that he had taken
it, a benevolent person on the boat went
to one of the chiefs, told him OF the
fatal consequences that would follow,
and offered a new blanket and a re-
ward besides if he would have it re-
turned, but suspicion. fear or shame
prevented the man from giving it up,
and the pestilence broke out and be-
gan to spread among the Mandans at
first, to which nation the thief be-
longed. Most of the Indians were dis
tant eight miles from the camp killing
buffaloes for their winters food, and
a messenger was dispatched request
ing them not to return as the conse-
quence would be fatal. The Indians
sent back word that their corn was
suffering to be worked, and that they
would return and face the danger,
which they thought was fabulous.
Word was again sent them that certain
destruction would attend their return,
but all in vain; come back they did,
and the plague began in its most
malignant form, their habits and i'm
proper food making them a ready prey,
and a few hours sometimes terminated
the loathsome disease by death. The
Mandans were enraged because at first
it was confined to them, and they sup
posed the whites had caused it, and
saved themselves and the Rickarees
from the pestilence, and they threat
ened the lives of all the former, sup
posing they had a medicine to prevent
it which they would not give them
But by and by Ricarees and whites
died also; the disease increasing in
malignity hundreds died daily, and
bodies thrown beneath the bluff Gre
ated an intolerable stencil which added
to it's fatality. Men shot each other
when they found themselves attacked
One man killed his wife and children
and then loaded his gun, and, placing
the muzzle in his mouth, touched the
trigger with his toe and blew out hi
own brains. One young chief made
his friends dig a grave for him, and
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02
STATE RECEIVES
OLD GRAVE STONE
1874 GRAVE MARKER PRESENTED
TO MONTANA HISTORICAL IL
BRARY RECENTLY

An old blood stained slate grave
marker that carried the inscription
"In memory of ]. Roonery, killed
May, 1874" was presented to David
Hilger, librarian of the state library,
recently.
Old-timers of the Ringing vicinity
in Meagher county, believe that j.
RoOnery wa a soldier stationed at old
Fort Logan and was shot down by the
Indians while IN scouting duty. The
inhabitants relate the story that the
wounded soldier knew he was going to
die and carved his own grave stone
with a knife or bayonet.
No evidence of a grave or human
remains was found anywhere near the
place where the marker was discov-
cred. In the opinion of old settlers
of the area, the body of the old scout
may have been carried away by coyotes
or other animals.
The marker, a piece of slate cor
responding to the stones of the region
where it was found, is about one foot
square and one inch thick and weighs
from 6 to 10 pounds. Charles Rowland,
a rancher three miles south of Ring
ling, found the stone IL years ago on
his ranch and although he had in
tended to bring the marker to the his
torical library on several occasions, he
neglected to do so until recently.
I'VE will try to trace the name OF
Roonery in our files" MI. Hilger said
II have known MI. Rowland for over
30 years when he lived in Fergus
county and I know that his story will
bring further information about the
grave marker which he presented to
lis"
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh was the
9th man to make a nonstop flight
over the Atlantic ocean. Sir John Al
cock and Sir A. Whitton Brown made
the first nonstop flight over the At
lantic In 1919. This was followed by
81 men in the English dirigible, R-34,
and 1. 1924 the German ZR-3, now the
Los Angeles, flew wei from Germany
to Lakehurst, New Jersey, with a crew
of SO men aboard. Thus Lindbergh Is
the 67th.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

Smallpox nearly wiped out the
entire Mandan nation in 1887 and
the following spring. This dread
full disease was contracted from
the. whites. and. other. Indian
tribes were soon infested, being
exposed to the disease through
their association with each other.
This story is one of the most i'm
portant chapters in the history Of
the Montana Indians. Next week
Mr.. Standish will write about the
savage warfare in the Yellow
stone and Musselshell valleys,
where hundreds of whites we're
brutally murdered by the redmen,
many of whom were killing for
revenge, while others we're waging
a war against the whites for their
own gains.-The Editor.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

die of the loathsOme disease. The an
mails of pestilence do not furnish
other such example of horrors, or
where mortality was SO great in proper
ton to the population. Of the once
powerful tribe of the Mandans only
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

putting on his war robes, he tottered
out to it singing his death songs, and,
jumping in, cut his body nearly in
two with his knife, and was buried
there; and others committed suicide
after they were attacked rather than
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

A 16-inch gun for the fertilization
of the Panama canal hurls a ton Of
metal over 35 miles.
Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-07-02

Mars has white spots at the poles Of
rotation.
Imperial Valley press., 1931-08-18
NOTICE OF MEETING OF BOARD
OF EQUALIZATION IMPERIAL
IRRIGATION DISTRICT

NOTICE is HEREBY GIVEN that
the Assessor of the Imperial Irriga-
ton District, having completed his
assessment book for the year 1881
has delivered the said assessment
book to the Secretary of the Board
of Directors who now has it in his
office in the Masonic Building, Ell
Centro, California, where 1t will re-
main for the inspection of all per-
sons interested until September ]
1881.
The Board Of Directors acting as
a Board of Equalization of said I'm
perial Irrigation District will meet
to equalize assessments on Septem-
Der l, 1881, at 10 o'clock A. M. and
continue in session from time to
time thereafter as long as may be
necessary, not to exceed ten days.
exclusive of Sundays, at the office
of the Board of Directors, in the
Masonic Building, Ell Centric, Cali
fornia, to hear and determine such
objections to the valuations and as
sessments as may come before them.
BY order Of the Board of Directors.
T.. II. McIVER,
Secretary of ,he Board of Directors.
Aug 4-Sept. /, inc.
Imperial Valley press., 1931-08-18
NOTICE

Notice is hereby given that the
undersigned, Carlos Clements, oper-
ating under the fictitious name o.
Clements Repair Shop, Ell Centre
California. Will sell at public auc-
ton TO the highest bidder, for cash.
at 757 Main ST., on Tuesday, the
Goth day Of August, 1881, at p. IN.
of the said day the following au-
tomobiles; to satisfy lien for stor-
age, towing and repairs; under Sec
ton 5051 and 5052 of the Civil Code
of California; in an amount set op-
posite each automobile, which Is
now due and unpaid:
1921 Dorge Roadster, Motor No.
868986, towing and storage, $2l.00.
1928 Studebaker Touring. Motor
No. 50l94, towing and storage.
$74.4O.
1921 Dodge Touring, Motor No.
668349, towing and storage and re-
pairs, $59.00
1926 Flint Touring, Motor No.
6W142l2, towing and storage and
repairs, S63.50
1924 Chevrolet Truck, Motor No
140l49O, storage and repairs, $3.50.
1926 Ford Roadster, Motor No.
14332950 storage and towing, S24.i0.
1924 Hupmobile Roadster, Motor
No. R135747, storage and towing.
$3.50.
1922 Studebaker Coupe, Motor No.
towing and storage,
S23 so.
1928 Durant Coach. Motor No.
towing and storage,
$4,000
1926 Whippet Coach Motor No.
965055O towing and storage, s40.50,
10 Chevrolet Sedan, Motor No
5Oo88380 towing and storage, s9850.
1923 Flint Touring, Motor No
jW23l8, towing and storage. $500.
Dated at FL Centro. California,
his l4th day of August, 1891.
Alto CARLOS CLEMENTS.