Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-12-03

ment1On-unleSS the head OF the enter
prise In which they were performed
was, like Stevens, a gentleman and an
appreciative one, they have not been
mentioned at all.
Pearson, the express rider, was a ma
tive OF Philadelphia. He is described as
small but well-knit, with muscles OF
steel and with spirit and endurance
that no exertion apparently could
break down; he had waving chestnut
hair, q fair high forehead, a refined
and pleasant face and the manners and
voice of a gentleman. 1t is a long way
from that description to the picture of
the lank, uncouth, buccaneering fellow
who is popularity portrayed as the sue
cessful pioneer and trail blazer, but this
man rendered to Stevens and to Mon
tana services which were invaluable in
character and incredible in extent.
Here is the tribute which Stevens pays
to him in the official report Of the ex-
petition:
Hardy, bold, intelligent and reso-
lutte, having a great diversity OF ex-
perience, which had made him &C
quainted with the relations between In
dams and white men from the borders
of Texas to the 49th parallel, and
which enabled him to know best how
to move, whether under the southern
tropics or the winter SHOWS of the
north, I suppose there has scarcely ever
been any mar in the service of the gov
eminent who excelled Pearson as an
expressman."
Pearson was still young when he
joined the Stevens expedition; he was
but IS years old; but he had seen
service as a Texas ranger, as a scout,
as an Indian fighter and as an express
rider, when he applied to the governor
for a place on the roster of the expe-
dition of 1855. He knew the frontier
from the Rio to the Columbia and
across to the Missouri-knew 1t not
specifically, but knew it well.
Pearson, accompanied the expedition
as far as the Walla Walla council. AS
soon as that councils treaty had been
signed, the rider was sent back to
Olympia with the records and the news
and was hidden to bring back whatever
there was at the capital which con-
cerned the governor. He had rejoined
the governor at He'll Gate and had
waited there for the conclusion of the
treaty with Alexander and Victor. This
done, he turned his horse westward
again and galloped off toward Olym-
pia. This wa July Is, 1855.
1t was August 81 when he reported
next to the governor, who was then
waiting at Fort Benton; Pearson this
time brought news that the western
country was quiet, that gold had been
discovered on the Columbia and that
the miners stampede to Colville was
the only unusual condition. In the time
between his departure from Hell Gate
and his reporting to the governor at
Benton, Pearson had ridden 1,750 miles
OF his performance, Governor Stevens
said:
Pearson rode 1,75O miles by the route
he took from the Bitter Root valley
to Olympia and back to Benton. His
riding time was only 38 days. He was
less than three days going from Fort
Owen to Fort Benton, a distance by the
route he travelled of some $50 miles
which he travelled without a change Of
animals, having no food but the ber-
ries Of the country, except a little fish
which he killed on Travellers Res
creek of Lewis and Clark, the morning
after he left Fort Owen, which served
him for a single meal"