Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-04-02


an English lord with his valet, and
with baggage galore, who had been
hunting in Canada and the Rocky
mountains and was on his way to Bis
marck to take the train for New York.
There were also some carpenters who
had been employed in the construction
of Fort A~sSinniboine.
The trip was slow and sometimes a
day or a night or even longer was !
spent in pulling over some sandbar or
rapids. The chief excitement was in
running into punches of buffalo, some
times as many as 500. The buffalo in
variably ran down the river to cross in
front of the boat. The engineer IA
obliged usually to stop to avoid running
into them and the men had great sport
shoot them. The boat would then stop
and one or more buffalo wa skinned
and the best of the meat taken on
board to eat. At one time, the pro-
visions ran short but another boat was
met which supplied them with provi-
sions enough to get to port.
At Poplar river the boat was stopped
Ou1 kOVcllllllCllU OlQClo W ~ NAdJOA
Guido Ilges in crossing over the Mis-
souri, with his cavalry command OF
500 men. 1t was necessary to wait
three days for the command, which
had come across from the forts on the
Yellowstone to be quartered on Poplar
river.
Major Ilges told them that he had
come by Sitting Bull and a thousand
of his Indians and there was little rest
or sleep for fear of being attacked. In
fact, few on the boat felt secur until
they were we'll on their way down the
river again. Frequently the Indians
could be seen, signalling with signal
glasses whose flashes could be observed
from point to point. 1t took two days
to cross the wagons and other ac-
coutrements of the force across the
river.
While they were there, Chief Gaul
came on board and would sit on the
guard of the boat. Once he came by
Mrs. Woolfolk's door and looked in
and motioned to her. She was badly
frightened but when he came the Sec
ond time, he made known to her that
he wanted some ~"f1re-water." When
she refused, he said that he was heap
sick" and that if she would give him
just a small drink, she might have his
signal glass. AS the glass was quite
a souvenir, the bargain was made and
the chief got his whisky and Mrs.
voolfolk, the glass. At that time 1t
was required that the boats landing
, at Indian reservations had to seal the
barroOm and the chief knew he could
get none there.
In recalling the trip, Mrs. Draper
says that views of the upper Mis-
souri, as seen from the boat were
among the most beautiful that she has
ever seen and that it seems unfor-
tunate from that standpoint that the
river traffic came to an end. One
place in particular impressed her; a
tall rock high above the mountains
surrounding and a few feet from the
top a large perfectly round hole which
was known to the rivermen as the
Hole in the Wall. The hole was so
perfect that 1t seemed hard to imagine
that it was from nature and not made
by hand. A traveller from New York
once said to her, II could travel every
year up this river and enjoy the
scenery. / have travelled all over the
world and have never seen grander."
In 1882, she again came up the river
when Captain voolfolk and his brother
Frank were In charge OF two steam
boats which were sent to the Yellow
stone by the Northern Pacific to aid
In building the railroad. One of these
was the F. Y. Bachelor, an old river
boat of the Coulson lines, named for
the deceased brother Of Of the
eastern partners. 1t was purchased
by the Northern Pacific at a time when
the river companies, seeing the end Of
their business, we're glad to dispose Of
them.
The other boat was a tender, espe-
: cially built for the railway company
E and called Northern Pacific No. 2. This
boat was used by the bridge men at
S the crossing OF the Big Horn. The
Bachelor carried freight from near
: the mouth of the Big Horn to Fort
Custer OF two trips. She also carried
| freight from the end of the tracks to
Huntley and Coulson.
L., OiC VI VIC pdooCABtIS III uIc way
up the Yellowstone was Heman Clark.
who was interested in various con
struction projects Of the Northern Pa
+ cific. He told the captains wife Of
the plans for a street railway at Bill
lings, rails for which we're brought up
on the boat. On board the boat, we're
: also some purebred bulls which were
being shipped in by Granville Stuart
| for the DIS outfit on the Musselshell.
} On one of its up-river trips, the boat
|, brought down TO rail transportation
the last 500 bales of buffalo hides TO
} be shipped from that section.
A trip OF about once a week was
taken as far as Coulson with supplies
for the Winstons who had the track
! laying contract. Army supplies were