Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-12-24

five French-C Canadians, the greed Of
gold upon them; a little Indian girl,
loyal and faithful to her man, and a
reluctant guide. Each of them was
mounted, and they led horses laden
with supplies, generously provided by
the friendly tribesmen.
Up the divide they climbed, and down
the other side. The guide never hest
tated, though he had been over the trail
but once. Straight to the headwaters Of
the creek he took them, then down the
stream to the scene of the discovery.
AS they dug into the sands with their
fingers, five trappers went mad with
Joy. Never had they glimpsed such rich
deposits-the creek bed fairly cleaned.
Curiously, the two Indians gazed upon
their insane antics. Then the guide
c~omplacently reminded them Of the
agreement and stolidly turned his horse
once more to the north. They hardly
noticed his going. The girl-wife re-
NAMED, dreading the n Of the
hostile tribe with whose name her
mother had frightened her when a dis
obedient child, but staunchly standing
by her mate.
Weeks of frenzied work ensued. From
early morning till the dusk Of twilight,
the five men crouched by the banks OF
the stream, and In the rude dugout
which they reluctantly took time to
build in the hill side, buckskin bags
began to bulge with heavy contents. The
sands were unbelievably rich-the am
ateur miners became dizzy with dreams
of wealth come true.
Through 1t all, the Indian girl toiled
faithfully, preparing the mems meals,
even venturing into surrounding terri
tory to hunt for food. Her fear Of the
enemy tribe never found voice. It was,
though. constantly present. She knew,
from tales told about the camp fires,
Of the hostile Indians bitter hatred OF
~encroachers, of their merciless cum
ming in attack, Of their brutal delight
in killing. Many times a day she
climbed to a point of vantage and anx-
iously scanned the country, as far as
eye could reach.
At last, after two months Of labor,
there came an evening when the five
men talked in discouraged tones. Their
returns that day had been meager, the
sands they dug from the stream and
along its banks no longer glistened with
tiny particles of treasure. So complete
ly had the wild desire for gold con
sumed them that they could find little
consolation in the fact that they already
had secured wealth in fabulous amount.
They wanted more, and more, and
more!
And so. for a week longer, they dug
frantically along every foot of the creek
and its banks. Their efforts were fruit
less. The pocket was exhausted. Re
signing themselves finally to the inevi-
table, they loaded one horse with their
bags of treasure, another with their few
remaining supplies, and set out for the
camp of their Indian friends.
Against the advice of the maiden,
they took a different route for their
return, ever hoping to stumble upon
more riches. The new route took them
further into what was one day to be
known as the Big Hole basin.
1t was in the vicinity of the Big Hole
battle-ground, where many years later
the blood Of white men and red was
again to flow together. that the hand
Of vengeance descended In it's long de-
ferred blow.
Without warning, scores of madly
bowling Indians closed in upon the lit
tie party from all sides, their arrow
flying through the air as t~ragically &C.
curate messengers OF death. The little
Indian girl was the first to fall, NOR
tally wounded, from her horse. The
trappers had time to fire only a few
deadly shots from their muskets, Their
four of them, too, fell dead. The other
riding like mad, attained the compar-
alive security of nearby timber, but
only after several arrows had found
their mark in his body.
Badly wounded though he was, how
ever, he made his way to the camp Of
his Indian friends and told his story
before he died. The two youths who
as old men, told the placer miners the
tale OF treasure, we're in the circle thai
formed about the primitive death bed
Here the legend splits into two YER
slonS. One of the two youths distinctly
heard the dying man relate that HI
found the gold laded horse in the tim
Der, where he had bolted as the indians
attacked, and had, in spite Of his
wounds. buried the treasure. But tbs
other youth just as distinctly under.
stood the Inflated trapper to declare
that he had been unable to take thu
gold from the horses back. and so hac
driven him far into the forest as he re.
treated to the north. Both OF the coppel
hued historians, though, agreed tina
the animal had not been captured b