Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1934-08-11

- N~~ 1880 AA1AA4[G III Vie HE4lh
One Of the road crew tipped him of
that when the boys came to a spring
a creek, waterfall or knoll that was
noticeable in the landscape, and. bore
no name, they would talk the matter
over and decide on q name, or one OF
the men would scrlbble his own name
on board, nail the board to a stake
and stick it in the ground When the
soldiers who patrolled the park came
by, they would make their reports and
include these names In their report
Later, official map-makers located
these points, and eventually official
markers we're put up.
It was something Of q joke among
the men; but It shows how difficult to
trace are the real origins Of certain
names. Legends, usually incorrect In
the end grow up and are accepted.
Bradley Springs, Ia the Fire Hole, got
its name when Steeple Jack Bradley
picked up a shingle and wrote his name
on it, while he YVES taking five" be-
tween topping one tree and the next.
Mr.. Bradley had his first experience
in airplanes because he was wearing
his peak the pointed cap sacred to
steeplejacks and chimney sweeps. @Are
you q high mani" the aviator asked
him, wanting someone for ballast In
the army plane he was trying out.
Jack liked the air 50 well he was on
the spot the next day, and every day
for the rest Of the week, and the avia-
tor gave him plenty Of thrills he is
somewhat deaf, and says that after a
nosedive Of several thousand feet he
found his hearing greatly improved.
steeplejacking in q Montana wind
can be almost as exciting as air stunt
ing. Bradley was painting the Nil
waukee stacks In Miles City, more than
20 years ago, when he felt the wind
rising and saw the dust rolling In the
distance. He was on the last fleet,
the strip Of paint from top to bottom,
and was hurrying to get through be-
fore the wind struck. Suddenly it
caught him, and swept him away from
the stack the whole length Of his rig
ging. A steeplejack does his painting
sitting In a boatswain's chair, and
always carrier a short rope, called q
hang-off, for use at the top. Jack
caught the hang-off, as the wind
slammed him back against the stack,
and took a turn around the guyline.
The wind was so strong that his weight
wouldn't carry his rope through the
blocks, and the engineer had to come
up ON the rood, to the foot Of the stack,
and pull Jack and his "bosn" chair
down.
Another time he was painting the
roundhouse stack at Billings. He saw
black clouds rolling up, and an electric
storm coming from the south. he beat
it down, and into the roundhouse. He
hadn't 10 feet to go from the foot OF |
the stack, but before he was fairly in
side, lightning struck the stack and
burned his rigging clean.
He was on the flour mill stack in
Bozeman when the earthquake of a !
few years past rocked it. For a minute
he thought he was back at sea, for
Jack has been a sailor in blue water,
and knows India and Africa and Eng
land almost as well as he knows Mon
tana. He spent two years with Buffalo
BIZ In Europe. and knew other Mon
taua cowboys who were with him:
Billy Bullock, Tommy Webb, Bill Pugh,
and wild Horse Harry" whom he re-
members By no other name. He knew
John Nelson, also author Of Fifty
Years OF Frontier Life Johns parents
had been killed by Indians when he
was q baby, and he had been adopted
81 the Pine Ridge Indians Of Dakota.
E1aey had stolen. and later returned
ID John, his fathers hunting knife.
John gave this knlfe 10 Bradley when
hey were both With Buffalo Bill Ia
.ondon, tn exchange for cane made
4 sharks vertebrae which Bradley had