The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-12-21

There were a few hard cases win
tering in the city that the Vigilantes
had driven out of Alder Gulch. One Of
these was Tom Duffy, who had killed
his man in Montana; but the despera-
does all had to go very slow in Salt
Lake City. In the winter Of 1868 there
were a great many Of us waiting for
h now to go so we could get back
to the diggings. Among the rest were
two young men from Wisconsin with
whom I became acquainted, and when
I told them I had been over the road
before, they wanted to come with me
I'VE grew very tired and anxious,
and about the first of February, 1854,
we concluded we would risk the trip,
though I knew it would be a hard one.
There were only two houses between
the settlement and Alder Gulch. I be-
leved I knew the road very well, but
the deep snow over the country changed
the appearance of everything. About
2 p. m. we decided to cross Bear river
and get over into the Marsh valley and
on to the foothills where I knew there
was a road and good camping grounds.
The place we headed for was eight
miles away.
l UASOSAAO VIC SoAA0 AAldhC C11dO Jul
camping ground the first night out, but
we ran into two and a half feet of snow
and could make it only half way. We
had to walk ahead Of the horses to
break trail for them. We saw nothing
but snow and s%agebrush. The boys were
scared and wanted to turn back. The
bowling of the wolves and coyotes was
frightful. I had a young, wild horse,
and we were afraid to go on for fear
we might lose our way. We tied QUIZ
horses to the sagebrush, shoveled snow
from the ground, spread our blankets
and lay there till daylight. The two
boys got in the blankets boots and all.
I took mine off. The next morning my
boots were frozen 50 hard I couldn't
get them on, and had to make the !
next camping place, about three miles, |
in my stocking feet. The snow was dry
and I was about as well off as If II
had my boots.
when we got to the camping place
made a fire and thawed out everything.
We put the horses on the hillside where
the wind had blown off the snow, and
there was good grass. We stayed there
until noon to let the horses feed. When
we started out we heard a lot of fell
lows talking below us. They had got off
the trail, and hol1ered to us to find
out whether we were on it. They we're
some freighters who had had to leave
their wagons on the other side Of the
range, and were trying to get their
stock through to the settlements. Ed
| Cardwell wa of them.
I'VE had to camp wherever the wind
| I0I h1N-n &I4 r4~-v ~ff @I@ m |
the horses could get something to feed1
on. That same night we camped on the
divide between Malad and Marsh valley
and it was so cold we came near freez-
ing to death. We got into a grove of
willows, cut down a huge pile Of them
and made a big fire. We made our flap |
jacks and had supper there. It was so
cold the horses would not go out to
feed, though there was good grass as
the wind had blown off the snow. We =.
took turns keeping up the fire, and
spread Dur blankets down on some of
the willow tops we had cut. We made
such a big fire that the snow melted
for some distance around us. When I
wakened in the morning the hair of my
head vas frozen to the ground, where
I had rolled partly off the blankets. We
stayed there two hours after the sun
came up to see If we couldn't get the |
horses to feed. We packed up and got
down off the range and into the Malad
valley.
I'VE travelled all day without stopping
and very late that evening came to al
knoll bare of snow, but without wood
or water, though there was plenty Of
sagebrush. We built a fire of sagebrush
and got our supper and lay down in our
blankets as we were. About IL O'Clock
we were surrounded by wolves and coy
otes. We were afraid they would at
tack the horses. The loon was bright,
we got up, packed and started to look
for the trail. The snow was not so deep
now, and I knew the lay of the coun-
try, so I managed to keep pretty close
to the trail. We got to the crossing of
Portniff river at daylight. Crossing the
river our packhorses got down and we
had to get into the water to save them.
We saved everything but our cooking
utensils, a fryingpan and a coffeepot.
I'VE got across the river where there
was a grove of dry c~ottonwoods. We
made a big fire, dried ourselves and
bedding and got breakfast. We made
u bread in the mouth of a flour sack
baked it on a shovel, and cooked our
bacon on wood skewers. We made a
hearty meal, at that.
I'VE found a bare place for the horses
and delayed a couple of hours, then
packed up and started out as good as
new"
Africa has , shortage Of autos.