Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1935-06-27

There was comfort for anyone
that evening or that night. The fire
was so big and hot no one could get
near enough to be warm.
The Indians say.
white man heap damn fool, makes
big fire, get long way off, cold: Indian
make little fire, get close, heap warm"
There is much truth in this and had
several smaller fires been used perhaps
less suffering would have resulted.
The night was little better than the
evening. Even with hot rocks in beds,
no one was warm and several of the
older mes lay awake nearly all night
and shivered.
When morning came the cold had
increased and the north wind still pre-
vailed. The teamsters deemed it too
risky to attempt crossing the treeless
benches between Sun river and the
Teton under such conditions and in
sisted on staying where fuel was plenti-
full until warmer weather.
Preparations were made for a day
or tWo's stay in camp. One man went
to a ranch two miles away and bought
a load OF hay, which the rancher de-
livered on a homemade sled. Others
added more brush to the w%indbreak and
extened it farther around the fire on
either side. Hay was spread on the
frozen snow between the windbreak
and the fire. On this the party loung-
ed in partial comfort. Tents were piled
deep with hay and beds made on it
instead of on cold snow as the night
before. Horses stood in the lee Of the
willows, ate and rested. That night
everyone was warm and slept sound
ly.
The following day was milder. The
north wind died away and light air cur
rents drifted from the southwest. The
sun sank in a roseate glow behind the
mountain range at the head OF the
Dearborn. The cold spell was broken.
Half IN hour before sunrise the next
morning the teams crossed the bridge
at Sun River crossing and turned
northwest toward the agency.
1t was a wonderful winter day, with
not a cloud in the sky. Across the
western horizon lay the mountains, a
great jagged white wall. Steamboat
mountain on the Dearborn and Cut
Rock on Sun river loomed in silent ma
jesty as they do today. Scapegoat, back
| farther in the main range, o white
| above its base wall of perpendicular
| cliffs. At the head of the South fork
| of Sun river, at the edge of the prairie,
| squatted Haystack butte. a volcanic
invader among the limestone. its lava
cone black against the white back
ground Of the mountains.
AS morning advanced to noon and
the sun was in the south, the air was
| SO warm occupants of the wagons rails
| ed covers on the sides toward the sun
and enjoyed its warmth. For the first
| time since leaving Helena they were all
really warm. The Siren, warm n
comfortable, slept most of the day in
preparation for his usual nightly con-
| cert.
A long, winding drifted ridge in the
| snow marked the road over the bench
| lands. Theirs were the first wagons
| over it, since the storm and the drivers
| found easier travelling beside the road
| than in the heavy drift of the road
| itself.
AT noon the horses were fed and
| given a long rest. A hot lunch was
prepared on stoves in the wagons. Most
of the party ate standing in the snow
beside the wagons.
With the approach Of evening, light
| clouds formed above the mountains.
| Wind driven now could be seen whirl-
ing across the distant ridges and hang
ing mist-like clouds in the lees of the
peaks. In the sunset light, clouds turn
ed to crimson; the drifting snow glow
| ed like smoke above many fires; a deep
roseate light bathed the prairie ON all
sides. Then the color faded and the
mountains lay in shadowy outline
! against a steely blue afterglOw.
That night, in the cleaning before
moonrise, camp fires and columns of
smoke along the Teton to the right o
the road told the travellers the loca-
ton Of the Blackfeet lodges. Farther
| along the square, the dark mass of the
agency stockade loomed in the dusk.
AS the teams approached it, lights ap-
peared in the windows of the block
| house nearest them. Gates opened for
the three wagons to pass to the shelter
of the stockade, where the new arrivals
received the warn welcome of friends
who preceded them earlier in the sea-
son.
Stockades were simple but highly eff
ficient Notifications much used by early
day traders in the Indian country as
well as by the military. They were
usually about 200 feet square, built d
logs set side by side endwise in the
ground and projecting IL to Ia feet in
the air. Around the interior Of the
Wdilor ANSb OSAOW it wy
ing platform was built. From this, in
case of attack, the defenders might
fire on an approaching enemy through
loopholes cut for the purpose.
At two corners, diagOnally opposite
each other, projecting, overhanging
blockhouses we're built. LoOpholes in
the two commanded the four sides of
the stockade SO the entire exterior of
the structure could be swept by the
rifle fire Of the garrison. A compar-
atively small force could defend a stock
AIDE against attacks of greatly superior
numbers armed only with rifles Of
pioneer days. Against artillery or mod
ern high power rifles, they would have
had little value.
The situation at the agency was SER
ious. When the Indians should have
been killing buffaloes, and drying meat
TIRED, WORN OUT,