The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-04-12
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Story of George Mace, Pioneer of Yellowstone River Valley,
Who Came to State in 1876, When Indians Harassed Settlers


VI "IllCIl Lldu UetIl cdGCAA oAA Ny WIZ
cattle close to the height Of the snow.
The threat of the cattle rustlers wa
met by the coWmen at a conference
held in the winter of 1928. Each
outfit delegated a man to represent it
at the meeting. It was decided that
where it was ascertained a rustler was
operating and he was apprehended and
proven guilty beyond a reasonable
doubt, the coWmen would see to it that
the rustler would no longer ply his IL
legal trade. Some trouble from the
Cheyenne Indians was experienced
when occasionally they would meet the
ranchers ON marauding expeditions.
Eventually the Indians became as
frightened as the white men and ap-
pealed to the soldiers for protection.
Mrs. Carpenter was one of the brave
women of the range. During the lat
ter part of 1880, armed with a Winches-
ter rifle, she fought off a group of In
dams when they surrounded her home
at Lame Deer. The Indians had killed
her 1~7-year-old cousin, Hugh Boyles,
one evening when he was driving the
COWS to the corral. The young mar
was visiting the Carpenter ranch from
his home at Burleson, Illinois. He was
said to have been killed by two Indians
who wanted to add glory to themselves
by taking the scalp of a white mar
when they departed for the Happy
Hunting grounds.
Mr.. and Mrs. 2. T. Cox were among
the early settlers who established their
ranch on Hanging Woman creek, be-
tween Ashland and Birney, Montana.
Mr.. Cox had been in Texas, and came
to Lame Deer with Major R. L. Up
shaw, Indian agent. Cox was the gov
eminent farmer on the Cheyenne In
dian agency. There were between 700
and 800 Indians at the agency in 1886
when Cox assumed his new duties. His
health was not of the best. He took
time out in the autumn of 1887 to go to
Gulf Port, Miss, and returned with his
bride, who was Miss Mary Beecher
! Roberts. During the winter Of 1886
81 she visited with her cousin, Captain
and Mrs. j. T. Brown of the Three
Circle ranch. For a year or two Mrs
Cox and Mrs. Brown were the only
white women living in the region be-
tween Ashland and Birney. Cox had
homesteaded on a quarter section OF
land. Mrs. Cox took 80 acres of desert
land, while her husband also acquired
another 80 acres under the same law.
In the summer of 1888 the settlers
experienced some trouble with the Pine
Ridge Indians. They had come to the
Cheyenne Indian agency on a visit and
refused to return to their own reserva-
ton. Major Sheridan was in charge
| &c thu froore of tho ornnpxy Tho uyhifc
people assembled in the large shed on
the agency grounds in which Major
Upshaw and his wife made their home
Red Cherries was the leader of the
Indians in the threatened outbreaks
which had for its objective the killing
of the white men. The settlers were
unarmed. An inventory taken showed
only two pistols in the hands of the
dozen or more settlers. Major Sheridan
undertook to negotiate with the In
dams to avoid a possible clash. Two
Moons, exercising an influence among
the Cheyenne, and other leaders were
persuaded not to modest the white set
tiers. The reward came in the form
of a feast served to the Indians on the
following day when the visiting Pine
Ridge Indians were sent back to theil
own agency. The uprising, however
was not quieted until after three white
men had lost their lives.
The presence Of vast herds of buf.
falo constituted one major obstacle tt
the rapid settlement of lands in thu
Yellowstone valley and its main trib
utaries, principally the Big Horn, Pow
der River, Tongue and Rosebud. S. H
Erwin, one of a party of 100 men, wom'
en- and children who left Minnesota II
May, 1886, with 100 wagons to search
for gold in the northwest, had occasion
to make some valuable observations
Gold operations in Last Chance gulcf