The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1935-06-28
OLD MINER WROTE
OF EARLY EVENTS
HENRY bosses EXPERIENCES IN
PIONEER DAYS MOST INTER-
ESTING TO LAYMAN
(By ALBERT ]. PARTOLL)

Henry Bose, a Montana pioneer of
1865, whose experiences in the ter
ritory until 1872 are described in his
manuscript, was at Last Chance
gulch in the early days Of mining
booms and vigilante activities. His
experiences and a~cquaintances in ter
ritorial days included a wide range
and his observations were made first
hand. Among his friends was Thomas
Francis Meagher, at one time acting
governor, and Of whom Bose says:
II attended a banquet that the min
ers and citizens gave to Gov. Francis
Meagher, at the st. Louis hotel. Had a
very pleasant evening. A very large
m G1o%e a a good impr sTaR; on mai ali. M ae %sS
a good looking man, fine speaker, very
g%entlemanly. A fine old Irish gentle
man, n of the very best kind, as my
partner, w. Cunningham, said. But
best of all, to me, he was a soldier; a
general in the northern army. That
caught me. I like him. We made a
long night OF 1t and some of us who
dulged too much stayed with it and
bid him 'Goodby' and Bon Voyage He
took the Benton stage to go on board
the steamer Northwest. It appears he
got to Benton, went ON board the boat
and that was the last Of that good man,
that was ever heard here"
Again speaking of Helena, Bose men,
lions that in the fire Of 1868 he received
a financial setback when a bakery in
which he had invested burned. On
Hangman's tree near Helena he once
saw two dangling figures a. the result
of vigilante justice.
Bose was a member Of the funeral
party" of Mike Flynn, which has gone
down in Montana history as a humor-
Gus episode in spite of its usual nat
ural decorum. In his manuscript Bose
says that while he was working in the
gold camps near Beartown, Mike Flynn
died and, in accordance with a promise
given him by his friends and partners,
Flynn was to have a Christian burial.
Bose sheds light on the entire event
with a few notes prior to the party.
He says:
zone of our neighbors, a good, young
cine helped him. We had the horse
doctor down from Beartown. He re-
lieved him some but he fingered on
and we all did our best for Mike Flynn,
who was a good fellow, and we'll ap-
preciated as a neighbor." Previously
he notes that I'VE generally cured any
sickness we had with mustang liniment,
Browns Jamaica giner, salts, quinine
or whisky. That cured anything"
WORD came that Mickey Flynn died.
A meeting was held and it appeared
that his partners had promised him be-
fore he died that they would bury him
by a priest and in consecrated ground.
Now the nearest priest and church
was in Deer Lodge. Mickey had been a
strict churchman. OF course, we all had
to go to the funeral, as it had already
been printed in a newspaper, for we
lost the corpse, but found it again. The
next day we all felt bad about this. But
the boys wanted to give Mickey an Irish
wake at Pioneer, near Gold Creek,
where a saloon was and of course they
overdid it. We had a great night of it.
Some Of the boys didn't get back for 5
or 10 days."
In the summer of 1870 Bose visited
Fort Benton and had a new expert
ence, when he accompanied a trader
Of Fort Berthold aboard the Nellie Peck.
Capt. Grant Marsh wa in charge of
the steamer. Bose said:
II had quite an experience for as we
got down the river we found an i'm
mense herd of buffalo crossing the Mis-
souri,. The boat had to tie up to let
the buffalo pass. As far as you could
see were all buffalo. We just sat there.
Occasionally someone would empty his
at some old fellow or young
one sticking in the mud. When all had
passed we went on, it was certainly a
great sight,"