Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-06-15

I Half a mile, perhaps, from the camp
/ of the previous night the leading team
| stopped. As the other teams drew ur
behind, its driver pointed to a ridge
ahead where, in silhouette against the
sky, stood Is or 80 mountain sheer
looking down at the teams lined on the
road. The two hunters climbed from the
rear wagon and moved carefully up 8
little draw leading to the ridge, at a
point above the band.
The occupants Of the wagons raised
the wagon covers and watched the
animals with as much interest as the
bighorns watched the wagons. The
Sirens two brothers, in the lead wag-
on, had their eyes fastened on the
big ram bringing up the rear. If the
men could only get himl Their eyes
popped with excitement.
Presently the two men were on a
level with their quarry. They moved
to ledge between them and the
rifles showed over the top of the
ledge as the hunters aimed. They saw
the bursts Of gray smoke from the
guns and heard the reports Of the
rifles reverberating from canyon wall
to canyon wall. But the big fellow
was not down. Instead, he bounded
over the ridge unframed, though four
fat young ewes were stretched in the
snow.
To say the boys were broken heart
ed is putting it mildly. They were
little appeased when told what poor
eating the old ram would have been
and insisted they could have eaten
him if the others couldn't
When dressed, the four sheep were
dragged down to the road and swung
along the sides of the wagon boxes,
where they soon froze stiff.
The old Malcolm Clark ranch be-
tween the two canyons Of the Prickly
Pear was reached nearly an hour be-
fore noon. The buildings were on the
gravelly bench about hundred yards
above the present highway, almost
directly across the stream from the
present railroad station of Sieben and
less than q quarter of mile from Big
Prickly Pear canyon.
It was here where Malcolm Clark,
White Lodge Pole, as the Blackfeet
first called him, and later changed
to Four Bears, settled in 1854, with
his Indian wife, a Blaclfeet chiefs
daughter and their half-breed children.
The son Of an army officer, trained
for while at West Point, Clark came
west in early life, mingled with the
Blackfeet and become man Of some
prominence in Montana territory. He
was q member Of the first board
Of county commissioners at Edgerton,
now Lewis and Clark county. AS mem
toned before, his death in 1869 at the
hands of the Blackfeet was the cul-
event Of the series Of atrocities
that led to the Marias fight. 1t would
seem not uniting If the site Of the
old buildings were to be marked by
at least q properly inscribed boulder
in memory Of romantic pioneer fam
lily.
As usual at any halt, the company
sought a sheltered spot in the willows
during the noon hour to escape the
wind. The horses were fed hay and
oats and given long rest. Again the |
Dutch oven was brought into action
and brought forth another batch Of
which went the same way as
those of the night before.
During the afternoon, the lower can
yon of the Prickly Pear, or the Big can
yon, as it was called, was traverSed.
It was an eventful afternoon for the
Sirens brothers. The teams had gone
but little distance into the canyon
when they encountered the mail wagon
from Fort Benton on q high, rocky
grade, where there was no room to pass.
The mail, of course, had precedence,
hllf there was nothing the drivers OF /