Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1935-11-30

he started until the girl had vanished
behind a butte Meanwhile, in his fit
Of joyous abstraction, he pulled his
team farther and farther over toward
the edge of the trail, until he, wagon,
horses and all, toppled over a cutbank,
pinning the Iove-struck George under
the wagon. Back in camp the boys be-
came worried about him. Night fell
and no George. Morning came and still
George had not returned. Maybe he'd
been held up by road agents. Maybe a
Redskin had got him. Finally some Of
them rode out in search of him. They
top of him. Excited and troubled they
began the difficult task Of extrtcating
him, al the while pummeling him with
questions.
How did 1t happen, George? Did the
team run away2 Are you hurt2"
Then George looked up, q dazed ex-
preston of great joy on his face, and
murmured, IN a weak, dreamy voice:
She had brown eyes"
Those of us who prefer happy end
ings to our love stories will be glad
to learn that George later married the
girl.
One of the oldest and most justly
famed of Montana's cowboys is Teddy
Blue who lives on his ranch-Three-
Deuce ranch-near Gilt Edge. It was In
1888 that he came up from Texas, rid
ing herd, and liked Montana so well he
never went back. On the trip, Teddy
says, the cook died, and they were
faced with a serious dilemma. The herd
boss tried his hand at the Job Of feed
ing bunch Of hungry cowpunchers
but the attempt didn't tend to strength
en- his popularity Finally In despera-
ton, he demanded: which one Of you
boys can c0ok?" Teddy said: II can
cook" The herd boss heaved q sigh of
relief can right" he said Get busy.
And so Teddy went over to the chuck
wagon to reconnoitre. He found plenty
OF bacon, flour, sugar and hardtack,
everything TO get meal, but no wood
to cook It with. On the vast, treeless
plains there wasn't stick 10 be found
anywhere. But Teddy wouldn't admit
defeat. He put his bacon into a pan,
set fire to the dry, prairie grass, and
held his pan over the blaze. BY the
time the bacon was fried, Teddy assures
us solemnly, he was II miles from
camp.
Life was highly colored for cowboys
IN the early days Of Montana, with
adventure and romance and hard
ships, laughter and pathos. No story Of
8 cowboy is complete, we know, un-
less the story Of his horse is included. |
The two. animal and man, spent long, |
lonely days out on the plains and often |
arrived at a depth OF understanding |
and love which was beyond words |
Teddy Blue showed me q picture. of |
himself standing beside his horse, Jack. |
The original he had sent to Charlie |
Russell who had framed 1t and hung 1t |
on his wall Those were the two best /
friends I ever had" Teddy Blue told |
me. Il mean Charlie and Jack Charlie |
went first. Jack stayed with me until |
last summer. Re was So years old then. /
One day was in the kitchen and 1
Jack came and stuck his head in the /
door and whfnnied. Then he walked 4
away a few steps and fell dead. I'm
sure the old horse knew his time had /
come and just wanted TO say goodbye
wish I'd understood. Maybe I'd have
made him happier at the last by say
Then Teddy Blue let me read one
Of the many letters which Charlie
Russell wrote him. It begins: Friend
Ted: got the picture and letter both
,he 9Th, end you and your old boss win
deck the walls Of my shack always
And whenever look at the picture my
memory win drift back over trails long
Iince plowed under by the Master to
lays M&AEAA ~ ktAAl "a lC1SE WE&A&1EIt
at IN the shadows Of their horses and
watched the grazing bunch Of cayuses.
Four friend, Charles Russell"
Much is said nowadays about the
courage and endurance OF MontanA's
,ange riders, when loneliness end
aardship9 we're q part OF their routine.
SUIT I think we need not waste pity
u them. There must have been rich
less OF adventure In their lives. sense
Il freedom, q c1osenass to earth which
s denied us who have followed them.
Friends made ia those days remained
8auuch friends forever. Charlie Rus
ell, we all know, put much Of his love
or the west into his immortal pictures
"a his letters 70 Teddy Blue he also
,aiuted vivid wur0 pictures And IT'S
! canch, he concluded one letter, you
Voeidnt met h0nleaick Ia q akin ledge.
Ted Old Mother Nature was kind to
Rew red Children and the old fsnw