Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-06-27

restrained from going In body to
get the gold. 1t took show OF arms
to hold them and several OF the SOL
diers who had had experience In placer
mining, convinced the gold-eager men
that the stuff was mica, or as 1t was
commonly called, Fools Cold, ana
was not worth a dollar ton.
A few days after the command had
left Kearny more excitement was
caused ia camp, this time by two boys.
myself being one of them, the other
boy named Will Aughey, whose father
was In Troop b. The command was max
ing noon camp on Cherry creek. Choke
cherries were abundant around camp
and women and children were busy
picking them, Aughey and among
them. We noticed q clunp OF CHERRY
bushes just outside the guard line.
We had not gathered many before
we saw, a little way Up the creek, an
other patch where the fruit seemed
still larger than what we were picking,
and as we were out Of sight of the
guard, it was not hard TO get to this
patch. BY this time we had forgotten
about camp lines, Indians, or any
thing else except big cherries and we
kept on discovering better Gin our es-
timation) and bigger cherries, each
patch being a little bit farther from
camp. Suddenly VIII said, Wasn't that
a bugle call? Maybe camp is going to
move and we had better get back
quick" We started to return and real
ICED that camp was not in sight any
where.
We didn't really know which way to
go but, by good luck, We started down
the branch which we thought was the
one camp was on. After going what We
thought was at least 10 miles, we found
our creek emptying into another one
and we stopped. We could not remem-
Der having seen this creek before. We
were at q loss as to which way to re-
turn when we saw a line of horsemen
come In sight along a little ridge to
our right and we recognized them as
soldiers. Pretty soon the line seemed
to show up a mile long. Then we
showed ourselves and the trumpet
sounded rally. 1t was Troop B in a
skirmish line looking for us. When we
were missed at camp our absence was
reported at once and Boots and sad
dies" was sounded. That was the call
that viii had heard that brought US
to realization that we were lost.
A few days after the cherry episode,
we made camp or Goose creek and
here occurred the second fatality Of the
of fish in Goose creek and permission
was given the troops to catch some.
One party of soldiers made q make
shift seine out of gunny sacks and was
meeting with fair success. While they
were dragging the seine in bend OF
the creek where the water was deep, one
of the soldiers stepped into deep
hole and went out OF sight. He failed
to come to the surface and the others
attempted to find him. He was found In
10 minutes, about % feet below where
he had disappeared and was caught IA
the roots of some old drift logs beneath
the surface. He was dead. / do not
remember his name but remember ne
was a trooper of x troop. This cast
gloom over the camp.
From Goose creek we moved 70
Prairie Dog creek and went into camp
for couple of days and we could see
that some new arrangements were be-
ing made and it was found that the
command would move in two parts
when we left. Part Of the troops and
transportation were to 60 to Fort Gus
ter and part to Keogh- A. b. and
troops were the ones to be stationed at
Fort Keogh. The balance Of the regi-
ment with the band, went to Fort Gus
ter, which was to be the headquarters
of the Second cavalry, Fort keogh
being the headquarters Of the 5th In
fantry.
The troops for Custer began their
journey the third morning after we
had pitched camp on Prairie Dog and
! the Keogh contingent we're to leave the
/ following morning. That night 1t was
| found that the wife OF trumpeter OF
\ Troop E was in no condition to move
for possibly week and new problem
| faced our commanding officer. 1t was
| decided to leave our doctor and a de-
| tachment of soldiers at that camp while
the command went 10 Keogh from
where an ambulance and other trans
| portation we're to be sent back for
them. The commanding officer called
for volunteer from among the women
TO stay with the sick woman and
though there were about Is married
| women in our camp, my mother was
A detachment Of IS men under COM
mand Of my step-father. Charles