Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-01-11
Trees Hacked With! knives Tell
of Hectic Times in State

I the trees thereabout had been hacked
with knives. That page was written IS
years ago. And linked closely to It in
point of time Is another, up In Yellow
stone park, above the first falls OF the
Yellowstone river where there are still
to be seen blackened stumps Of trees
with deeply cut circles burned in, and
from these stumps, leading down the
precipitous sides Of the canyon, wagon
bent rifle, the bar Of bullion, the hack
ed trees near Clark's fork and the
rutted canyon sides in Yellowstone
park together tell the story of q har-
rowing time in Montana'S history, hav-
ing to do with General Miles and Cen
eral Howard, and more particularly
with two renownless men who we're In
dian fighters and unofficial scouts un-
der Miles-Crandau and Old Horne
Miller, who 65 years ago, was young
Horne Miller
Horne Miller may, am told, be said
TO be the founder of Cooke City. He
was a trapper, buffalo hunter and
proSpector as well as Indian fighter.
With Pike Moore he came from st.
Louis, Mo, by steamboat into Mon
tana. The two young men, with Liver
eating johnson, secuted for time
along the Missouri river. Then wan
derlust and the itch for gold led Moore
and Miller on up into the mountains
near Soda Butte Greek where later the
town Of Cooke City sprang into being.
During the first months of its infancy
it numbered four inhabitants - Bill
Donahue, Crandall, Horne Miller and
Pike Moore, who built their log cabins
close as a challenge against the weight
of solitude.
For two years the four men braved |
the hardshipS of cold winters and hot |
summers in the stiffness OF the un-
peopled mountains, often snowbound
for months, trapping, living on wild
game, and always digging for quartz
or panning for dust. Not one Of them
ever struck rich find although Miller
did occasionally take few nuggets
by mule t>S Bozeman so big and rich /
as to stir the curiosity Of others. Nat
urally he refused to give away the
secret Of the location of his diggtngs
but it was supposed to have been at
the base Of Saddle Mountain in q re-
gion later set aside as Yellowstone ma
tional park. Visitors TO the park may
notice q small stream circling the
mountain and may be told that It Is
known as Miller creek" The only
tangible commemoration to q man who
contributed his humble part toward the
building up of the west. Another in
stream emptying In to
Clarks fork has been named "Crandal
creek" for the man who was killed by
Redskin bullets while serving as scout
under General Miles. /
They never found wealth, these four
men, but the quartz which Miller took
into Bozeman over the mountain trail
was big enough and rich enough to
attract the interest of many, and coon
- - -
0ectOrs eager to reap the harvest which
The patient toll of the four had sown.
And so the town Of Cooke City came
into being, first and last a mining
own, unique, SCARED by the tragedies
Il has known, withdrawn from the
1ustle of the world, interesting in that
t has escaped the touch Of modern
SIN. One of the few of Montana's towns
% retain the glamor of early day ro- ,
nance. Steadily Cooke City grew until,
Turing its pinnacle Of prosperity 1t Is
aid to have boosted the largest post
)ffice of any contemporary town in |
he state, serving some 5000 patrons ,
rom the surrounding region.
Finally sufficient quartz-lead, Sill [
'er and gold-waS found in the noun
aims to necessitate q smelter, and so
IN old, Mexican type smelter-one Of ]
he first in Montana-was erected at /
Cooke City, which turned out crude 5
,ars of bullion. And it was at this
ime, while the fever for gold was in [
mems veins and while the little noun l
ain town was putting up a determ- J
ned struggle for existence that the
lez Perez tribe started on the war
,ath, they too struggling for their '
ribal existence. They were mainly vic {
orious for awhile, spreading horror S
nd bloodshed in their wake, splitting