Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-05-16
Bv WALTER ED TAYLOR

Bv WALTER ED TAYLOR
When the late great kudyaIa
KiDling visited Montana IN 1881
he visited Yankee Jim in Yankee
Tir, CANYON. IL miles north OF
Gardiner, north entrance 70 Ael-
lOwstOne park. According 10 Wnat
Kipiing wrote about the VISIT lAeen,
some OF the most pleasant hours
Of his entire journey were spent
with the crOtchety, unlettered jim
Yankee Jim's real name was James
George. but few knew him by any
other name than Yankee Jim.
KipIin9 had found much to crlti-
eize in America. He disliked many
of his fellow travellers; ne touna
American policemen wanting ~
courtesy: he was uncomfortable IN
American hotels; but he was
charmed by Yankee Jim.
In 1890 Kipling, still in his tWentleS,
was comparatively unknown. he mao
had some success writing poems ana
stories of India and it was while en-
route back to England from that coula-
try that he visited Montana. he was
anxious to meet a real frontlersl14ll
and so he was told to visit Yankee jim
George. Yankee jim was true plo-
Near His life had been spent in the
wilderness and he had been = ader,
trapper, Indian fighter and miner. ~
was he who discovered the huge coal
deposit at Red Lodge. He received nGIle
or nothing for his share in the dis
covery and he finally settled down In
the canyon Of the Yellowstone winch
bears his name to this day Xankee
Jim canyon. The canyon became nome
to James George. He first took squat
ters rights and later homesteaded the
land. He was a prodigious worker and
almost single-handed built ROAD INTO
Yellowstone park. 1t was the first ROAD
ever constructed toward that great nat
ural wonderland and it was known as
Yankee Jim's toll road for the doughty
Jim took toll of all who passed that
way. There was gate across the road
and freighters and stage coaches, mer-
chant and miner, all paid before the
gate was opened. Yankee Jim was some
thing of a despot and he ruled his
canyon with an iron hand, backed up
BY several guns. When the Yellowstone
mark branch of the Northern Pacific
railroad was built in 1888 Yankee Jim
was bitter. He fought the railroad COM
pany and hampered construction work
BY taking an occasional pot-shot at
workmen. His campaign for justice
from the railroad company finally haQ
some result for the company built
Yankee Jim a new toll road in the
hills above the railroad right-ot way.
A few years later this other road was
acquired as a county highway and thus
ended Yankee Jin's long and tys an
nical rule in the canyon. Although ne
could no longer exact payment from
travellers Yankee Jim continued to live
on his land and 1t was here, in q little
log cabin, that Kipling found MIN IN
1890. Yankee Jim liked Kipling although
he usually avoided strangers, and the
writer and the old frontiersman were
together several days. Yankee Jim TOOK
Kipling on a fishing trip and taught
him several tricks in the gentle art OF
pulling them in, American style.
During the visit Yankee Jim regaleo
Kipling with tales of Indian fights,
gold strikes, and trappers' wars. Kip
ling wrote, later, Yankee Jim was a
picturesque old man with talent for
yarns which Ananias might have en-
We'd" One guesSes that perhaps Kip
ling did not believe all that Yankee
Jim told him Probably 1t was quite
hard for the young EngliShman TO be-
heve some Of the fabulous tales re-
lated by Yankee Jim but the old man
told the truth for his stories were a
true account Of his adventures on the
frontier.
Kipling left Yankee Jim after sew
eral days and continued his American
tour to New York and thence to his
homeland where fame and fortune and
Q mitch in Westminster Abbey awaited
him. Yankee Jim lived on in the can
yon, acting as a guide for hunters I'M
tn old age prevented. He cursed the
noise and the smoke of the trains In
the canyon which had once been so
uuiet. In 1914 a brother took him to
California and there he died few
years later Present-day motorists pass
through Yankee Jim canyon on the OPP
p0site side of the Yellowstone river
from the point where Yankee Jim had
his famous toll gate. Few who pass
that way today know that the great
Kipling and Yankee Jim once smoked
and fished together there.