The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-10-15
By GLENDOLIN DAMON WAGNER

NV granted. Iney nave become
blocks we get into our cars and drive.
Our homes are filled with gadgets
that do most of the work for us. Press
q button in the wall and Immediately
the rooms are flooded with light. Turn
a faucet and out gushes pure, fresh
the wrist and our furnaces radiate
heat. Electric or gas stoves make cook
ing the most simple of tasks. We may
rcstock our pantry shelves by giving
an order over the telephone which is
promptly delivered to our doors. When
our clothing becomes shabby we pur-
chase new ready made suits and shoes
and hats. Automobiles have shortened
distances from months to hours. Easy
living has made us soft.
The western wilderness of 70 years
ago has been conquered, civilized ana
modernized. But the early-day men
who conquered the wilderness and LAID
so by challenging the logic of natures
law: 1.-THE survival of the fitteSt."
Many of them did not survive. They
were victims Of Indians, arrows and
bullets. They died, often alone out in
the vast solitudes nd from roma
the poison of too much alkai water.
Occasionally they were killed by the
prey which they hunted. Recently, up
In the mountains above the keene
ranch. Mr.. Keene found an old, rusty
flint lock gun, the skeleton OF a bear
Those mute bits of evidence tell the
story of tragedy. The man had shot
and fatally wounded the bear. But the
animal, with his last ebbing strength,
turned upon his tormentor, and the
two died on the field of combat. One
man among many, unknown, unm1sSed,
slipping out of existence up IN the
wild stiffness of the mountains.
Trapping Leading Industry
EVERY minute OF every day was
struggle against the forces of the new
land which our pioneers chose to chal-
lenge and some few lived to tell us
of their experiences. And, oddly, as
the old-timers talk, comfortably sur
rounded by the luxuries of our modern
a note Of yearning creeps into their
voices For those days of youth and
strength and adventure, when they
were helping to build part OF our
commonwealth, when every day was
fraught with hardships and danger,
seem, in retrospect, good days to them.
ing industries of the wild Montana
plains. Sometimes the meat was sold
to river boats, chugging up and down
the Missouri and Yellowstone the
Josephine" the H. E. Durfee," the
MAY Lowry" But hides proved the
most profitable angle of the work. At
Fort Benton or Carroll they could be
exchanged for merchandise or sold for
cash. Buffalo hides, antelope, deer,
elk, badger and wolves found the
readiest sale. Often buffalo were shot,
skinned, with no part Of the meat
taken except the much priced tongues.
Wolves we're baited with carcass
poisoned with strychnine crystals. Often
40 or so dead wolves were found around
a single poisoned carcass. Smaller
game was trapped. Success in hunting
the larger fleet-footed game depended
upon a good gun and sure aim. But
even with the buffalo, those numbering
and uncombative children of the plains,
affording so big a target, some tech
nique was required. The buffalo must
be shot first through the kidneys or
across the small Of the back, then
finished by shot back of the ear,
for the impact Of a bullet on the thick
boned forehead could scarcely be felt.
Buffalo cows were the choicest treas
ure. Their meat was tender. Their
hides made the beautiful silk" robes
for which there was the readiest de-
mand
Buffalo grazed in herds. Despite