Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1937-10-30
lruPPers ond Traders i'm the Eu Days of Rode Mules


NJ west were partial to mules q.
Iva saddle animals. Mules hav'
never won place for them
selves under the saddle for such pur.
poses as horses are used in the livestock
industry, but even as late as the early
SOS of the hast century many pros
pectOrs and miners preferred a good,
steady saddle mule, If they could find
one, to the average saddle horse. They
were tough and hardy, easily kept and
caught and for the most part gentle
their propensity for kicking was
overlooked.
Now and then a saddle mule stood
out from his fellows just as some
horses do. One such was a white mule
owned by the late William T. (Uncle
Billy Hamilton in 1858 when he was
connected with the military forces at
Fort Walla Walla, Wash, IN the ca
pacity Of scout. The animal, Is hands
high, was given to him by Little Dog,
chief of the Piegan Indians, during
fall Of that year. After his return to
Walla Walla, Hamilton was asked to
make a trip to The DalleS, distance
of ITS miles, with military dispatches
and was told that 1t was of the great
est importance that they be delivered
as soon as possible.
Hamilton requiSitiOned an army
partment, and started riding it and
leading his white mule He rode the
horse for 90 miles, left it with a settler
and rode his white mule the remainder !
OF the distance, us miles. He left Walla .
Walla at BIS o'clock in the morning (
and delivered his dispatches at The
DalleS, ITS miles away, at 6:l5 o'clock
the following morning He was three
days making the return trip. The army
commander at The DalleS gave him a
letter to the Walla Walla commander
giving the time at which the dis
patches were received.
Sold Mule for $500
When it became noised about the
post that Hamilton had made q trip
Of ITS miles in Is minutes less than
p hours, and that his white mule had
gone the entire distance and carried
him lis miles Of it, he was flooded with ?
offers to buy it, He later sold the Z
animal for $780, but afterwards said 7
hat he regretted doing So j
Hamilton came into the west with {
IN Indian trading expedition from st. /
.ouis in 1912, the party which he ac-
making headquarters in the
Green river country of Wyoming. From r
here they traded as far north as the v
Yellowstone river in Montana. He went y
o California in 1849 and engaged In n
mining and also in farming on small Q
Gale. He married at that time, but r
9th his wife and their children died &
couple of years later, and Hamilton b
esumed his wilderness life. b
He drifted north and took part in a
arious Indian wars in northern Cal b
ornia and in the Oregon country. ii
lis knowledge of the sign language, at G,
hich he was unusually expert, made a
i'm valuable to the army as an in al
,rpreter and scout, and 1t was in that 81
l4nf Hn mn nf
Talla with Colonel Wright in 1858. -.
mother of the officers there at that T.,
me was Lieut.. Phil Sheridan, who ~
'came famous as a general Of cavalry CO CO
lring the Civil war. ~ ~
Hanged IL Indians cr
The so-called Spokane and Yakima M
idian war had just been brought to I'M
close. AS the final chapter in 1t,
Olonel Wright had taken number =,
the chiefs and head men Of the ~ ~
the Yakimas and the Pa - -
use, their allies prisoners, tried IL ~
them by drumhead court martial, M ~
und them guilty of murder at various ~ ~
mes and places and hanged them in S Gli
e presence of $500 of their tribes IA
tness the executions. Nine Of the "
iefs were held prisoners to insure ~
e good conduct of the tribes. co
The colonel thought he had the IN lAlS
IN situation pretty we'll in hand in al
E immediate vicinity of Walla Walla, M M
t Indians coming from the buffalo ne nc,
lntry east of the Rocky mountains 20.
d him that the tribes there were r ~.
,lined to be hostile to the whites. ~ ~
the government was getting fed up ~ -
Indian fighting he decided to in "a "a
stigate the rumor. He did 1t by send oAl
; Hamilton among the tribes east I
the mountains. sal
Hamilton, enrolled as an army scout, Ola
S for this trip assigned to secret the
vice duty among the Indians, and to
S outfitted as trader to effectually ant
lceal, if necessary. his real purpose wh
making the trip. buC
chose as his companion for age
journey, one-eyed alf-breed the
ned Alex Mckay, also member OF Tor
Walla Walla band of army scouts. UNI
ey left Fort Walla Walla Sept. rs, que
8, with five pack mules carrying In
40 equipment and trading goods, mex
saddle mules, which they rode, and Fla
h leading his favorite saddle horse. SUI
ore he left, Hamilton requested OF the
onel Wright that he be supplied with The
arge, official looking envelope car in
1g the governments seals and filled haV