Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1938-07-30

down the river and needed more gruI
he would buy 1t.
1T IS only owing to the strength o.
our boat that am still here. We rar
atop q boulder in Buffalo rapids or
the Yellowstone, the impact OF which
would have shattered an ordinary boat
into splinters and left us in the boil
ing flood with hardly a chance OF
getting out. But the shock never faxed
our boat, and after a couple of hours
/ work we managed to get off the rock
! and had but little trouble after that.
las we neared Fort Stevenson on the
! Missouri we heard they were mining
I coal there, and as Tom and / were
/ broke we decided to stop and try for
I job. Jack also said he would Like to
work for a while, too. However, there
was steamer at the landing unload
ing cattle for the fort. Jack took his
blankets and jumped us, getting aboard
the steamer and leaving Tom and me to
pun our heavy boat alone. We made
II to Bismarck and Tom and got Jobs
Tom in a boarding house and on
the levee. Tom left before Christmas
for Chicago, and have never heard of
him since"
hospital soon after returning to Chi
cago. He is still alive and an inmate
Of the same institution.
When he left" says Wilson, "the
boat fell to me and I intended to gol
on down the river as soon as got a I
grubstake. But somebody stole the boat
and the river froze over, and about
Christmas my job played out. had
heard through carpenters from Fort
Maginnis reports of rich mines at Mai
den. decided to go back up the line
to my old Stomping ground and work /
during the winter, and in the spring
go to Maiden.
Takes FOreman's Job
II got a job as foreman for a con-
tractor named Udy who was making
a gravel cut and fill about 10 miles
above Rosebud. It was in January of
1882 that Udy sent me with one Of his
teamsters to Rosebud for a load of
grub. The weather was fine, but the
temperature was well below zero. When
we reached Rosebud the teamster and
took on quite load Of Tom and
Jerrys. finally became rather bois-
ferrous, and wound up in your (Ddit-
chell's) saloon, where a number Of
Norwegians fresh from the old coun-
try had stopped on their way to Pete
Larson's camp.
ST had a large six-shooter strapped
on me, and seeing it the Norwegians
looked scared. This gave me the idea
Of having some fun. did not wish to
get thrown out on my ear, so / went
over to the bar and whispered that /
wanted to have little fun soaring the
Norwegians. They we're not spending
any money, anyway, and you made no
objection.
81 made some loud talk and gave the
gun some wild flouriSheS, and I think
some of the Norwegians were pretty
badly scared from the way they went
through the back door.
THAT was the only time I was drunk
while on the line, and I was not at all !
proud Of 1t when I got sober.
early in the spring of 1882 I came
over here and have been actively en-
gagged in mining ever since. discov-
cred and developed the Gilt Edge group
of mines, for which the town was
named. win be ~ years old Nov. 6,
1ut am still at work on a group of
claims about half a mile from the
Gilt Edge camp and in the same ore
belt"
Fifty-five years ago was real pio- l
neering in eastern Montana and, as
LIMERICK says: People who came here
when we did are getting pretty scarce,
put there are still few Of us around. !