Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-09-16
Fortune Hidden Among Rocks Along Snake Riuer
By Little Dog, Pegan Chief, Has NeUer Been Found


BY ELMO
Somewhere along the Snake
river in southern Idaho is a boz
of "brass buttons without eyes
awaiting the lucky finder. 1t has
been there, unless wind and water
and erosion have moved the box
and scattered its contents, for the
better part of 100 years.
Chief Little Dog of the Piegan
Indians, back around 1845, couldn't
see any value in "brass buttons
without eyes" But something
more than 20 years later he learned
that such buttons" they were gold
coins, represented highly valued wealth
by the white mans standards.
The trouble was that when Little
Dog looted a wagon Of the box Of
buttons" the only white men he knew
were the fur trappers and the traders
at the American Fur Co. forts. And
brass buttons without eyes" were not
q medium Of exchange IN dealing with
the Indians.
In 184S a small party Of Blackfeet
Indians, of which the Piegans are a
branch, had wandered down to Fort
to see q huge train of wagonS-121 Of
them-drawn by 698 oxen, moving
across the country some distance away.
History records that this train, one of
the earliest of the overland Oregon
caravans had around 1000 people in
It, Besides the 500 oxen drawing the
wagons there were 296 horses and 973
loose cattle. 1t was a sight which
awed the Indians, none of whom had
seen more white men together than
the small trading parties around the
fur forts.
Decides to Investigate
When the Blackfeet returned to their
souri,, they told their people Of the
many white people they had seen
across the country in their wheeled
lodges
Little Dog, a great brave and a
powerful chief among the Piegans, was
curious about this new phenomena to
the south. He decided to see for him
self. While he was at peace with the
American Fur Co. people at the forts,
he was warrior, and he made battle
against his red enemies and the par
ties Of white trappers not connected
with the company
He decided he wanted to measure
weapons with the white men of the
wheeled caravans, try his skill with a
new kind of enemy.
So about 1845, with a picked band
Of warriors, he made an excursion
well down the Snake river along the
new Oregon trail. Selecting his battle |
ground he disposed his braves in a !
favorable position and impatiently /
awaited the coming of an emigrant
train.
At last, over the prairie appeared |
the white tops of the covered wagons, |
creeping slowly onward. Unaware of /
danger ahead, the train was moving /
with less caution than had been true /
across the present Wyoming, where 1t !
was believed the greatest danger had
been passed. Without warming, the /
whites found themselves in the midst
of an ambuScade.
There was rattle of musketry, a
barrage of savage yells, a rush by
Little Dog and his warriors, and there
was not a white person left to tell
the tale of cruel butchery.
Looting naturally followed the battle,
for the white mems wheeled lodges,
they had learned, were richly en-
dowed with supplies of goods and
trinkets valued by the Indians There
Is no doubt but Little Dogs braves
pictured a triumphant return to the
Missouri river country affluent In use
Sul things and gaudy trinkets which
would satisfy the Indians vanity.
SBlind" Brass Buttons
Tradition, however, has preserved
he story Of Little Dogs small estimate
1f the, value. Of the brass buttons
without eyes"
He found in one of the wagons of {
he maSSacred caravan, slowed careful