Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-08-05
By GLENDOLN DAMON wAGNER


X VERY few of even our Oldest
W pioneers can claim the dis
" tinction of having shared
Montana's ups and downs for "a
years. Mrs. Mary Walton, who, at
the age of year, crossed the west
ern plains, is among those few.
She is the oldest, in point of men,
bership, of the Montana Society
of Pioneers, having to her credit
ID more years residence in Mon
tana than any other member. She
is one of the oldest members of the
Eastern Star lodge in Montana. She
served as the first dean Of women at
the Billings Polytechnic institute.
Her life, from the age Of year, Is
surcharged with drama. That drama
began when her father, @. w. Rea,
left his home at Portville, N. Y, for
a short business trip to Council Bluffs,
Ia There he caught the contagion OF
the glamour and excitement Of the
adventurous, early day west, yearn-
ing that nothing but the west itself
could cure His wife, Martha Rea, must
have possessed as brave and adven-
turous spirit as he, for, when he re-
turned to Portville, talking Of Mon
tana, she said:
Let's go, all of us, you and the baby
and l."
And so they turned the key in their
door and took the train for Council
Bluffs, planning on years trip. They
never returned. Neither ever again saw
their old home.
Upon reaching the railroad terminal
at Council Bluffs they joined a train
of a hundred wagons drawn by bull
teams bound for the magic west, where,
they were assured, gold nuggets were
as big and plentiful as potatoes. Mary
Rea Walton naturally remembers
nothing of that hazardous journey, but
she has the journals of her father
and hardshipS.
Attacked by Indians
Nothing eventful happened until the
slowly numbering train reached Wyo-
ming, near where Laramie now stands.
And there the dread that chilled the
hearts of all those hardy western
hegirists became actuality. They made
camp, with the wagons. as usual placed
in circle. Inside oxen were grazing
peacefully. Children were at play.
Women were busy over campfireS.
Many of the men had gone out in
search Of game for fresh meat. And
then, suddenly, the shril warwhoop
OF band of Sioux split the quiet air.
And the red men were upon them.
Round and round the camp they
rode, yelling, sending showers OF ar
rows over and into it. Mothers rushed
their children into the uncertain Sc
curity of the wagons. Hunters came
ScurTying into camp. G. w. Rea, a
freshly killed deer on his shoulders,
stood on the brink Of hill, a clear
target for arrows, with the circling,
screaming Indians between him and
camp. Many men were killed, Mary
Walton says, during that three-day
battle, but somehow, miraculously, her
father barged through the enemy line
and reached camp unwounded.
Martha Rea put her precious baby
daughter In the oven of her cookstove
inside the covered wagon and then
took her place beside her man, loading
one gun while he fired another That
eternity of horror ended only when
United States troop from Fort Laramie
came to the rescue of the terrified
pioneers.
Today Mary Walton has in her pos
session a baby shoe worn by the in
FAINT son of a man named Fletcher.
Earlier In the season he, with his
family had passed the wagon train,
travelling more swiftly with his four
mule team, and impatient to reach
the land of wealth. Some days after
the battle near Laramie, the wagon
train came upon the tragic remains of
a ravaged camp. 1t was the Fletcher
camp. Fletcher, with two sons, had es-
capped injury, but the mother had been |
killed and scalped while two other
children, baby son and daughter
of Is, had been taken captive
Baby Is Murdered
Two years later, when the girl had
escaped, she related her story to Mary |
Rea Walton. She, with her baby |
brother, she said, were tied onto ponies |
and forced to ride with the triumph |
ant Sioux, until the frightened sobbing |
of the baby irritated one of the war
riors, who killed him. At the Indian |
camp one of the chiefs took the girl /
as his bride. Then followed two awful /
years Of suffering humiliation and /
fear.
The chief, the girl said, was not
unkind to her, but, whenever he left /
camp, the Indian women, spurred by /
jealousy, contrived, by every means
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