Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1939-05-13

discovered, an actress who, together
with her husband, an actor, had come
from Europe to visit relatives living in
that region.
This chance meeting with Mrs. Barr
for that was the name Of the actress
led to her husband and herself leav-
ing the canyon to make their home for
the next two years at Fort Shaw. Their
household goods were removed there in
ambulances by the soldiers. The first
play given by the Bars, after their
arrival at the post, was "Ingomar,
with MIR. Barr as Ingomar, and his
wife, Parthenia.
The playhouse was about 125 feet
lone. with the stage 35 feet wide and
"a feet deep. Dressing rooms and prop
erty room were in an ell addition. The
floor was of earth, and the scenic eff
fects were not of the best, although
they exceIled those Of Shakespeare
time When the footlights needed to be
lowered, the orchestra turned down the
kerosene lamps in front of the stage.
1t is perfectly safe to say that this
rude hall always held an uncritical
audience. It was ready to applaud en-
Enthusiastically any acting, however poor
it might have been. But real artists
visited it. Among these were Parepa
Rosa and her husband, Karl Rosa, the
violinist.
In these days, when royalty deigns
to visit this country at frequent inter
walls, few can understand the excite
ment caused by the arrival in America,
for the first time in the republics his
tory of an heir to the British throne.
Albert Edward, however, did not go
west and its inhabitants were thus
unable to visualize the fact that princes,
even those Of Wales, do not differ IN
appearance from ordinary men, al
though their attitude towards the
world is said to be of another char
acter. They are the product OF their
environment, rather than Of their in
heritance.
Following the example of their liege
lord, the scions of aristocratic families
confined their American Investigations
largely to the Atlantic coast. The great
beyond, reaching to the Pacific, until
recently saw but little of them.
Imagine then, in what a state Of
mind the garrison at Fort Shaw was
thrown when 1t became known in Sep
TENDER, 1881, that the Marquis Of
Lorne, son of the Duke Of Argyle and
the son-in-law of Queen Victoria, the
governor general of Canada, who was
on his way east, would spend the night /
at Fort Shaw,
44lC Wl4OAC POoJ Weo AL a ACFSA Va
the officers making ar
for his reception and their
wives devising menus and setting their
quarters in order for the entertain
ment of nobility. The Marquis had as
escort a company of the Canadian
''Mounties," arrayed in their brilliant
uniforms and with their queer little
caps precariously set on one side OF
the head.
They were mounted on scrubby little /
Indian ponies, which somewhat de-
tracted from the effect they produced
as preceding the Marquis, they rode
onto the parade ground and there sep
arated into two lines, facing one an
other, to permit the governor and his
staff to pass through. There was the
usual ceremoniouS reception, in the
midst of which the regimental band
struck up that melody, said to have
been composed in Germany, but now
a national anthem of both England
and America. With the first bar of
God Save the QQuQeQQeQnQQ if1fore
God Save the Queen"-our own
America" every Englishman and
Canadian removed his head covering,
whatever that happened to be, in silent
testimony Of their loyalty to their
country. We are told that it was an
Impressive sight.
What is given in this and foregoing
sketches are but casual glimpses OF
Fort Shaw In its palmy days, in the
hope that they viii enable those who
visit its site today to vision it as it once
was in all the pictureSqueness and &C
yiVitieS of its military existence.