Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-06-02
Crack of Bullwhackers Whip Was Music to Pioneer
Ears But Is Song No Longer Heard ON Hill or Plains

The crack of the whip and the
yell of the bullwhacker have long
since faded from the Montana
scene, along with the golden shout
that echoed from Last Chance
gulch, but the lusty tradition of
the men who blazed the VESTS
commercial trails retains its stout
SAVIOR. Much has been said of the
western badman. Of grim Vigi-
lantes, and of gold-jammed mother
lodes waiting in rugged hills.
Somehow, the men who toiled be-
hind the stubborn launches of Jug
head mules or plodding, indifferent
oxen, have been left pretty much out
OF the picture. Maybe they lacked ro-
nance.
For romance never moved behind a
string of long-ears.
1t took strong hands, and a lot of
the nebulous quality called pioneer
spirit. And, now and then, it took a
rich flow of profanity designed to
penetrate placid mule Saturninity
They called it "cussedneSs."
A man on horse looks better than
sweating muleskinner or bullwhacker
with cud of tobacco and a heavy
load. But he doesn't get any further
along the trail in the long run.
They Got Through"
Over parched prairie and hub-deep
gumbo, the bullwhip's song rolled
across the plains. In streamlined SO
it is a tradition with airmail pilots to
get through" Bullwhackers did the
same thing in SO. 1t Just took longer,
for they had Indians to fight, trails to
blaze and weary-footed animals.
Sometimes buffalo herds held them
up. Buffalo numbered then thousands
The old-timers respected the bull
whacker. 1t was no amateurs job to
skin 20" and make them like it And
the tortuous, slow grind across sere
prairie required man with patience.
petites and lusty jobs.
Yet Of all colorful and traditional
figures nutured and raised by the west,
the bulwhacker alone has entirely dis
appeared We still have cowboys, In
dams, miners, stockmen. Even bad
men.
Picture of a Bull Team
1nasmuch as the bull team is on a
par with the dodo. here is a descrip-
ton of the rigging as written in an
account some years ago:
"a bull team consisted of g. 10 or
II pairs of oxen travelling in company
The gear was of the simplest wooden
Jokes often fashioned by the bull
whacker himself from native timber;
oxbows of bent hickory and chains
extending from the lead yoke to the
wagons were very cheap in comparison
with the costs of harness and other
gear. The cattle had an estimable ad-
vantage over horses and mules in
that they were not likely to be stolen
by Indians and at the end of their
service as draft animals could be fat
tened and slaughtered for beef
"a bull team of let us say 10 oxen
furnished the motive power for three
wagons having short trail tongues
shackled up to the rear axle of the
wagon ahead. The bullwhacker was
contracting agent, engineer, conductor
and train crew for this outfit, and if
travelling alone was also cook and
herder.
Experts With Whip
Wagons are loaded, let us say, with
general merchandise for White Sui
phur Springs and Helena, 1t is 10 days
since they were ferried across the
river at Fort Benton. The driver walks
beside his cattle carrying a giant whip
as his badge of authority, a whip with !
lash 20 feet long and stock one
fifth its length. A most terrible scourge !
when welded with hands grown un-
believably expert"
But it wasn't all plodding along be-
side oxen, or perching on lead mule, /
and sometimes tragedy struck the bull /
whacker in strange ways.
Take, for example, the story of a
1lUCle tTeIlClllIlal named Boston Joe.
Joe came up the river to Fort Benton |
and decided to do a little bullwhack-
ing. He bought a span of mules and |
began in a small way. Business pushed |
along and pretty soon he had u |
mules When he began to make money !
he decided to send for his little daugh- !
ter who was being cared for in Canada /
His wife had died.
Tragic Ending
As the little girl neared the end of |!
the long trip to her father, Benton !
Joe was moving load of black powder !
for Montana miners who were busy /
gougtng gold from the earth Joe be-
gan his trek. singing merrily behind !
his II sturdy mules. AS he travelled |
one can of powder began to leak upon |
brake-shoe of the wagon. It dribbled /
downward and struck a spark The |
powder began to burn, the mules, |
sensing danger. began to plunge.
Joe hit the ground running, the .
screams of terrified mules in his ears. !
But he only made 300 feet when the
roar of the explosion caught him. The |
next morning the observation-disclosures |
stage rolled along and found Benton |
Joe, dying and calling for his little |
girl who had landed at Fort Benton J
and was awaiting his return.
The Emperor Montezuma of the |
Aztecs was said to be unusually fond |
OF cocoa; he drank at least so cup |