Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-03-09
By PRANK B. HARPER

BY FRANK d hAkEEh
sixty-odd years ago the writer
was actively employed with
wagon train outfit which trans
ported merchandise from Carroll,
On the upper Missouri, 20 Helena,
over che Carroll Helena wagon
mad: Carroll being a point OF
trans-shfpnent from steamboat 20
wagon train for freight brought up
the river from Bismarck. II COM
hfnad trading post and forward
sng station, frequented by freight
ers. buffalo hunters and wOlfers
whose occupation was collecting
skins, and to whom the advantages
Of civilized communities had no
Carroll. unlike Fort Benton, had an
exafnous. abandoned appearance. Its "a
30 nuts stood on the south bank Of
tR1e Missouri, near the mouth OF the
AEusselsheIl: and its "a scalps that were
vRaiIad to the doors had an ominouS
meaning. Furthermore, its isolation
was complete. 1t was once marked Tor
position on the maps, but when the
a1ring waters Of the Missouri tore
away the bank, about 1881 or 1882,
Carroll was swallowed by the river. and
RocIrV point. a few miles above, took
It's place.
Properly, Fort Benton was the actual
head of navigation, reached regularly
ia the spring when water was high, at
mich time three great outfits we're
ENGAGED in transporting freight from
there namely, the Diamond II, 70 In
terror points, which had 1,OOO men,
5000 wagons and 10000 head OF stock
Ia the business The others were the
r q Baker Co. freighting northward
from Fort Benton to Calgary, and the
Il. @. Power Co, operating between
Fort Benton and Helena.
Carroll was early established, when
4 was realized that low water after
syrfng freshets often retarded the ar
rival of steamboats, and halted trans
portation of needed supplies TO interior
mining camps. Moreover, unprotected
freight left sometimes on the river
bank, far below Fort Benton, was ire
u1lentlv plundered by the Indians, and
the steamboats, passengers compelled
TO walk 800 miles through hostile
Indian country to Helena. Hence the
building of the Carroll-Helena road,
10 which the freighttng companies
mentioned transferred their outfits
when water got low. Thus Carroll, a |
remote Speck in the northern wilder
ness, became of some Importance,
though OF log huts, and its jewellers
born to the life.
Let's follow the wagon train from
Carroll Of time when almost the
whole north side OF the missouri pc
tween Bismarck and Fort Benton, at
least between the mouth of the yell
Iowstone and Fort Benton, was occu-
pied by Indian villages; while south
ward from Carroll was an expanSe
made M of desert, plateau, mountain
and valley, awaiting settlement; then
The playground of wolf and coyote, the
range Of the buffalo, and stalking
ground Of the cougar
our 50 ponderoB double wagons,
aden to the hoop-tops with merchan-
Else, and drawn by 10, IL and ~
strfnR. Numbered slowly over sterile
.e0ion that arose from the river bank,
-aya0ed by cloudbursts and dotted
With alzali pools and buffalo wallowss
until at SO miles, q high ridge known
IS Cone butte confronted the freight
rs. Here the road swerved to the right,
,asstng q four company log military
sost, Camp Lewis, which, IN time, be-
anne Lewistown.
Not distant from Camp Lewis was
he Judith Gap, a traditional spot, ,
yS1ere the red man would view the !,
orning Of q prize and the prospect OF
calpss Here the nightherders were
lecessarily doubled, for Blackfeet and
EROS Ventre raiders could be expected,
If the night were stormy.
md that's the way we found 1t. A l
1riouS storm OF wind and lightning I
rose after midnight which almost
re the l1erders from their SADDLES, I
catering the stock IN disorder; and =
nile gathering them up az GAVIN,
Rrty OF eros VentreS enctrcled the
erd In endeavor to cut out part OF q
1e animals, but when the main camp .
as aroused, and a few shots ex-
hanged, they were driven OFF. These z
larauders were painted and feathered, r
nd their horses decorated. Had prep a
rations not been made, they would o
kelly have had q nightherder for o
reakfast. c
Beyond here, after perhaps week y
. 10 days progress, a rolling plateau = =
rs reached, on which stood, high :,
excited and defiant, the famous .
rnidable. and its earmarks indicated =
lat hard men dwelt there. We passed y
In the early night TO reach water u
Id grass Just beyond. But here, OUT =
de the pickets, was an aggregation :. =.
babbling Frenchmen, arguing among =.
emselves. Their corral, as we OBJ =, -
rived, contained large bunch OF ~
rises, and from the spirited way some - 81
the Withholding individuals rode II
10 LflG J1dIS, Willie Oe4ACAo AO0C -
Vay, one would imagine they were g
spatch carriers, and the stockade an - -
lportant military headquarters. But ~
was not. In one respect 1t was a -
sort for hunters and lawless half az y
eeds. But chiefly 1t was rendezvous ~
: whisky runners among the tribes, a.
10 exchanged liquor for fur And to ~ II
Is place came pillaging parties of ~ -.
Is when they had anything to barter. ~ ~.
-. Il = D. &ts@s4
IS go &c, ~,s.ss rs,s,,s s,,r,,e cd co
reputation no less so than that OF - -
contemporary, old Fort Whoop-up, "a
the Fort Benton Calgary road Of os.
lighting days. :;
and now we reach the ghost town a. A.
the Carroll-Helena road, Diamond ~