Glacier County chief., 1940-03-01

after that year, the clamor of the
Montana miners Swelled to a chorus
that awoke st. Louis merchants to the
profits to be made in the Montana
trade. Gold there was in abundance in
the territory; price was no object, and
there was a sure market for all the
supplies that could be freighted in
With that setup, profit-seeking traders
were bound to find a way to get in
the supplies on which such big profit
could be made. The Missouri river was
the only answer, for massacre and
death blocked the Bozeman trail in
1865. The Sioux were everywhere-and
everywhere hostile while Unite d
States troopers struggled desperately to
free themselves Of the menace of Red
Clouds horsemen about their posts,
and the stage was being set for the
abandonment of the Bozeman trail.
The Salt Lake route was long and
roundabout, and Missouri river freight
ing doomed
Dozens upon dozens of steamboats,
left st. Louis as soon as the ice had
left the river that spring, and the
orders that owners gave to 5000, $500
and 81 ,000-a-month pilots and cap
tains doubtless ran as follows:
Get her through, somehow-to Ben
the Sioux country"
Forget she's got bottom-run her
through-wen pay for the old tub four
times over"
Some of them hung up on bars and
turned back; some were fired on by
the Sioux and scared out, but the
boats that made the trip brought their
crews some unforgetable experiences.
The Benton left st. Louis in March,
and before she returned late that
summer she had logged a 1O,00O-mile
voyage, and had gotten no nearer to
Fort Benton than Round butte-about
l25 miles downstream.
Two or three dozen packets got as
far as Fort Union, which was prac-
tically out of the Sioux country and
hence safe. The others failed some
where along the way through the Da-
kotas. but boats which did get through
came back to carry other boats car
goes further upriver.
Safer Than Overland Route
The need was pressing to get the
cargoes out Of hostile territory, and
this explains many of the double,
triple and quadruple trips made by YES
sells to Milk river and other points
above Fort Union. The packets were
harried by Sioux, fired upon at stops,
ambushed at wooding places, and under
threat of a successful attack or raid
at any time. Despite steel-sheathed
pilot houses, in spite of riflemen COW
Cihib WI DOdIo WGlt Oil
bars, and cannon covering woodpiles
when the boats stopped for fuel. men
were cut off and killed, and it was
only by comparison to the greater
dangers of the overland route that the
Missouri passage was safe.
Only six steamboats, are recorded as
arriving at Fort Benton in 1865-the
Yellowstone and Deer Lodge in May
the Deer Lodge twice more in June
with cargoes from other boats, the
Effie Deans in June, and the Deer
Lodge again on July 81. In addition
the Twilight on June 90 reached the
mouth of the Marias, as did the ST.
Johns on June IS But toiling crews
of other boats slowly struggled up the
Missouri to be picked up by freight
trains
The Yellowstone was an American
Fur Co. boat, and its arrival at Ben
ton marked the end of an epoch. as
the four arrivals of the Deer Lodge
meant a new era had dawned for
Montana. The Yellowstone brought
Hawley and Hubbell to take over the
old adobe trading post, which had
been purchased by the Northwestern
Fur Co. The older company had seen
the end of the fur trade, and one by