Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-09-14
.DUPUYER RELICS
ARE UP FOR SALE
FORMER SHEEPHERDER SPENT
YEARS IN GATHERING COL
LECTION
It Includes Indian Artifacts, Fossils,
MeteOrites, Many Other Objects
Gathered Over Years in North Mon
tana.

There's an old house filled with
treasure in Dupuyer, left by q for
mer sheepherder and ranch hand.
It's there because an Indiana farm
boy had a hobby which he rode
across the plain to Montana and
chung to until his death at IS In
that same bleak and humble Du-
puyer dwelling. The treasure isn't
q pirate chest filled with pieces
Of-eight or case of precious jewels
or a trunk full of folding money.
] Tt consists of relics, regarded as
on of the best individual cOIiec-
/ tions in the country.
The collector was Ed (Ba1dy) Wright
They found Badly dead recently-the
victim of a heart attack-dead among
! the relics he'd worked a lifetime to
acquire.
The collection will soon be sold.
Badly left no will He wasn't the type
to do that. He didn't even have his
relics insured, much as he priced them.
They were his all-consuming pas
sion. Sheepherder he was, yes, but he
he was more than that. He was a
geologist, an archeologiSt. His life had
direction and purpose.
Badly Was Different
Your average ranch hand, during
the era in which Badly was thus en-
gagged, lived only for his next trip to
town, when he could blow his wages
in spree Not so with Badly. He ac-
quired property. Several years ago he
retired. But he kept right on riding
his hobby.
He never had much in a material
way, though. His house, devoid of
luxury, could have done with a new
paint job years ago and the floors
were bare and the furniture decrepit.
There wasn't any velvety lawn around
the place, or a flower bed.
Badly just didn't care about such
things. Had he owned a million dollars
he'd probably have lived Just as he
did, scratching around the countryside
for dfnosaur bones or arrowheadS and
asking nothing more out of life than
occasional success in his quest
Had he wanted to he could have
turned his collection into q medium
of revenue but Badly wouldn't COM
mercialize.
why don't you put up a sign on the
highway directing tourists here?" he
was frequently asked They'd pay to
see what you have"
But Badly never did. mo" he'd say,
II never had any money and wouldn't
know what to do with it if I did"
Not that he wasn't proud of his col
lection. He loved to show 1t off. He'd
take. you from room to room, talking
constantly.
Got any arrowheads?" you'd ask,
and he'd say, somewhat humbly,
yeah, a few"
The few consisted of a thousand
a showcase full Perfect heads and Of |
a wide color range, the prettiest being
q brilliant scarlet.
"See them guns?" he'd ask You'd |
look at several weapons of ancient |
vintage, all rusty save one, pistol |
which had newish nickel finish. He'd |
pick this one up, disgustedly.
"Fella from Texas sent me that. /
She's a Texas rangers gun. Said he'd |
fix 'er up for me. Got it all shined /
up, he did The dam fool ruined it. /
Made 'er look new"
He'd show you his 'petrified rib
roast, the vertebrate and ribs of some
creature from which he got /
mine gallons of brown gravy"
Bought Very Little
You wonder how one man could col
lect so much. He didn't buy much.
he got most Of 1t the hard way, find !
ing IL himself, or dickering with other Il
collectors, trading things he didn't II
want for things he did.
The collection includes Indian relics n
xalOre, head-dress moccasins, beads. Il
-obes, 8 lacrosse racket, meal mauls
md bowls, knives, mallets and hide
asswMVnnTa There In niao a ensrg3 effck ~