The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1941-01-09
sEcOND INSTALLMENT.

he time the white man was first
this district-)
SECOND INSTALLMENT.
In the first part of March 1924
he expedition made camp at He'll .
Gate. about where Missoula now
stands TN this encampment we
remained for day or two, and our
hunters killed four wild horses. Just
at the time we were starting one /
and in the act of crossing |
a dark ravine not far from our
camp. about 20 of these beautiful
and hardy tenants of the mountains
came dashing down from neigh
boring height, with their shaggy
names and long tails waving in the
wind, but with all their keen scent,
the rifles of our hunters brought 4
of them to the ground before they
had time to turn around. 1t is rare
thing for them to be entrapped or
approached, and our hunters were
more delighted with their success
in this little adventure than il they
had killed hundred buffalo. We
also got n elks and 81 small. deer
at this place, which secured the par
ty for q while from hunger
Record Big Horn Head
Passing on up the Bitterroot Val
ley elk, deer, and mountain goats
were very numerous In Ross Hole
the party, which was held up by
deep snow, subsisted for about a
month chiefly on mountain sheep,
which were abundant in the noun
tains. THE big horn sheep party
had good luck during several days;
but these animals were smaller IN
size than I had been in the habit
OF seeing elsewhere, with heads very
disproportionate to the size OF their
bodies, and horns still more dis
proportionate to the size OF the
head. The average weight OF these
animals was 70 pounds, and the
head of the male generally weighed
as much as third OF the body,
while the horns were twice the
weight of the head without them.
One OF the rams horns brought in
| to our camp measured forty-nlne
inches in length, following the curve
or greatest circle round the convex
side; and the circumference in the
thickest part was % inches. This
horn weighed IL pounds
If these measurements can be re-
he'd on, this is an all-time record
head
Ross found buffalo abundant in
the Big Hole Basin and encountered
immense herds of buffalo in the
Salmon River country in Idaho
/ The nresence of wild horses IL
the western Montana mountains in
dicates how rapidly they had spread
over the West in the less than BOX
years since the stock first escaped
from the early Spanish conqulsta.
doris. Lewis and Clark mention
seeing two wild mares and a colt In
the Bitterroot, but remark that they
were the first they had seen since
/ they left the mouth of the Mussel
A shell.
/ Saw Many Wild Horses
! Wild horses were abundant along
the Missouri river. The artist, Cat
lin, in 1882 gives an interesting de
scription of the wild horses OF thu
plains along the Missouri.
The wild horse Of these regions
is a small, but very powerful ami
NAL, with an exceedingly promi
|nent eye, sharp nose, high nostril
small feet and delicate leg, and un
doubtedly have come from a stool
!, introduced by the Spaniards at tn
time Of the invasion of Mexico
which, having strayed off upon tn
prairies, have run wild, and stocke'
the plains from there to Lake Win
! nipeg, two or three thousand mile
/ to the north"
He describes a herd on the Re-
River.
, In the herd we saw all the col
! ors nearly that can be seen in
kennel OF English hounds. Som
: were milk white, some jet black
5 others were sorrel, and bay, an
cream color-many were Of an iro
+ grey, and others were pied, con
! tanning variety of colors on tn
$ same animal. The names were yer
: profuse, and hanging in the wilde.
confusion over their necks and face
: and their long tails swept tn
! ground"
While the Northwest and Hudso
1 Bay trappers were invading Nor
D tana from the West, the fur com
panies from ST. Louis were TO
s lowing closely after Lewis an
: Clark up the Missouri and yellow
I stone. That redoubtable Spaniar'
Manuel Lisa, led the way with h
post on the Yellowstone in 100
and even dared to penetrate as II
as the Three Forks of the Missouri
though the Blackfeet made sho
work of disposing of that invasic
. of their hunting grounds.
Fort Union, built by the Amer
!; can Fur Company about 1880.
e the junction of the Yellowstone ar
the Missouri, became the center I
the fur trade in that region. Man
! natnralists and sportsmen attractt
by the reports of the vast stores
;, new flora and fauna in this gan
s paradise assembled the Nilsson
river and enjoyed the baronial no
pitality of the fort. The naturalist
: Bradbury, Nuttall, and Audubo
day you can stand
4 Cfrntpht IN md mt down on VOL