Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-09-25
Life at Fort Assinniboine, When Pershinq
Was There, Is Recalled by State Woman

At her home in Great Falls, Mrs
Robert L. McCulloh lives with rich
memories of the days when the west
was adventurous, romantic and dam
gerous, when each day OF life was an
exhilarating experience. She looks back
fondly at the time she lived at Fort
Assinniboine. near Havre, when 1t was
an isolated outpost; stagecoach travel
under the ever-present danger OF road
agents, and battles against the grim
forces of binding snow and cold.
What would We have cared about
a blizzard in the days Of old Fort As
sinniboine?" she said THE more con-
veniences people have the softer they
are"
The untrammelled life Of the great
west still was calling to her In her
past was the gayety Of an army post
under the shadow Of Chief Joseph and
Sitting Bull-a small group of persons
very close to each other because they
were rs miles from the nearest settle
ment. And out of that group had come
man who would one day command
the American armies in France.
Born In Far West Settlement
And it has all been so recent" she
insisted. How can times change so? I
can't tell it all You can guess the
rest"
There were, of course, the adven-
lures of childhood. Especially vivid in
her memory was the day in Logan,
Utah, the settlement where she was
born. The men had gone TO the sur
rounding fields to work when the Ute
indians came into town, demanding
back the skins they had sold to the
traders. But the traders had left for
Salt Lake City, the nearest settlement,
ia miles away.
Behind the house she peeked out and
saw the painted bucks grumbling in
circle. The white women brought food
as a peace offering and they refused
1t. Then she heard the familiar squeak
ing of her fathers grindstone. She ran
toward it Joyfully, but stopped in hor-
ror when she saw it was the Indians
sharpening their knives. The women
and children escaped through a barn
to neighbours house. When the men
came home the Indians had gone.
She was still little more than a child
when she was married to Robert Nc
Culloh of the firm Broadwater, Wilder
and McCulloh, the contractor who had
made his headquarters at the end of
the railroad. Soon she was bride liy-
ing in the frontier town of Helena.
Foiled the Road Agents
Visits home meant a seven DAYS
stage trip before she could take the
train at Corrinne. The stage creaked
under the weight of a full load that
night, just at dusk, as they approached
the canyon near Pocatello, Idaho. In
her lap she held her year-old son. The
only other woman, Mrs. Fuller, had
little girl the same age. The rest
were men. The Wells-Fargo Express
agents held guns across their knees to
guard the bullion.
The stage stopped. The express
agents got out. The others waited. Not
sound was heard except the breeze
brushing against the nloonlit noun
tains. The passengers sat silently in
the coach like shadows. Then the ex-
press agents returned. The big one
who sat in the rear was Mr.. Toby.
What was the matter?" asked Mrs.
McCulloh.
Nothing but a man down the road;
he was signalling with fire. But he
won't signal any more" said Mr. Toby.
Wlldl w SOu was ~ d lodu
agent and you killed him?"
He won't signal any more, that's
ALL And we'll stop at the next swing
station so we will meet his friends by
daylight
Before sunup the next morning they
drove into the gulch. Around the bend
came two dour looking men on foot.
Shotguns were leveled at them and
they passed on. The coach ahead had
been robbed and, they were to learn
later, the one behind them also. Mrs.
McCulloh saw the mail sacks that had
been ripped open and the letters scat
tered on the ground.
Travelled With Mercury 81 Below
It was when her husband became
trader at Fort Assinniboine, near the
Canadian border, that Mrs. McCulloh
set out to join him in the dead of
winter. Major Arthur brother of the
president, was starting out with a
guard of 20 men in three sleighs to
pay the troops at Fort Shaw, Fort
Benton and Fort Assinniboine.
From the bottom of one sleigh Mrs
McCulloh peeked out of the blankets
with her son, then years old. The
temperature was 81 below zero and
the snow was nearly four feet deep on
the level. The trip could normally be
completed in II days.