Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-09-19
Life at Fort Assinniboine, When Pershinq
Was There, Is Recalled by State Woman

At her home in Great Fails, Mrs
Robert l. McCulloh lives with ricf
memories Of the days when the wesi
was adventurous, romantic and dan.
4 gerous, when each day Of life was ar
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
sinniboine7" she said. 1.-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
we're 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 SOP 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
It, Then she heard the familiar squeak !
ing Of her fathers grindstone. She ran
toward 1t joyfully, but stopped IN hor- |
ror when she saw it was the Indians |
sharpening their knives. The women |
and children escaped through a barn
10 neighbor'S 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 liv-
ing in the frontier town of Helena.
Fooled the Road Agents
Visits home meant a seven DAYS
stage trip before she could take the
rain at Corrinne. The stage creaked
under the weight of fun load that
night, just at dusk, as they approached
he canyon near Pocatello, Idaho. In
Ter lap she held her year-old son. The
1nly other woman, Mrs. Fuller, had
! little girl the same age. The rest
we're men. The Wells-Fargo Express
agents held guns across their knees to
guard the bullion.
The stage stopped. The express
gents got out. The others waited. Not ,
! sound was heard except the breeze j
,rushing against the moonlit noun !
aims. The passengers sat silently In !
he coach like shadows. Then the ex- y
'ress agents returned. The big one +
Vho sat In the rear was MIR. Toby. In
What was the matter?" asked Mrs. /
dcCulloh. !
Nothing but q man down the road; a
lie was signalling with fire. But he Il
Ton't signal any more said Mr. Toby.
What do you mean? Was 1t road t
gent and you killed him2" v
HE won't signal any more, that's Il
Il. And wen stop at the next swing
5ation so we win meet his friends by v
aylight" "
Before sunup the next morning they 81
rove into the gulch. Around the bend A
anne two dour looking men on foot. u
hotguns were leveled at them and h
1ey passed on. The coach ahead had 81
zen robbed and, they we're to learn ii
ter, the one behind them also. Mrs. 81
IcCulloh saw the mail sacks that had II
cen ripped open and the letters scat b
red on the ground. q
raveled With Mercury 54 Below
It was when her husband became CT
ader at Fort Assinniboine, near the
anadian border, that Mrs. AcCulloh W
t out to join him in the dead of IL
inter. Major Arthur brother Of the as
was starting out with
lard OF 20 men in three sleighs to Al
" the troops at Fort Shaw, Fort of
snton and Fort Assinniboine. q
From the bottom of one sleigh Mrs BIZ
cCulloh peeked out Of the blankets di
It'll her son, then years old. The 81
mperatTe was 81 below zero and re
e snow was nearly four feet deep on in
e level. The trip could normally be m
mpleted In IL days. &C
sz.sususuuxaun...sus,uuuz