Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1942-03-27

through it. Indians fired on them from
ambush. killing two of them. The third
leaped from his horse and ran to the
neishboring creek, where he ensconced
himself behind pile of driftwood The
indians continued to fire, and the
prospector-Ford by name-returned 1t
as effectively as possible, even after
he was shot between the thumb and
first finger, and received a bullet
through the muscle Of his left arm.
After the second wound Ford ADAM
doned hope of escape. He was not only
becoming weak from loss Of blood, but
he had only one charge Of ammuni-
ton left. This he purposed to make
tell. Peering through his driftwood
barrier, he sighted an Indian who was
seated on the ground engaged in work.
ing over his revolver. Ford shot and
the Indian fell dead His companions,
now convinced of Ford,s unerring aim,
took flight.
When they were out Of sight, the
wounded man crawled from his refuge
and made the best of his way down
the river, until opposite the Davies
camp. where he was rescued and at
once tainted dead away. He was we'll
cared for at the Davies home. until he
recovered sufficiently to be sent to
Bozeman.
A party Of five men that season de-
cided to go by boat down the river.
1t being the quickest and easiest way
of travelling. They traded a couple of
horses for provisions; stole a boat
and set out. Their fate would have
been prophesied by any old-time Sum-
day school book. They never reached
their destination, and it was believed
they were killed by the Indians. Quite
likely they would have been massacred
had the boat not been stolen.
Again, two men were building them
selves boat at some point below the
mouth of the canyon when, 1t is said,
they were attacked by 20 Indians. The
number 40" appearing as often in ac-
counts as the mystical seven in Holy
Writ. Whether there were always just
20 or not, matters little There doubt
less seemed to be hundred to those
attacked. At any rate there were
enough of them to convince the men
it would be wise to flee.
Reached Emigrant Gulch
Climbing neighboring bluff, they
hastily constructed a breastwork of
rocks, when one Of them incautiously
raising his head above it, was shot,
and fell dead. The Indians, however.
were ignorant of this fact and sur
rounding the bluff, poured in a con-
tinuous fire at the lone man at its
summit. At length they tired of the
sport and went away. The surviving
nan buried his friend and then found
is way to Emigrant gulch and later
down the river
In August of the same year of 1865.
Colonel Kimball and a man named
Bum were journeying to the Yellow
stone from Bozeman. Some Indians.
claiming to be Flatheads, met them
with the friendly salutation of How,
howl" Accepting their preferred friend
ship in good faith, Colonel Kimball
advanced to meet them, and while in
the act of shaking hands with one,
was shot by another Indian, and in
stantly killed.
Bum escaped by hiding in the brush,
and after nightfall retraced his steps
to Bozeman, which he reached more
dead than alive. He never recovered
from the shock of this tragic expert
ence and persisted the following win
ter, not from the effects Of the Indian
attack, but from being frozen to death.
From the foregoing it will be seen
there was plenty of excitement in the
Yellowstone country and along the
ordinary routes of immigrant travel
during 1865. !