Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1943-01-08

covered there The cold was intense
that winter, which is said to have been
the worst Montana has ever exper-
fenced. Many of the miners were ter
ribly frozen, and but for the aid eX-
tended them by Father Ravalli. would
have lost their limbs, and in a num-
Der of cases their lives
The coming of the whites into the
territory the Indians claimed as their
own, led here. as elsewhere under
similar circumstances, to what might
have been expected, trouble between
two races, and a guerrilla warfare en-
sued. The whites were the invaders;
the Indians were making a desperate
effort to retain what was theirs. From
the latter part OF 1865 to 1870 the
struggle continued eliminating in the
Baker massacre following the murder
of Malcolm Clarke.
When the whites began to settle in
the Sun river valley, the Indians de-
manded a new site for the mission
and it was removed to the foot of the
Bird Tail divide.
Before the change was affected
Father Giorda had another trying ex-
perience, which is narrated by Father
Palladino:
Father Giorda had here a very mar
row escape from drowning. He was
crossing the Missouri on the ice one
evening toward dark, when the Icy
crust gave way under his feet. In
Stinctively, in the act of sinking he
spread his arm, which caught on the
ice beyond the break, and kept him
from being carried off by the swift
downstream current. He remained
thus suspended by his arms, head and
shoulders above the ice, the current
forcing his lower limbs against the
neither surface of the crust. In this
most critical position, he shouted for
help to his companions two brothers
and a Blackfeet Indian, who were still
within hearing distance. They has
tened to the rescue, but found it i'm
possible to reach him, the Ice giving
way under their feet as they attempted
to move toward him. Upon this, the
clever Indian advanced as far as the
ice would bear him up, and by means
of a long lariat brought the father
out, saving him from what seemed al
most inevitable death. Realizing that
after God, he owed his life to the
Blackfeet, Father Giorda made on that
occasion a VOW to devote the rest OF
his days, should his superior allow
him, to the salvation of the Black
feet"
Whites Killed By Indians
1t was not far from the last site OF
st. Peters Mission that some whites
were killed by Indians as was also one
of the mission hands. This alarmed
Father Giorda for the safety of those
at the mission, and removing them tc
the west side of the river, the mission
was abandoned for short time.
The next year Father Giorda was
called elsewhere, and St. Peters Mis-
sion was attached to that of Helena
with Father Imoda in charge of the
Blackfeet He went there once a veal
ordinarily, but during smallpox cpl
demic, the father remained there until
it abated Once while on his way
there, he and his companion, were left
without food, their horses and provi-
sions having been stolen by the very
Indians they sought to benefit.
Others of their order besides Father
Giorda met with unpleasant eXper-
fences. During the early days of the
mission, the fathers were forced to be
content with buckskin trousers, as
were the trappers, and some of the