Glacier County chief. [volume], February 18, 1938, Image 2

About Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
WOMAN HONORED
BY FAIR BOARD
HELENA RESIDENT APPOINTED TO
1939 WORLD FAIR ADVISORY
COMMITTEE
Mrs. Richard R. Purcell, One of Mon
tana's Active Women Leaders Re
quested to Serve by Grover Whalen,
President.
Mrs. Richard R- Purcell of Hel
ena, was honored a few days ago
by appointment to the national
advisory committee on women's
participation for the New York
world's fair of 1939.
The request that she serve on the
board came from Grover Whalen,
president of the worlds fair board.
In his letter to Mrs. Purcell. Mr.
Whalen said:
"You, as one of Montana’s active
women leaders, will undoubtedly be
interested in seeing Montana take its
place among the states of the nation
at the world’s fair of 1939 in New
York.
“It is important the women of your
state should have a voice in the plan
ning and operation of the New York
worlds fair. Accordingly, we are or
ganizing a national advisory committee
on women's participation, which will
be composed of dominant women lead
ers in each state, the general chairman
of which is Mrs. Vincent Astor. The
purpose of this committee is to advise
the New York world’s fair board on
matters which may arise affecting the
interests of the people in Montana and
to co-operate in any way mutually ad
vantageous.
To Keep Informed
“The chairman of the national ad
visory committee on women’s partici
pation for the state of Montana is
Mrs. Tom Walker of Butte, who will
keep the New York world’s fair author
ities informed as to what the state of
Montana is thinking and doing about
the fair. and. in turn, will be kept ad
vised of its progress and development
and of any activities for this committee.
“In this connection I cordially invite
you to serve as a member of the nation
al advisory committee for Montana
... I shall appreciate your informing
me whether you will be able to accept
this invitation to serve as a member
of the committee.”
Mrs. Purcell has written Mr. Whalen
that she will be pleased to accept the
position and co-operate in every pos
sible way.
HIGHWAY PATROL
AIDS YOUNG LAD
A good Samaritan role in true
parable style was re-enacted near
Anaconda a few days ago by High
way Patrolman Virgil Farrar when
he aided a cold, leg-weary and
hungry 14-year-old youth, hitch
hiking from Montana to Utah.
Walking on the wrong side of the
road, the highway patrolman inquired
of the youth why he was hitch-hiking
in such cold weather. The youth then
told a tale of walking for 12 hours
without a ride from passing motorists.
The patrolman took the youth as
far as Melrose, where he arranged with
railway employes to place the boy
aboard the caboose on a southbound
freight train. The patrolman purchased
a hearty meal, which the youth ate
with zest. An appreciative thanks was
given to the guardian of the highway
by the youth before he continued his
journey to Utah to live with an uncle.
GRAZING TRACT
25.000 Acres at $3 Per Acre
AGRICULTURAL LANDS
In the Clark’s Fork valley, term* of
10 percent down, balance 10 vearly
payments, bearing 6 percent inter
-*t. For further information, write
Anaconda Copper Mining Co.
Lands Department
I)rawer 1243 Missoula, Mont.
QLOMDCk
2/j YnsOio "
KENTUCKY STRAIGHT
BOURBON WHISKEY
Thi* fine whiskey is 96 proof and 2J4
years old and was distilled in Kentucky
by native Kentuckians
CODE 578, J PTS.; 57C, PTS.;
NOS. 57E, QTS.
Bottled By STITZEL-WELLER DIS
TILLERY, Inc., Shively, Kv.
AHEAD OF THE RESTIH
Gazelle, are famous for their haste \ 1 J
(And CAL VEST’S fomou* for •> tatfe) WfiK
Gazelles are skilled in graceful flight BAA
(And Ml mates CALVERTS blends just right)
Im s,»,s rroms l(
■UMmunw"
THWMf ।
stwiLM HSr h
•sumrrs "masi"'l
sw«u» W
fissusrexj
CAIL FOR
Calvert
WHtSKIISt
g
Last of Montana’s Old-Time Steamboat
Promoters Has Gone “Upstream” Forever
By EDNA LaMOORE WALDO
With the passing Jan. 28 of Cap
tain Isaac Post Baker, pioneer
Missouri riverman and associate of
the late T. C. Power interests in
Montana, the last of the old-time
steamboat promoters has gone for
ever "upstream.” Missing from
Bannack streets will be his erect
figure, his proud southern bearing,
his colorful and detailed remi
niscences of a glamorous day that
is gone.
। Coming first to Bismarck in 1876,
I while he was still associated with his
father, John Finley Baker, in river
! transportation out of St. Louis, “I. P.”
I settled there in the early ’Bo’s as super
intendent for the Benton line of steam
boats and their widespread western in
terests. Although he had a pilot’s
license and knew the river intimately
from St. Louis to Fort Benton, Cap
tain Baker was most concerned about
the business end of transportation
from the great inland empire to east
ern and southern markets.
Aided West’s Development
Sprung from a long line of rivermen
who had done everything from float
ing barges down the Ohio and Missis
sippi. sending the first steamboat up
the Kansas or Kaw river, to organizing
banks, overland freighting outfits, and
transportation companies in St. Louis’
palmy days. “I. P.” had a part in every
phase of western development. He was
interested in mining, ranching, large
scale hog farming, banking. In the
stage lines the Power brothers op
erated from Fort Benton to Helena and
other Montana points, and in all sorts
of political affairs.
Eloquent evidence of his manifold
activities was to be found in his apart
ment where autographed pictures of
military’ and political personages
crowded Indian trophies and portraits,
old stage and hotel posters from Mon
tana, symbols of the Block P line of
steamboats, photographs of boats
frozen in the ice. boats loaded with
buffalo hides, boats being launched or
drawn up in dry’ dock at the Baker
warehouses. There was a facsimile of
Mark Twain’s river pilot’s license,
actual family letters from the great
humorist who lived across the street
from the Baker’s in St. Louis, and a
host of priceless documents connected
with territorial history’ in Dakota and
Montana. His library of first editions
Picture-Written Autobiography
of Chief Sitting Bull Is Found
An original and hitherto un
known picture-written autobiog
raphy of the Sioux warrior. Sitting
Bull, leader of the Indians in the
battle of the Little Big Hom in
Montana, has been obtained by the
bureau of American ethnology of
the Smithsonian institution.
During the winter of 1882 Sitting
Bull was a closely guarded prisoner
at Fort Randall, Dakota territory. He
formed a friendship with Lieut. Wal
lace Tear, an officer of the 25th in
fantry, which was stationed at that
post. Tear, who served through the
Civil war as an enlisted man. had a
deep affection for his commanding
officer, Gen. John C. Smith, who then
was retired from the army and en
gaged in politics in Chicago. He per
suaded the Sioux leader to "write’’ this
story of his life, intending to use it
as a unique present to General Smith.
Sitting Bull. Tear says in his letter
to the general accompanying the
manuscript, readily agreed. The life of
the prisoner at the army post was
monotonous and the Indian welcomed
any diversion to pass the time away.
He told the story of his early life in
a series of 30 drawings, each depicting
some exploit. He had done the same,
in cruder fashion. 12 years earlier. This
manuscript has never, as far as is
known, been seen by a white man. It
was copied by an Indian named Four
Horns and several photostat copies
exist. The present manuscript has been
completely unknown to biographers of
Sitting Bull. He was an older man and
had had time for reflection. He had
learned, among other things, to write
his name and each drawing is signed
with his signature. The early autobiog
raphy is signed only with little pictures
of a bull sitting on its haunches.
Silent on Custer
Although Sitting Bull agreed readily
to draw the story of his early life and
his Indian cambats, he steadily refused
to touch on any of his encounters with
white men. especially with Custer.
Lieutenant Tear sent the manuscript
to General Smith, from whom it was
inherited by his son, Robert A. Smith
of Bellingham. Wash. Smith presented
it to the Smithsonian institution to in
sure its preservation as an historical
record.
Each picture shows Sitting Bull on
horseback, engaged in a combat. Human
figures of both himself and his oppo
nents are crudely drawn. Pictures of
the horses are true works of art. The
whole constitutes a remarkable revela
tion of the psychological attitude of
the plains Indians, which certainly was
Iffuiwrtvßl
El Wrn
GLACIER COUNTY CHIEF
-
I
ISAAC POST BAKER
Whose colorful career ended recently
as another early-day Missouri river
man went “upstream” forever.
on the west and of Americana was re
markable and he had one of the most
extensive newspaper clipping collec
tions in the country.
Not only • while the big boats plied
their way upstream with supplies lor
military posts. Indian agencies, and
booming river towns, returning with
huge bales of buffalo, antelope, deer
skins and gold shipments, but at long
last when in the new century only his
own coal and grain barges kept the
river open. Isaac P. Baker continued
to believe in the possibilities of river
transportation. Although he worked ac
tively for the completion of the rail
road bridge at Bismarck which, after
a delay of 10 years, brought the North
ern Pacific to the west in 1883, know-
not understood by the white men with
whom they fought and is hardly com
prehended today.
It is the autobiography of a gentle
man and a "happy warrior.” Granted
that Sitting Bull may have been actu
ated by the natural human desire of
putting himself in the best light pos
sible, even when given the worst inter
pretation. the manuscript depicts a
man worthy of a good deal of respect.
He was reared in a tradition of war
fare quite different from that of white
men. Indian war exploits might be
compared with stunts of college boys
after a football victory. The extreme
contempt with which Sitting Bull and
his followers regarded most white men
might be compared to the contempt
which would be felt for a college jan
itor who. catching a group of sopho
mores putting a mule in the chapel
belfry, drew a revolver and killed every
one of them. The white attitude of
fighting to kill and of actual hatred
for the enemy was something beyond
Sitting Bull's comprehension.
First Fight at 16
He started his career as a warrior,
as depicted in the first picture, as a
boy of 16 in a fight with the Assinni
boines in “the land of the Sioux.” He
was fortunate in catching a prisoner
whom he kept for a few days and then
sent back to his people with the gift of
his captor’s own horse and “bonnet."
In another battle with the Assinni
boines the same year he captured five
women. It was customary when a war
rior touched a woman of the enemy
with his lance for her to become his
prisoner without further resistance. He
took them to his camp, fed them well,
gave them presents and then sent
them home with instructions to tell
their people what fine treatment they
received. That was always Sitting Bull’s
way with women—the way of a high
class gentleman. Time after time he
tells of capturing them and always
sending them home, unless they vol
untarily remained in the Sioux camp,
where they could find husbands. Why'
did he capture them? Each captive
counted for one “coup.” the sum of the
“coups” making up the score on the
individual in this game of war the |
Indians played.
Once he captured a boy—Jumping
Bull. The warrior adopted the lad and
developed a great affection for him.
Jumping Bull was generally considered
as his son but Is sometimes mentioned
as his brother. At the time he pro
duced this autobiography the warrior
was worried over the fate of Jumping I
Bull, then a prisoner of the white men .
at Fort Yates, where he himself was
later to meet his end. In the battle!
with the Assinniboines in which Jump-1
Ing Bull was captured. Sitting Bull J
went against gunfire for the first time
and was wounded in the leg. Several
men were killed in this battle and the
Sioux considered it decidedly unsports
manlike. War was changing from a
sport of gentlemen.
He killed his first man at 20, another
picture shows. But it was almost an
accidental killing. In an Indian battle,
as in a football game, somebody was
likely to get hurt. This added to the
zest of the sport.
Invariably when Sitting Bull took a
prisoner it was good luck for the cap
tive, so far as his material welfare was
concerned. The captor loaded him
down with presents, fed him royally
and sent him home but not exactly in
triumph because the poor fellow had to
face the disgrace of having been bested
in battle. But as the autobiography
progresses there is evidence that the
old friendly rivalry between tribes Is
passing. There's querulous complaints
about poor sportsmanship of the Crows
with whom Sitting Bull wanted to live
on friendly terms, with only an oc
casional killing and horse stealing to
add zest to life.
lieutenant Tear urged him repeated
ly to draw his recollections of the battle
with Custer. He doggedly refused. For
once in his life Sitting Bull fought in
earnest and not as a ’’sport?’ He
couldn’t understand, he told Tear, how
anybody could criticise him. Xf war
wm to be made a killing bustnaas ha
alao could play that kind of a game.
College Lists
7 fellowships
Within the next three months,
seven graduate fellowships for
students who demonstrate good
scholarship, character and promise
will be awarded at Montana State
college, according to Dr. F. B.
Cotner, chairman of the graduate
division. Any graduate of a recog
nized college or university may
apply.
Dr. Cotner explains that the fellow
ships have a cash value of from $460
to S6OO and also exempt students from
certain fees. Students earning them
must also carry out a definite program
approved by the graduate division.
One of these, the Walsh fellowship,
provided by the late Sen. T. J. Walsh,
represents $425. The winner must spend
the next year at Montana State college
in a science study that promises to
make a worthy contribution to agricul
ture. Selection of this student will be
made in March.
Then there are four research fellow
ships with which students may carry
on a systematic research program on
a Montana agricultural experiment
station project. These have a cash value
of $450 each, paid largely in monthly
installments. Holders of these fellow
ships may carry a sufficient program
of graduate courses to earn a master’s
degree in one year. These also will be
awarded in March.
The remaining two are teaching fel
lowships. each worth from S4OO to S6OO,
Dr. Cotner said. Recipients of these
fellowships spend half their time tak
ing work leading to a master’s degree
and the other half teaching. One will
be awarded In bacteriology and the
other in engineering physics, both dur
ing April.
ing that to a great extent it would end
the usefulness of the steamboat, the
captain still felt that there was a place,
always would be a place, for river
boats.
To newspaper men in 1909 he said:
The waterways of the United States
will always stand as a club to the rail
roads in the northwest. The boat line
we are now operating has been made
profitable by the agricultural develop
ment of the country. The Missouri is
still navigable from Fort Benton to
St. Louis in high water and the re
moval of snags will make it possible the
year ’round.”
Transportation in His Blood
For river transportation was in his
blood. From Lancaster. Pa., and Au
mista, Ky.. his family had gone to
Weston. Mo., where his father was
once associated in business with Elijah
Cody, an uncle of the famous "Buffalo
Bill.” selling out to him in 1852 for
$25,000. John Finley Baker was a close
friend of Zebulon Pike and of the
Hollidays who backed the Pony Ex
press in its first days. In fact, the
express was to have started from
Weston but because the new railroad
was built to St. Joseph instead, the
latter town won not only the honor
of that romantic mail service but all
the business in that vicinity as well.
The year before “I. P.” was bom his
father had sent the first steamboat
up the Kansas river, carrying quarter
master and commissary supplies to the
newly built Fort Riley. 125 miles west of
Fort Leavenworth. By the time the
young Baker was ready to go to work,
his family was deep in the river bus
iness between St. Louis and New
Orleans and to some extent on the
upper Mississippi. They had also ex
tensive warehouses and banking in
terests in Missouri, residing then in
St. Louis.
That the firm of Tutt and Baker was
interested in Montana long before
“I. P.” joined the Power outfit is
shown by a letter received by them
Oct. 31. 1865, from a Helena corres
pondent. After discussing a gold ship
ment of $45,000 already made and the
exchange "this year being the largest
portion of our profits.” the writer
asked for information on the cattle
market in upper Missouri and lowa,
saying: "We will want about 200 voke
of good oxen and we prefer to buy
them in the spring at about the same
price or even $lO per yoke higher than
now and take the chance of going
through the winter. We will want not
less than 50 wagons for freighting and
you must post up fully and advise me.
We will want not less than 100 tons
by the very first boats of certain kinds
of goods, provided we can make suit-
Wiiicen! a
Our Family’s Whiskey Goes Way
Back to Grandpa Wilken’s Day
That Pcnonal Family Redpa of
our* take* in *ll the whiikey learn
ing that three generationa of ua
Wilken* have picked up. In Grand
pa Wilken** day folia rode far and
con. m*.™* WIUCfN TAMKT.INC. AIAOOIN,SCHIHIIV T.O,TA.-VO MOOT—TH* muUOHt
WH»UU IN THI* nooucr AM TO MONTH* O« MOM 010, >M IT«AK>HT WHIUOII. 7M O«AIH
niutim mwt*, toe meiam whiiuv ao month* ou>, m *t*aioht whuoy a viam out.
M *M State Ueeer Stereo. Maa* aoNaa* *a o*mmso wHlwa* aoNee.
Wilken Family
BLENDED WHISKEY J
'S JiflK
T. C. POWER
President of Benton Transportation
Co., organized in 1879.
able freight arrangements. We ought
to have not less than $60,000 gold dust
to send by first boats so you can see
we are so far in good fix We suppose
dried apples have reached their lowest
point before Dent iTutt) returns. Buy
500 bushels but we want bright, new
apples as we can't sell any others. We
shall want a large amount of tobacco,
chewing, snuff, and smoking. We now
have on hand about $25,000 in dust but
no way of sending it.”
In 1879 the Benton Transportation
Co. was organized, with T. C. Power,
president: John W. Power, vice pres
ident: John H. Charles, secretary, and
I. P. Baker, superintendent. The
Powers were in Montana. Charles, who
had been up the river at a very early
date, in Sioux City, and Baker in Bis
marck. They owned 10 boats at one
time, including the Benton, the Hel
ena. the Black Hills, the Judith, and
the General Terry, and operated above
Sioux City entirely. J. H. McNight of
Montana was another stockholder.
The Powers had long been active in
many enterprises all over the opening
northwestern country: a Power had
been sutler with Sully on his expedi
tion in 1864. Now the new company ad
vertised extensively in the east, prom
ising voyages de luxe to the "mint of
the world. Montana.” Mail and express
was nicked up at the rail end at Bis
marck and much freight was always
carried. Soon the Benton line had
many government contracts for trans
porting supplies to military posts and
Indian agencies, later on carrying the
Indians themselves, after their sur
render. from Montana down to the
Standing Rock and other reservations.
By 1910 Captain Baker alone was
operating on the river, having organ
ized the Benton Packet Co., with six
boats and several barges. The Expan
sion. built at Bismarck that year, was
said to be the lightest draft boat ever
put on the Missouri; there were also
the Deapolis. the Frayne, the Wash
burn. and the Bismarck. West of Bis
marck the railroads touch the Missouri
in only a few places and Baker had a
small elevator at each of his landings,
bringing grain down to the railroad
at Bismarck in his barges. Old-time
steamboat captains like Grant Marsh.
William Sims. C. W. Blunt, and many
others worked on his boats in their de
clining years. His operations extended,
even at that late date, as far as the
mouth of the Milk river in Montana
and up the Yellowstone to Glendive.
On the up trips coal, lumber and ma
chinery were carried, on the way down,
before the grain movements began,
livestock, wool and hides.
Captain Baker was a strict disciplin
arian. almost fanatically devoted to the
interests of the Missouri river and al!
those who had any connection with it.
and so was often referred to as "the
man who owns the Missouri.” That
was not. however, his only claim to
fame. He was a member of many
learned societies, the recipient of
numerous important appointments at
the hands of the Democratic party,
including that of fuel administrator for
North Dakota during the World war.
and has an extensive biography in
"Who’s Who in America.”
wide to get thdr Jucftil* at our
Family 1 * Whiikey, but noiraday*
It** ndghty handy fee anyone to
get the aeUbame whiikey ui die
tillendrink. Harry B. Wilken
GENERAL FUND Of]
STATE IMPROV^
IS IN BEST CONDITION snJ
1M& SAYS MONTANA >
ACCOUNTANT I
Montana I* “Paying a* It J
Also Retiring Debts, Whi k . w
its Way Into a Sound fi.Jm
Position.
The state general lund ....
better condition Jan. 31,
at any time since 1911), iv’i,,*
Hosking, state accountant
a report to Gov. Roy E.
On Jan. 1, 1937, the
2I e A draft approximate); mA
while on Jan. 31, 1938. it
$116,000" Mr. Hosking said™ " 3
factors in reducing the oveidranS
heavy collections in lnherS»l
cense and production taxes
enue from that type of tax i nc £j
the states income from pronertsij
decreased, due to delinquencies; to 3
on major classifications of prJJS
Bonds Issued *
„" Ir ‘ ' 93 3 the general fund ovwh
reached the record peak of nh/m?
000 000 and impaired the credit*!
state. In that year the slat. M
2T7 0M Ct U efUn a‘”?. ’''tauSS
237.000. These bonds are beinp
according to schedule each vea?s
±? est ' T il e bonds arc a “'" o 3
hcense and production taxes ml
which revenue funds to meet th. J
demands must be paid iH-fmi'S
money can be placed in t| le 'J
fund.
“While we are paying as
also retiring our debts, there su!
main about $3,696,000 of the rr-fini
bonds which have priority over
derived from the license and
tlon revenue. The money lereSfl
meet this interest and' sink'nfU
ea s,^'. < ; ar ls approximately .$3400111
While the state of Montana nri
mg its way into a very sound ft 3
position we are In no posit on tnd
additional heavy liabilities u •baJ
By continuing to practice . < nnoml
will continue to reduce our ob' ru
without additional burdens mJ
payers" 1
Newest Editioni
State Nursery BoJ
to Be Distribute
William J. Mills, assistant nuj
of the State Nursery & St id Colm
nounced recently that the comiM
1938 yearbook, containing pictures M
information about plants md floiH
that can be raised in Helen
be distributed. ■
Some of the features included in fl
1938 edition are the Russel Lupunfl
America winner, Salmon Supremfl
tunia, MartjTiia proboscides or u^afl
plant that is a vegetable as well isl
flower, and many others The jifl
book's cover page shows a n prodoM
of the company's giant uuua ■
natural color. ■
The book also features a new ^fl
of strawberry, which is grown bfl
seed and which may be grown etfl
outdoors or inside, also straWfl
barrels, which grow berrn thatfl
hardy and practical. ■
The back pages show the Trafl
state collection of vegetabh in naafl
colors. The book also coir cns pMB
graphs of several Helena b ridings fl
grounds that were landscaped by fl
State Nursery’ * Seed Co .. :fl
the federal building. Beat:.
park and tennis courts. Ticucfl
brary. Carroll college and Helena isl
school football field, shown.u the^H
feet turfs obtained.with st.r* Nunfl
famous Rocky Mountain :awn |fl
seed. ■
Another feature of int< rest is fl
new extra early Harkness 'tnaMfl
the cold northwest. fl
"Rolling pin” cakes an a poifl
delicacy in Czechoslovakia and®
baked on special occasions A; ■
name indicates, they are made iafl
shape of rolling pins. ^fl
MODERN WOMEI
Need Nol Saffir monthly pain nn<l • >y
coM3,nervoußatnun,exu<jourc<>rM:: ..-na*l
Chi-chet-tcnDiamondßrand Pill.' eiftod
rH:ri!>lcandgiveQ«kfclbU«f. Sold : y a.
>ll rrupgiatiforovirSOyar*. A«l»kr ZmBI
/pint 85cJEff
(qumt*l.6s