The Bozeman courier., September 02, 1927, Page PAGE THREE, Image 3

About The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
Days of the Fur Traders in the Northwest
The Old-Time Fur Trader Was a More Picturesque Character than Any Other in the West;
His Daily Life Was Replete With Dangers and Thrills; Hostile Indians Were Ever Present Peril
(By MRS. M. E, PLASSMANN)
T IS astonishing how the popular fan
cy in movie and fiction clings to the
cowboy period of Western history.
This has been exploited to such an
extent that what is told of it has be
come almost legendary, and a fixed t^e
is evolved, which bears but the faintest
resemblance to what it purports to rep
resent. Not only that, it continues to
hold the interest of the reading pubHc
and movie fans, with no sign of weaken
ing although relieved at times by stories
of holdups with their sheriff heroes.
Beside the trappers and fur traders of
our earlier history, the cowboy dwindles
into comparative insignificance. Whe
will this be universally recognized. The
trapper s life, although not brightened
and elevated by visiting school-ma ams.
was not void of romance. Many of them
took to themselves Indian wives, remam
ine faithful to them, and educating their
children They encountered dangers
manifold, with which the cowboy was
no more fitted to contend than any oth
er "tenderfoot," to which latter class the
cowboy belonged, f .
for a trapper without some thrilling epi
Sle* it might be a fight with Indians,
or a grizzly. He could outgamble. out
swear and outdrink any cowpuncher—
and ride? His days were a perpetual ro
deo when he was not forced to go afoot.
In the matter of picturesqueness, trapper
and cowboy could not meet on equa.
terms Sombrero and chaps, dwindled
Into insignificance beside the dress of
the mountain man, especially if he had
a squaw to decorate his apparel, wny
is it then, the trapper does not rank
higher in the estimation of the public.
I will answer this. In my opinion this
condition of affairs is due to the public s
ignorance of pretty much every thing
connected with the life of a trapper.
Still, there are faint indications that
the pendulum of interest is beginning
to swing in the trapper direction.
When our next president of the United
States, elects to take his summer outing
in Yellowstone or Glacier park, it is to
be hoped a committe of our prominent
citizens will wait upon him. and Invest
him, not with the toga of the statesman,
but the fringed and beaded buckskin
shirt girded with a scarlet sash, a fisher
can leggings and moccasins, likewise
beaded, an a gay 'kerchief to tie about
his neck. For weapons, there would be
a hunting knife and revolver—if a gun,
then a cartridge belt might take the
place of the scarf.
He could fish, if he chose, but with no
What he uses in
I
fancy tackle or flies,
this line, would necessarily be the work
of his own hands. He should sleep in a
tent, a tepee, or on the ground, with the
starry heavens as a canopy. His meals
should be cooked at a campfire, and of
an evening, beside this same campfire
he will hear tales of the old, old days,
like some that follow.
A Virginia boy ran away from home
and by wagon, horseback, or on foot,
ultimately found his way to St. Louis,
where he heard wonderful stories of the
Far West, of encounters with wild ani
mals and almost as wild men; of for
tunes to be gained by trapping beaver,
and the freedom to be had out there,
from all the restraining influences of
civilization. It was an alluring picture
this, when viewed from the standpoint
of an adventure-loving youth of nine
teen.
William Sublette, of the Rocky Moun
tain Pur company was then in St. Louis,
buying supplies and drumming up re
cruits. To him went the boy, and asked
to Join his company.
"You will be killed before you are half
way there," was Sublette's reply to the
callow youth before him.
"Then I can die." retorted the boy.
This answer made Sublette form a fa
Whem th© Iimdiams Raided Their Neighbors
N A WARNING to settlers of the Yel
lowstone valley published in various
papers early in 1886, the celebrated
William T. ("Uncle Billy") Hamilton
told the cattlemen when to look for In
dian raids. The item appeared under the
ambitious title of "Prognostications."
"From the first moon in April to high
water in June and from August to the
last of October—from the second to the
last of the third quarter in each moon
named—is the time to look for raids from
the northern Indians," the old frontiers
man advised.
"At the sight of Indians in the regions
outside of the reservation, let the gun
speak unless the party is accompanied
by w r hite men. Sheepmen are especially
warned to be on their guard at night
during these periods,
quire some moon to travel by night and
not likely to stir during the dark of
the moon. Raids may be expected this
year from the Piegans and Bloods and to
a lesser extent from Sioux and Asslni
bolnes."
Items from the press of the time as
well as historical accounts show that aft
tbe period of active Indian warfare
that the settlers in the eastern part of
Montana w^ere greatly annoyed by forays
bv small bands of Indians on horse steal
I
The Indians re
are
er
ing expeditions, ostensibly against other
tribes of Indians. Horses and cattle of
white men were liable to be run off in
stead of those of their Indian neighbors
and cattle or sheep killed for sustenance
while on the expeditions.
In the first decade of settlement in the
Yellowstone valley, bands of Indians from
the northwest and northeast frequently
made dashes into the Crow territory and
these Indians retaliated by forays into
the lands of their enemies.
Because of their alliance with the
whites to save their country from the
more powerful tribes, the Crows had
earned the contemptuous title of "wom
en" from the Blackfeet, although the
records of some of the skirmishes show
the Crows giving a good account of them
selves. The Blackfeet, of whom the
Bloods and Pigeans were branches, occu
pied the territory north of the Missouri
and east of the Rocky mountains. Be
tween them and the Crows to the south
of the Yellowstone was a wide territory
which during the decade became more
and more strongly occupied by stock
men. and their animals often fell prey
to the marauders especially if they were
returning empty handed from the land of
the Crow.
%
After the Sioux who took part in the
warfare of 1376 and 1877 had fled to the
Canadian border, the northeast part of
the territory became another center for
forays against the Crows and Sioux and
Assiniboines also figure in the role of
guerrillas although to a lesser degree.
From the earliest records, the Crows
are held to have been consummate horse
thieves and if not so bold in attack, they
were more crafty in the fine arts of steal
ing. To secure an enemy's horse unde
tected from the inner circle of lodges,
was one of the tests of chieftainship.
The petty warfare was by no means one
sided.
The annexing of some scalps on one of
these expeditions greatly enhanced the
reputation of the warriors. As a rule
however in the years after the tribes had
abandoned open hostility to the whites,
the stockman was not molested himself,
Occasionally however there were deaths
on both sides when irate owners attacked
the thieving Indians. Now and then there
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Sketcbby Charles M. Rasselt.
FREE TRAPPERS of the early days riding towards a fortified trading post.
vorable opinion of the applicant, and
he was engaged as a hired trapper, who
received the needful supplies from the
company .was subject to its orders, and
all the fur he brought in belonged to
the company and not to himself. At
the end of the year, the hired trapper
received a salary of four or five hundred
dollars. The free trapper on the con
trary, was subject to no one. He came
and went as he chose: but when he sold
his furs, he discovered, that according
to financial methods later common, the
price he received was dictated by the fur
company that controlled the market.
weather: to expect no coddling when the
While serving his apprenticeship, it
was better in every way for the boy to be
a hired trapper. He was forced to sub
mit to discipline, and taught the things
it was imperative he should learn in
order successfully to contend with the
wilderness. This included more than be
coming a horseman, swinging a lasso, or
branding cattle. He learned to ride?
Yes. He also learned to walk long dis
tances and for days at a time, over snow,
and when blizzards raged; to have no
warm bunkhouse awaiting him nightly,
to sleep out of doors, no matter what the
might be a murder, too, if the tracks
could be covered up or the odium thrown
on other redskins.
In the spring of 1884, a band of Pieg
ans descended on the Crow reservation
and stole a number of ponies belonging
to Chief Plenty Coos. On the way back,
they also picked up a number of horses
belonging to farmers at Young's Point
and Park City. About a dozen settlers
who were Joined by Plenty Coos and sev
eral Crows started in pursuit.
Pour of the party pushed ahead and
suddenly came upon the party of four
Indians early in the morning in the Hail
stone basin, north of Lake Basin. The
Indians were covered with guns and a
parley ensued as to whether they should
kill the Indians. Suddenly two of the
Indians fired and killed the two men op
posite them who had dropped their guns.
These men, James Tate and C. Ames were
said to have been the two who stood out
against killing the Indians.
The other whlfè men returned the fire
and one Indian was killed and another
wounded. Fortunately at this stage of
the game Plenty Coos came up and killed
another Indian who proved to be a Pieg
an and wounded another. The two live
Plgeans, both wounded made good their
escape on their horses but the stolen
band of ponies was recaptured. However
the death of the two men, one with a |
small family and the other with relatives
in the community brought gloom and a
feeling of insecurity to the community.
An early chronicle of this fight speaks
of "Plenticous, the famous Crow."
In August. 1885, there was considerable
excitement along the Yellowstone over a
raid by a band of Piegans who drove off
about a hundred ponies belonging to the
Crows. A band of 25 Crows started in
pursuit and camped opposite old Junc
tion City where they indulged in a war
dance and made medicine for their en
counter with the Piegans. The next day
they swam the Yellowstone with their
horses loaded with supplies and started
northward but were obviously in no h\ir
ry to meet «the Piegans.
Some of the whites were not so cau
tious concerning Piegans however. A par
ty led by Goulding killed three of the
Piegans. Another party led by the old
Indian fighter, "Liver Eating" Johnson
and Eugene Erwin struck off for the Bull
mountains to head off the party but the
results of the expedition, if any, are not
chronicled.
of
In an editorial of about the same time,
the Billings Herald accused the Indian
agents of standing in with the thieves of
their particular tribe and paying no at
tention to these forays by their wards.
The only way to put an end to the dep
redations, the editor said was to kill
every thieving redskin who strays from
his •reservation. He also advocates the
adoption of a detective system by the
stockmen to warn of stealing parties and
to insure them a warm reception. j
Raids by the Crows on their northern
Indian neighbors were perhaps naturally
viewed with more leniency. In comment
ing on a raid by the Crows on a Sioux
i band near Fort Peck in which a squaw
was killed and a number of horses stolen.
the same paper commented "The Sioux
are excited but as they have few arms
and little ammunition, they are not llke
ly to retaliate. One good result will be
that the Sioux will not cross the Missouri
this year as they know the Crows are well
armed, and consequently there will be
fewer cattle killed."
The years 1886 and 1887 seemed to
victim of an accident, or an Indian's
markmanship; to have a straight diet of
meat, or go without eating, just as it
happened—in other words to adapt him
self to his environment as the Indians
did. This was part of the schooling of
a mountain man.
it was a grizzly,
I and a good-sized one. Judging from its
Once, when in the mountains, the boy
and a companion strayed away from the
main company on a hunting expedition.
They were fortunate in killing a buffalo
cow. It was quickly skinned, a fire built
that would not make their presence
known to roving bands of Blackfeet, and
the choicest pieces cooked for their 1m
mediate consumption. It was late in the
Afternoon when their meal ended, and
th e hunters were too far from the main
cam P to reach it that night,
Weary, but no longer hungry, the two
made the best of the situation, by seek
ing the shelter afforded by a grove of
aspen, and wrapping their blankets about
them, laid down to sleep.
They were awakened early in the morn
ing by the sound of snuffling, and the
weight of some large animal walking
over them. At once the boy being from
i the south, "reckoned
abound in these raids and there were I
few months that some encounter with j
some of these small bands are not chron- |
icled. Cattle rustlers and horse thieves
of the white race were plentiful also and
sometimes the Indians were blamed for
the misdeeds of their white brothers.
There arose a demand that the military
authorities and Indian agents take harsh
er measures to stop the thieving prac
tises and after the Swordbearer trouble
in the fall of 1887 which was brought to
a head by the efforts of the Indian agent
at Crow agency to arrest Swordbearer
and his followers on their return frotn a
succesful raid against the Piegans. stern
measures of punishing offenders and a
greater surveillance of the movements of
the Indians gradually put an end to this
last manifestation of the warlike spirit of
the redmen.
George Deputee who was at an early
date an Indian trader on the Crow agen
cy and who died there several years ago
often told of a fight between the Sioux
and Crows about 1888 which he claimed
was the last hostile encounter between
the two tribes. A party of Sioux war
riors came over the Wolf mountains on
a horse stealing expedition. Their ardor
cooled however and they decided to make
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WILLIAM T. HAMILTON, who came into'.he Rocky Mountains and visited Montana as
early as 1847.
weight, that was making the disturbance.
The bear was in search of some pieces of
buffalo meat the hunters had provid
ently hidden under their heads and their
blankets the night before.
Not understanding what had awaken
ed him, the other man half rose to see
what was tramping over him, when the
boy whispered, "Lie down! It's a bear."
The man disappeared under his blanket
Just in time; for the bear, hearing the
voice, rushed back to investigate. He
found the meat under the boy's head,
and retired to devour it, when some
thing was said that brought his bear ship
in a rush to the spot.
A full-grown grizzly is no light weight,
and it took a good deal of will power to
keep from crying out when the animal
used the recumbent hunters as a rug,
but they managed to endure in silence,
until the boy, peeping from under cover
sighted the bear busily engaged in stow
ing away the buffalo meat, when cau
tiously aiming the gun lying by his side,
he killed the creature, and saved the re
mainder of the buffalo, which was taken
rades, drifted back to the east without
horses and thankful for their own scalps,
back to the main camp, after the two
it a friendly visit instead with the prob
ability that the gifts they would receive
would be quite equal to what they could
steal,
horses had strayed and been discovered
others before they at last fell from the
bullets of their enemies. It was dlscov
ered afterward that the Crow who was
killed had been adopted into the tribe
years before from the Sioux tribe after
marrying an Absaroka maiden and that
he was a brother-in-law of one of the
Sioux. The other Sioux who had not
dared to come to the aid of their com
Two of the Indians stood out for the
original plan and finally started out
alone while the other Indians stayed in
the foothills. The Indians managed to
crawl near the Crow encampment and
were waiting nightfall when a commo
tion in the camp told them their own
Taking the only chance, they seized the
first Crow horses they could find, but
they were old nags and the Crows soon
had them surrounded.
They managed to get in some brush
however where there was a natural em
bankment. Jumping quickly into the
air and firing and then falling back
again, they stood off a hundred or more
Crows and killed and wounded several
had breakfasted. Note. (This should
have been the manner of the killing; in
truth the bear became frightened, ran
down the mountain, when the boy fol
lowed and killed him.)
The disposition of meat was made in
this manner. A man. standing with his
back toward it, called a number, desig
nating one of the messes into which the
company was divided, and the meat went
to it, or the name of the bourgeois—the
leader—-was called, and he became the
recipient.
Not always were the boy's experiences
of an amusing nature, like the foregoing.
Sublette had chosen to trap on middle
ground, almost unknown to white men.
He had gone to the headwaters of the
Snake river where there was an abund
ance of beaver, but also it was a favor
ite hunting ground of the Blackfeet, the
most feared of all the northern Indian
tribes .
These tolerated no Invasion of their
territory by either white man or Indian.
The company, led by Sublette were
traveling in a north-easterly direction,
and were on the Gallatin, when the
Blackfeet attacked them, killing two
men, and putting the rest to flight. The
boy escaped, but only to find himself
alone, surrounded by Indians, and with
no knowledge of the country.
It was November, and very cold in the
mountains already white with snow.
Concealing the mule he had ridden in
the timber, the boy climbed to the top
of the highest peak in the vicinity, and
looked about him. His company was not
in sight, but a wonderful landscape view
unrolled Itself in every direction. Below
him was the Yellowstone flowing east
ward. To the north he caught glimpses
of the Missouri on its way to Join the
Mississippi; back of him was the Snake
river hastening to the Columbia, and
south, mountain after mountain tower
ed, their peaks snow white against the
faultless blue of the sky.
He pondered long what he should do,
but not until boylike, he had wept bit
terly. Deciding to go southeast into the
Crow Country, "a land of plenty—as the
mountain man regards plenty,—and
there he could at least live; provided the
Crows permitted him to do so."
» Retrieving' his mule he set out. He
dared not build a fire on account of the
Indians, and to spend the night without
one meant freezing to death. The morn
ing found him some thirty miles from
his starting point. He had crossed the
Yellowstone, and was again among the
mountains, where he was forced to leave
the mule and go on foot, taking only
one blanket and his gun, and he had
eaten nothing for two days.
About twenty miles south he came
upon a band of mountain sheep, one of
which he killed and ate; then he slept.
On awakening a bitter wind was blow
ing, and again he set out taking with
him as much of the meat as he could
carry. Not a sound broke the silence.
No bird could live in that frozen waste,
and whatever other animals the moun
tains harbored made rfo sound. It was a
solitude Zimmermann might have en
vied.
On the fifth day of his Journey, the
boy ate the last of his mutton, and then
climbed an eminence east of his camp,
when he was startled to see a vast field
covered at intervals by cone-shaped ele
vations, from which issued steam and
columns of boiling water. It was a
strange sight, reminding the boy of Pitts
burgh as he had last seen It. Compli
mentary or not to that city, the boy said
it looked like the hell described by the
preachers, and it might be that for all he
knew.
One thing was certain. He was cold,
and below was warmth. So down he
climbed, to find the earth, when he
reached the plain, giving back a hollow
sound as he went forward. While thaw
ing out he reflected "If it war hell, it
war a more agreeable climate- than he
had been in for some time."
Once more comfortable in body, but
hungry and lonesome, the boy was sud
denly startled by hearing two shots fired,
followed by blood-curdling Indian war
whoops. Grasping his gun in prepara
tion for defense, a voice spoke in good
English. "Well, I swan! If it isn't the
boy." The latter had passed his initia
tion. and was now recognized as a mem
ber of the honorable fraternity of Moun
tain men.
These two stories from "The River of
the West," are enough for one evening;
the campfire is burning low, and dawn
comes early in summer, yet as a kind of
verbal nightcap to Induce pleasant
dreams, is added this of a hunting expe
dition undertaken by the boy and Milton
Sublette. When they were entirely un
prepared. a large grizzly charged out of
a thicket, and took after Sublette, who
promptly sought the tallest tree. The
boy, seeing his companion was likely to
be overtaken, fired, and killed the bear.
Approaching the tree, he found Sublette
MARTIN GRANDE
HOST AT P ARTY
PIONEER SHEEPMAN OF MUSSELSHELL
VALLEY SURPRISED BY 150
FRIENDS ON 83RD BIRTHDAY
\
With William Smith He Trailed First
Band of Woolles Into That Section
from Boise, Idaho, In 1877—Still Hale
and Hearty After Life Time of Effort
r
One hundred and fifty friends and
neighbors of Martin T. Grande, one of
the first men to embark In the sheep
business in the Musselshell valley,
gate him a surprise party on Wednes
day, August 16, the occasion being the
83rd anniversary of his birth. The
guests met in Lennep, near where the
Grande ranch is located, and went in
a body to Mr. Grande's beautifully ap
pointed ranch home.
The Musselshell valley of Montana has
been one of the principal sheep regions
of the west for nearly 50 years, and Mar
tin T. Grande, who with William Smith,
trailed the first band of woolies into that
valley in 1877. is still hale and hearty
_the ranch on Comb creek, where he
settled when he and Smith dissolved
partnership in the spring of 1879.
In 1877, the summer of the Nez Perce
war, Grande and Smith, with a saddle
horse each and a packhorse, traveled to
Boise, Idaho, and bought 2,000 yearling
Merino ewes at $2.50 a head. On their
way there they had to dodge the Nez
Perces, who had started over the Lolo
trail across the Rocky mountains headed
for the Musselshell, and who were being
pursued by United States troops under
General Gibbon.
The Indians had been cleared from
their path before the return and the
sheep were trailed into Montana by way
of Horse Prairie, Bannack and Raders
burg, crossing the Missouri river by ferry
at the present site of Toston, Montana.
The sheep were taken to the Smith ranch
near Martinsdale and were owned in com
by Grande and William and John
Smith, who later and for many years op
erated as the Smith Brothers Sheep com
on
t
mon
pany.
About 1,500 lambs were raised the first
spring. The sheep were shorn and the
fleeces piled up on the ground, as there
were no bags available. A Boston wool
buyer in Helena had been buying wool
for six cents a pound, the closest mar
ket. Grande went to Helena to negotiate
the sale of the wool, but found that the
buyer had been called off and there was
no sale for wool.
He returned to the ranch and the wool
was hauled by ox team several hundred
miles to Carroll, a Missouri river boat
shipping point, and consigned to Boston.
The returns were not received until the
following spring, when the partners
found they had realized 30 cents a pound
for their consignment. It gave them a
real start in the sheep business. The
Smith brothers have long since crossed
over the great divide. The Grande ranch
is noted as one of the most extensive and
beautiful in the west. It is managed by
the son of its founder, A. C. Grande,
formerly state senator from Meagher
county.
-sa
HISTORY CLEARS
CLOUDED POINTS
FIRST WOMAN BARBER IN STATE WAS
AT WOOD VILLE IN 1883 SAYS
M. A. LEYSON'S HISTORY
Likewise a Woolen Mill Was Established
at Clancy on the Great Northern in
1879 Before Great Falls Was Founded,
Says Reference Volume
Butte is credited with having the
first woman barber in Montana and
Great Falls with being one of the first
mill towns. The records of the state
show that in the matter of women
barbers a little-known Montana town
not only preceded Butte, but the big
cities of the east as well, in having a
feminine tonsorial artist and another
little Montana town was boasting of a
factory before Great Falls was founded.
The woman barber and the factory—
and a woolen factory at that—were
features of Montana life as early as 44
years ago.
In M. A. Ley son's history of Montana—
1739-1885—appears a paragraph on.
Woodvllle, the little settlement on the
Great Northern at the top of the Con
tinental divide.
"Woodvllle," says the historical refer
ence, "is a modern settlement (1883)
with James Wright, postmaster and gen
eral merchant: W. J. Ward, hotel and
general storekeeper; William Noonon, Jus
tice of the peace: Louis Lawrence and
Noonan and Gregory, blacksmiths: James
McGee, hotel; W. Parsons, lumber and
wood; William Givens, wheelwright; D.
E. Smith, saloon, and Mrs. A. Than,
barber."
Mrs. Than was the Mary Walker of the
barber world, the Susan B. Anthony of
razor wielders. She functioned only nine
miles from Butte.
Woolen mills have been discussed in
recent years as a line of manufacturing
that should prosper in a great sheepgrow
ing state such as Montana.
That there has been no particular
stampede on the part of Montana capital
to engage in the woolen mill industry
may or may not be due to the fact that
Montana tried out wool manufacturing
in the territorial days when there were
few people and practically no transpor
tation.
Leyson's history, referring to the town
of Clancy, says: "The Jefferson Valley
Woolen Mills were erected here in 1879.
The factory is a two-story stone building,
50 by 100 feet, supplied with first-class
machinery. It is the pioneer woolen
manufacturing industry in this territory
—the introduction, as it were, to hun- i
dreds of large manufacturing establish
ments which the territory will sustain *
and to which this country is so well f
adapted." J
Factories are being gradually estab-f
lished in Montana, but the woolen in-
dustry has not yet begun to thrive. When
the dream of Leyson regarding the es-
tablishment of many woolen mills comes
true these modern plants will look to
Clancy of 1879 as the original home of
woolen manufacturing in Montana.
---$--
New Road Work Cars
Montana's board of examiners has au
thorized purchase of an additional six
roadsters for the state highway commis
sion on requisition signed by W. W.
Whiuus, secretary. The commission
uses about 30 cars. The last batch will
be distributed at Helena, Livingston, Bil
lings, Forsyth, and Miles City.
now
sitting on the ground, arms and legs en
circling the trunk.
"What are you doing there?" inquired
the boy.
"What! Where! Oh I the
twenty feet up the tree." O
it with expletives it is unbecoming one
of the Victorian age literally to quote.
t I was
he said
ugh
nly