Great Falls tribune. [volume], April 30, 1887, Image 7

About Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
A Story of Pioneer Life in Early Cali*
fornia Days.
Yes, there are many, a great many, good
stories told by pioneers, some more excel
-lent than true. A few years after our oc
cupation of the state I was stationed in
southern Califofnia, near Los Angels, and
one afternoon I 'strolled out to the scene
of the Los Angeles massacre, in which a
friend of mine, a-yopung officer, and some
enlisted men had been killed by the Mex
icans some time before. While endeav
oring to get a good idea of the position oc
cupied by our troops I accidentally stirred
up the earth with my shoe, and looking
down I saw something glisten like gold in
the sun. I picked it up and found it to
be a human finger bone, and still on it the
West Point class ring of my dead friend,
marked with his graduation. I had visit
edhis family in New England, so I wrote
to them, inclosing their boy's ring and ex
plaining how it had come into my posses
sion. In the course of time I received a
very grateful answer, requesting me, if I
could identify the young man's remains,
to have them disinterred and sent home. I
found the remains and shipped them,
nicely boxed, to the depot quartermaster,
then in San Francisco, requesting him to
hold them, as I would co ne along in a
month myself and reship them. In due
time I received another kind letter an
nouncing the arrival of the iAmains, and
the family seemed not able to thank me
enough for what had been no trouble to
me at all. Later on, having been granted
a leave of absence, which I was spending
in the east,'I found myself in New York
city and I received an invitation to visit
the family again. So one Saturday morn
ing I started and reached the lovely old
homestead, which was beautifully situated
in a New England town. I ,-s hospitably
-received. On the following morning,
Sunday, I was taken to the little cemetery
and shown my friend's grave, over which
had been erected a beautiful .monument
inscribed with his name, military history,
and the date and manner of his death.
After a delightful visit I left, and my leave
being up. I received orders to proceed to
San Francisco to report for duty as depot
quartermaste). In those days quartmas
ters when relieving each other, were very
careful to see that all public property re
ceipted for, even to the last bolt, was there
in the store house before touching 'a pen
to the receipts relieving the other from
responsibility. The amount of property
was great, and it took me four days to ver
ify it according to the invoices.
On the invoices were some original
boxes of stovepipes-that is to say, some
which had never been opened. While go
ing around with the quartermaster ser
geant, on the afternoon of the sourth day,
we came to the boxes of stovepipes. Being
original packages, I did not order them to
be opened, but satisfied myself by moving
them slightly in order to see if they were
of the proper weight. I had moved six
teen or seventeen of them, when one
seemed unusually light, and I directed the
sergeant to open it. He did so; raised the
lid of the box slightly, and looked in. I
noticed him quickly drop the lid and start
back with a freightened look on .his face,
and I said:
"What is the matter, sergeant; isn't it
all right?"
"No, sir; there's no stovepipes in there,"
he half gasped out.
I said: "What is there in the box?"
He said: "There's bones-human bones
sir, I saw a skull."
The truth then flashed across my mind.
I had made a mistake and shipped the
wrong stevepipe box to to the old home
stead in Mew England. I paid the gov
ernment the price of one box of stovepipes,
gave the old quartermaster a full receipt,
had the remains nicely buried in San
Francisco and until this movement I have
never breathed it. But a lovely white
marble monument in that pretty little
New England town marks the last resting
place of my box of stovepipes.
A GREAT SHEEP RANCH. ,
1ow Eighty Thousand Sheep are
Herded and Sheared.
The little schooner Santa Rosa arrived
in San Francisco from Santa Barbara a
few days ago. She comes to that place
twice a year to secure provisions, clothing,.
lumber, etc., for use n the Santa Rosa
island, being owned ly the great sheep
raiser, A. P. Moore, who owns the island
and the 80,000 sheep that exist upon it.
The island is thir'ymils south of Santa
Barbara, and is twenty - four miles in
length and sixteen in breadth, and con
tains about 74,000 acres of land,which are
admirably adapted to sheep-raising. Last
year Moore clipped 1,014-sacks of wool
from these sheep, each sack icotaining an
average of 410 pounds of woo, making a
total of 415,740 pounds, 0wi 0 ihe•sald a
27 cents apound, bringi hri iln,1I1,
4.80, or a clear profit of vrer #80,000 a
year. This is said to be alow yied, so t
Is evident that ahepraisin therew
take into conderation that
tasle twice a year an4at apo
Iaae n te w.saes fthe -ttp ec.,
lis ver oste. The ,1n is &idaed
into four quarters running clear across it
at right angles, and the sheep have not to
be herded like those ranging about the "
foothills.
Four men are employed regularly the
year round to keep the ranch in order, and
to look after the sheep, and during shear
ing time fifty or more shearers are em
ployed. These men secure forty or fifty
days' work, and the average number of
sheep sheared a day is about ninety, for
which five cents a clip is paid, and thus
$4.50 a day is made by each man, or some
thing over $200 for the season, or over
$400 for 90 days out of the entire year.
Although the shearing of 90 sheep a day
is the average, a great many will go as
high as 110, and one man has been known
to shear 125. Of course every man tries
to shear as many as he can, and owing to
haste frequently the animals are severely
cut by the sharp shears. If the wound is
serious the sheep's throat is cut and the
carcass sold for mutton, and the shearer,
if he is in the habit of frequently ipflict
ing such wounds, is immediately dis
charged. In the shearing of those 80,000
sheep a hundred or more are injured to 7
such an extent as to necessitate their being
killed, but the wool and meat are of course
turned into profit.-San Francisco Call.
ROYAL
POWDER
Absolutely Pure.
This Powder never varies. A marvel of purity
hanthe ordinary kinds, and cannot be sold in
competition with the multitude of low test, shor
weight alum or phosphrte powders. Soldonly in
cans. IoYALBAKINGOWD Co..107 Wall st
New York. P 1 0 I
J. A. CARRIER,
Watchtaker & JeweIr,
P. 0. Buillig,. Great Falls.
Repairing of all kinds done prompt
lo and warranted.
Charges Reasonable.
Fine watch repairing a specialty.
over 6,000,000 PEOPLE USE
FERRY'S SEEDS
D.M.FERRY&CO.
Sae admittedtobethe
, BROEST SEEDSMEN
Ws ýO tee wor.iE
0. U. FERRY A CO'S
SEEDANNUAL
For 1887
will be ansild
FREE to all
. ppito antea, an
tolaat nise'i
custamers
r without or
an.Rver per.
den. fold or
FTovorSuEDSea.ould
.e.d forit.Addree
:.E. M FER & bO.
Detroit, Mloh.
R. S. He & o.,
Wholesale and Retail Dealers in
Drugs,
Chemicals,
and Medicines,
FANCY TOIL ARTICLES, PAiNTS
:iLS AND sRISiHES.
And all Gods to be
Found in a Thoroughly
Great nt.
Dealer in.-TU.
BEDDING,' MIRROR
CHROMOS.C INETWARE.&O
Complete Stock, Low Prices,
MAILORDERSSOLICITD,
1884,1884"1884 1884'1884 1884 1886 1886'1886 1886 1886 1886
1884 1884 1884'1884 11884 1886 18861886 1886 1886 1886
1884 1885 1886 1886
1884 s 1884 IRA MIYERS. 1886 I1886
1884 ' 1884 E. G, MACLAY. 1886 I I 1886es
1884 1884 1886- 1886
1884 1884 1884 1884 1884 1884 1886 1886 1886 1886 1886 1886'
1884 1884 1884 1884 1884 1884 1886 1886 1886 1886 1886 1886
Great Fal. LumberCo panv
4, -ANUFACTCURE AND KEEP IN STOCK ALL KINDS OF
Rough AND DRESSED Lumber,
DRESSED Fl i FINISHING LUMBER
AND MATCHED FLOORING I LATH AND SHINGLES.
All Kinds of Moulding. Orders Filled Direct From the Saw if desied.
GO .EAST
VIA
The Northern Pacific Railroa d.
The Dining Car Route
And Great Short Line to all Eastern Cities
450 MILES THE SHORTEST ROUTE
To Chicago and all Points East.
--AND TIH
ONLY THROUGH CAR LINE.
LOW RATES!
QUICK TIME!
PALACE CARS!
TI ME TABLE FROM HELENA.
Train arrives from east, Pacific Express 7:25 p rm
west, Atlantic ' :50 am
departs for east 8:10 a m
west, Pacific 7:55 pm
For fall information address
C. S. FEE, A. L STOKES,
Gen. Pass Agt, St. Paul Gen AVt Helena
t / LINE
f e TotMilwaukecG
S- And the East.
It is Uhe only line running Pullman
Drawing-Room Sleeping Cars with
Luxurious Smoking Rooms, and the
Finest Dining Cars in the World, via
the famous"River Bank Route," along
the shores of Lake Pepin and the
beautiful Mississippi River to Mlil
waukee and Chicago. It has four Di
rect Routes of its own between St. Paul
and Chicago, and it runs two fast
Express Trainms daily between those
points, via its Short Line. on which all
classes of tickets are honored. Look
at the map and obseive the time tables,
and thengo to: thenearest ticket oice
and ask for your ticket over the Chi
cago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway'
and thus secure the very best accom
modations to be had for your money,
as this Company runs none but the
finest trains, over the most perfect
" tracks, through the most populous
towns and vilages, and in the midst
of ral and pitureue scenery,
SI uick imeand ure Connee
tions inUnion De ts, No change of
of ayclass een St Paul and
Fo th ticket, time
weat. JL s ; J F.
First Nationala Bank,
OF HELENA, MONT.
Paid-Up Capital - $500,000 1 Surplus and Profits - $300,000
Individual Deposits $2,300,000 I Government Deposits ' 100,000'
S. T. HAUSER, President, A. J. DAVIS, Vice-President
E, W. KNIGHT, Cashier. T. H. KLEINSCHMIDT, Ass't-Cash.
ASSOCIATE BANKS:
FIRST NATIONAL, Fort Benton, Montana,
MISSOULA NATIONAL, Missoula, Montana.
FIRST NATIONAL, Butte, Montana.
A General Banking Business Transacted.
Excelsior Meat Comp'ny
Wholesale and Rotail Dealers in
PFresb.leats
OF ALL KINDS.
Special attention given to the retail trade. All orders filled
promptly.
1st Ave. S. Great Falls
ESTABLISHED 1877.
JAB. XMoMXLLAN & CO.,
PROPRIETORS OF THE
Minneapolis Sheepskin Tannery,
AND DEALERS IN
SIDES, SHP PELTS, FUeS,WOOL,TATLLOW
Ginseng and Seneca Root.
SHEEP PEL.TS & FURS A SPECIALTY.
101, 103 & 105 SecondSt, North. MINNELPOLIS, MIEN.
Shipments Solicited. Write for Ciz'rouar .
GREAT FALLS
MEAT MAET
C. N. .DICKINSON, Propnetor,
ole le a. :eteail l i e e
IN BEEF, PORK, MUTTON,
S . UR AUSAGE, ETO. ET
o PATRONAGE SOLIGITED.
E. V. RUBOITOM
HoeandSa£
Grain in, *Paper ats -ing rdwood Finis ng"
carriage Psi gA-ý.. ^ work warra ac d.
4 2 Ae .Gri k 5ý 1