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About The Choteau Montanan (Choteau, Mont.) 1913-1925 | View This Issue
The Choteau Montanan (Choteau, Mont.), 09 Feb. 1923, located at <http://montananewspapers.org/lccn/sn85053031/1923-02-09/ed-1/seq-7/>, image provided by MONTANA NEWSPAPERS, Montana Historical Society, Helena, Montana.
TH E OHOTBAU MONTANAN. ^MONTANA ARTIST, OF CENTURY AGO GATLIN WROTE AND PAINTED ALONG UPPER MISSOURI IN FUR TRADING DATS Pictures Made at Fort Union, at the Mouth of Yellowstone in 1832, Are Now in Smithsonian Institute at National Capital;’ Form Wonderful Record of Days That Are Gone. The life of the people who inhab ited Montana a hundred years ago, the Indians in their natural state, the fur trappers and traders, the river men who worked on the Mackinaw and early steam craft, the half-breed hunters and voyageurs— all the mot ley gathering of human life on the western frontier of that day— pres ents a fascinating picture to the present generation of Montanans. Much of the detail of the life of that long-gone day would have been lost to us forever, had it not been for the efforts of a handful of writers and painters to whom the picturesqueness of the life appealed and who realized that the oncoming of civilization would erase all trace and memory of it as marks in the sand are wiped out by the wind. J Ä H E S F I S S C , TRAIL IUT® MONTANA IN TR i NORTHERN mir By J. U. SANDERS The large emigration to the gold fields of the northwest near the head waters of the Missouri and Columbia rivers in| the heart of the Indian country in the early ’ 60s, compelled the government to afford military protection to the people who knew Aardly where they were going and nothing as to the country intervening. The hostility of the Sioux seemed to make th!is movement necessary and under orders of Secretary of War Stanton (this duty devolved on James. Liberty Fisk, a captain in the regular army. ifc.t the time of his appoint ment he was serving with his regi ment in Central Tennessee and the order reached him about June 3, 1862. People desiring to emigrate to the gold fields had been ordered to ren dezvous at Fort Abercrombie, Dako- George Gatlin, from a photograph taken at Brussels, Belgium, in 1808, when he was 72 years of age. Montana owes much in a historical way to one man, George Catlin, who spent eight years among the Indian tribes of North America and left a wonderfully graphic and accurate ac count of what he saw in his wander ings, besides a splendid collection of drawings and paintings that form an imperishable record of a day that has gone. Catlin came to Montana in 1832 and spent the summer at Fort Yellowstone and elsewhere on the Upper Missouri, observing the cus toms and habits of the Indians and the white population that made a business of trading with the red men, and sketching everything he saw that was of interest. Every school child in' Montana should be told about Catlin, and it would be a fine thing for this state if an abridged volume in narrative form could be published, telling the fascinating story that Catlin has left of what he saw in Montana nearly a century ago. One of Fourteen Children George Catlin was born in Wilkes- barre, Pa., July 26, 1796. He died DYE SKIRT, COAT DRAPERIES WITH “DIAMOND DYES” Each package of “ Diamond Dyes” contains directions so simple that any woman can dye or tint faded, shabby skirts, dresses, waists, coats, sweat ers, stockings, hangings, draperies, everything like new. Buy “ Diamond Dyes”— no other kind—then perfect home dyeing is guaranteed, even if you have never dyed before. Tell your druggist whether the material you wish to dye is wool or silk, or whether it is linen, cotton, or mixed goods. Diamond Dyes never streak, spot, fade, or run. Let Caticnra Be Your Beauty Doctor Soap 2 5 c, Ointment 2 5 and 5 0 c, Ta!cmn 2 5 c. | SHIP YOUR FURS TO FELTON FUR CO. 311 Pearl St., SIOUX CITY, IOWA . WRITE FOR PRICE .LISTS AND PARTICULARS ABOUT RAW PURS at Jersey City, N. J., December 23, 1872. ,'He was the fifth of a family of 14 children. His father, Putnam Catlin, was a lawyer. His mother, Polly Sutton, was the daughter of a settler who was engaged in the bat tles with the Indians at the famous massacre of July, 1778, and she, with her mother, was captured by thé Ind ians at the surrender of Forty Fort. They were afterward released. Cat- lin’s mother was a playmate of Fran ces Slocum, the girl of five years of age who was taken prisoner and car ried off by the Indians and found 69 years afterward near Logansport, Indiana, living with the Miami In dians. Catlin early attained a reputation as an artist, and after traveling for some years he developed an ambition to form a comprehensive museum and art collection, showing the Indians of North America in their natural state, before contaminated by the vices of civilization and robbed of their nat ural picturesquenese. Catlin was about five feet eight inches in height, thin in figure, a long face, dark complexion, with blue eyes and black hair. He wore no heard. Captain Mayne Reid, the noted writei*, said Catlin was one of the most graceful men he had ever seen. Catlin knew nothing of making money and was always poor. He was frequently in. Chicago from 1832 to 1836, at a time when investment of a few hundred dollars in real estate would have made him wealthy. He did not invest, however; he was in search of Indian subjects for sketch ing. He sketched and re-sketched Chicago, and was in daily association with men who were there for invest ment and who eventually became en ormously rich from land purchases made at the time. Catlin was a dead shot with a rifle and seemed born to the saddle. He was a most entertaining story-teller and a most likeable man. Among his close personal friends were Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, William H. Seward and other prominent men. Among his fast friends in the west was James Kipp, father of Joe Kipp, who died at Browning a few years ago, and the greater part of whose life was spent with the Blackfeet In dians. James Kipp was head man for the American Fur company in the 30’s. At Fort Union In 1832 Catlin was a passenger on the steamer Yellowstone from St. Louis to Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellowstone river. The Yellow stone was the first steamboat to as cend the Missouri.4 The life at this outpost of civilization fascinated him, and after his arrival at Fort Union he sent hack to a friend a description of the fort and the work he was doing as follows: “ I am seated on the cool breech of a 12-pound cannon with my easel be fore me. Gathered around are Crows, Blackfeet and Assinnibolnes, whom I am reproducing on canvas. \My painting room has become so great a lounge, and I so great a med icine man that all other amusements are left. The chiefs have had to place guards at my door with lances in hand to protect me from the throng and none but the worthies are allow ed to come into my medicine apart ments. None are allowed to he paint ed by me except as are decided by the chiefs to he worthy of so high an honor. “ Encamped about the fort are a host of wild, incongruous savages chiefs and medicine men, warriors, young braves and women and chil dren of different tribes. These in clude Crows and Blackfeet, Ojibbe- ways and Assinniboines and Créés. Amongst and in the midst of them am I, with my paintpots and canvas, snugly ensconced in one of the bas tions of the fort which I occupy as a painting room. My easel stands be fore me and the breech of a 12-pound er makes a cool seat, the muzzle of the gun pointing out of a porthole. The operation of my brush is a mys tery of the highest order to these red sons of the prairie. \These savages of various tribes meet together here to he amused and to pay me honor, but gaze upon each other with looks of deep-rooted ha tred and revenge. However, while in the fort their weapons are all placed in the arsenal, so that naught but looks can be exchanged here, but death and grim destruction will visit hack those looks upon each other when these wild spirits again are free to breathe and act upon the plains.” Catlin left a detailed story of the red man and his ways that gives in formation concerning the old west that could not be secured now from any other source. His original draw ings and paintings are in the Smith sonian Institute at Washington,. but these have been published in ’ book form and are available for those who are interested, although somewhat expensive to purchase now. Captain James Fisk ta, about 250 miles northwest of St Paul, and there to await the escort. An act of congress of January 27, 1862, appropriated $25,000 for the expense of the expeditions on the overland routes between the Atlantic states and California, Oregon and Washington. Fisk' Organizes Expedition Captain Fisk immediately repaired to St. Paul and organized an escort from the volunteers used to frontier life, who were mustered into the ser vice as a protective corps, numbering about 50, to be used as guards, sen tries, scouting parties, etc. He also took a physician, a guide and an in terpreter. He also took a 12-pound mountain howitzer. The supply and baggage train consisted of three four- ox teams, one two-mule team and one two-horse team, and the line was led by a flag wagon from which the na tional colors were flung. Captain Fisk left St. Paul June 16 and proceeded to Fort Abercrombie, which he reached July 3, and where a large party of emigrants were awaiting him since the first. These were put under military discipline and he also learned that many others were on the way desiring to join the party. There are many familiar names among the members of all of these expeditions, particularly the first one, of 1862. The commissary was put under charge of N. P. Langford, for many years a prominent citizen of the territory and closely identified with our early history, and one of the chroniclers of the times as author of “ Vigilante Days and Ways.” James Fergus, founder of Fergus Falls, also was a member of the party, and he became the father of Fergus county and bore a conspicuous part in our early history. Published Pioneer Newspaper The leader of the party himself be longed to a family which bore a part in the early history of the territory and state. In after years he was fol lowed to this section by five brothers from western New York. They were Robert Emmet, John Daniel, Web ster, Van H. and Andrew Jackson, and they, for more than 30 years, were interested in or connected- with the Helena Herald, the leading news paper of the territory. They pur chased the plant and publication known as the Radiator, which the Herald succeeded, from T. J. Favor ite, who had brought a printing press and outfit from Walla Walla in 1865. The purpose of the emigrants was to reach the gold fields of western Dakota by the shortest route, and It immediately became known as the northern route. General Stevens, on his way to Olympia to assume the duties of governor of Washington territory and at the same time mak ing a reconnaissance for a Pacific railroad near the 47th and 49 th par allel of north latitude, had explored the region from the Red river of the north, the western boundary of Minn esota, to Fort Union, near the mouth of the Yellowstone river, in 1853, but it had remained in the possession pf the Indians and the buffalo until Captain Fisk’s expedition in 1862, and it virtually remained in their possession until the fall of Custer in June, 1876, served notice on Sitting Bull and Gall that this land must be reclaimed and made the home of the pioneers following the course of empire. True, the Northern Pacific railroad had been pushed to the Mis souri river in 1872, but the rails were laid under military escort, and here was its western terminus until Mr. Villard, six or seven years later, re newed its construction toward Mon tana and Puget Sound. Truly it was a trackless plain which Captain Fisk and party entered in mid-July. 1862. Pierre Bottineau Was Guido R. C. Knox was wagon-master and the guide was Pierre Bottineau, a Red river hunter, who had been one of Governor Stevens’ guides through the country nine years before, and his services were invaluable through a country where the only trails were those of the crow or the eagle. The emigrants and the escort join ed the officers and soldiers of the fort and the settlers in the neighbor hood in a rousing celebration on the Fourth of July. The expedition mov ed on July 7. The first obstacle en countered was the Wild Rice river, which had to be bridged, a stream about 35 feet wide and four or five feet deep. The first day they made about 19 miles to the Cheyenne river, where they found fine grass for the stock and water and the pestiferous mosquito. This river, much wider and deeper than the Wild Rice, also had to be bridged, but there were many Minnesota lumbermen both among the emigrants and the escort, and it is said that they jumped into the stream with their clothes on, up to their hats and with their pipes in their, mouths and they made short work of the task. The caravan now consisted of 130 men and women, 220 head of stock and about 30 wagons called prairie schooners, a name which they re tained through all the pioneer period of the west. At night the wagons were formed into a circle or corral, where the stock was held; the horses were picketed near and four men were put on guard, with reliefs, as a precaution against Indian attacks. The wagons were numbered and re tained their regular place in the line and the letters “ U. S.” were conspic uous on them to let the savages know that they were under government protection. The commissary was large, but for meat they depended much on the chase, in which Captain Fisk always joined, and besides the buffalo they had elk, deer, and an telope, and for variety, ducks, geese and other small game. Caravan Observed Sunday The caravan remained in camp Sundays, when religious services were observed, the Episcopal service being followed, in which Mr. Lang ford led. Sunday in camp as a day of rest was not always a success. Generally, for the men, the wagons had to be repaired, tires set, the oxen’s feet doctored, and the women were busy with breadmaking, repair ing clothes and the weekly wash. On the banks of the Cheyenne occurred an incident which occasionally hap pened, a wedding, according to the service of the Episcopal church, read by one of the party, possibly Mr. Langford. The ceremony was follow ed by a dance on the plain with music on the violin. Many points of interest were pass ed which it is not necessary to des cribe. Lake Jessie, five or six miles in circumference, and a lake near by Captain Fisk named Lydia, in honor of his wife. Nearby were traces of a camp of General Stevens, identified by Guide Bottineau. At Lake Jessie wood and water were taken on for several days, under the advice of the guide. The night camps were named Camp Aldrich and Wisdom, after Minnesota congressmen; Camp Town send, after the assistant adjutant- general of the United States; Camp Lincoln, after the president; Camp Halleck, after the general of the western army; Camp Stanton, after the secretary of war; Camp Hamlin, after the vice-president; Camp Wilk inson, after a Minnesota senator, and Camp Ramsey, after Governor Ram sey of Minnesota. The weird but familiar bowl of the wolf and coyote was heard at night, and on occasions the aurora borealis \va3 to be seen in all its brilliancy. When wood was not to be had the never-falling buffalo chips were al ways available; the coulees which ran through the country, occasionally deep, made detours necessary to keep the general western course. Monster Herd of Buffalo To the north of the Missouri river is a high plateau 300 or 400 feet above the surrounding country and about 35 miles wide, running north west and southeast, and which forms a boundary between the tributaries of the Missouri and the Red river and streams which flow north to the Hud son bay. ^ The hunters occasionally got lost and were compelled to stay out all night, but they generally turned up. Sometimes mounted resciie parties were sent out to search for the miss ing ones. Buffalo herds encountered were numbered by the hundreds of thousands, and one day they esti mated the herd at 1,000,000 head. A band of Sioux Indians objected to the white man traveling through their country and asked by what au thority he did so, scattering the buf falo, his only source of raiment, food and shelter. A council was held at which Captain Fisk told their chief that the great father at Washington had sent them, that they were friends of the Indians, and he gave them presents in token of such friendship and asked them to be friendly. with any whites who went through the country. The Indians became inso lent and demanded that the party turn around and return to where they had come from. Captain Fisk told them that they had been sent by the great father at Washington and must go to the mountains; that there were more buffalo than they needed, and that if they were injured the great father would pay them. They con tinued insolent and the chief said that he had 100 lodges a few miles to the north, and that there were 400 lodges of Assinniboines a few miles ahead and many Yanktons a few miles to the Bouth. The chief asked what he would do if they attacked the train, and the captain said that was a foolish question to ask a white man— that they were going forward/* Indians Lost Their Nerve The bugle sounded and the men got their rifles. An effort was made to prevent the train from moving, but Mr. Knox, the wagon-master, whom some old-timers will remember, des cribed as a six-footer, thrust them aside and the train started. At this display of determination the Indians lost their nerve and suddenly became friendly and asked them to kill, some buffalo for them, as their horses could not catch them. Bottineau and his son rode with them and helped them kill a dozen of a large herd, and they left them dressing the carcasses and packing the meat when they went to their camp. The expedition saw no more of them or the 400 lodges a few miles ahead. Another interesting incident oc curred in the birth of a child, which incident caused little delay in the day’s march. Minors Tell of Gold Strikes The party spent several days at Fort Union, the trip having taken 31 traveling days, averaging 16 miles. At this time the post was in the pos session of Pierre Choteau Jr. & Co. of St. Louis, known as the American F»ir company. The fort was describ ed as on the north bank of the river, about three miles above the mouth of the Yollowstone, and about 300 feet square, with log palisades 16 feet high with bastions at the northeast and southwest corners. Around the court were a line of residences for the employes, nearly all of whom had Indian .wivei. There was an entrance gate on the north and one on the south side. Steamboats had run from St. Louis to the fort for nearly 30 years, but only two boats had touched the levee at Fort Benton two years before and the year before there had been no arrivals there, During the summer in which the ex pedition crossed the country only four steamers had reached Fort Benton, later the head of navigation on the Missouri. A little below Fort Union the ex pedition reached Montana, although at the time it was a part of the ter ritory of Dakota and next year was incorporated into the territory of Idaho. In crossing Big Muddy creek, five wagons were trailed into the stream and a bridge formed, al though the water covered the bed of the wagon boxes. The goods were carried across the bridge and the wagons loaded and before noon the caravan proceeded on its way. Five T F r r • í - í the U days later, th^, train ‘ reached mouth of Milk\ river. On k o Walla Walla ... > They ..we revisited byfidendly Gros Ventres and/traded, for some buffalo robes, giving three-'pounds, of brown sugar for each robe. At a crossing of Milk ri&er they met two horse men .with jfhree pack horses, the first white travelers they had met since leaving Abercrombie more than seven weeks before. The men were from Florence City, six weeks out from the Salmon river mines, bound for the states. These mines they report ed as rich, but the mines at Deer Lodge and in the Bitter Root valley they reported as producing no gol<j. On September 1 they crossed the Milk riyer for the last time where it was about’ 40 yards wide and 10 feet deep, but the bed was dry, as it had been for the last hundred miles. Here .they passed an abandoned Blackfeet camp of three or four thousand Indians, apparently where they had left standing the medicine lodge, which was 100 feet in dia meter and 40 feet high. The next day ¿they camped on Box Elder creek and, the dpy after they halted at Big Sari'dy. On^ September 4 they passed thé Marias and Teton rivers and camped on the latter about threevj miles from Fort Benton. Here they, r'emained three days. The distance .from Abercrombie was 830 miles. Although Captain. Fisk’s orders contemplated the breaking up of the expedition at Fort Benton, the emi grants unanimously requested him to continue with them in the same ca pacity, to which he consented, and the party continued to the neighbor hood of Helena, where on the hanks of the Prickly Pear, near Montana City, gold had been discovered. Here the.party disbanded, some securing claims here while others decided to proceed to the Grasshopper diggings at Bannack, but before disbanding all joined in a letter to Captain Fisk, testifying to their satisfaction and gratitude at his conduct of the ex pedition. Christening of Helena Captain Fisk with his escort pro ceeded by the Mullan road across the mountains to the Deer Lodge valley and on to Walla Walla, where the escort disbanded and the captain dis posed of the stock and equipage and proceeded down the Columbia and to San Francisco, and thence by steam er to New York. During the next four years Captain Fisk performed a similar service for the emigrants to the mines over the same general route and under the direction of the secretary of war, hut the experiences of these are describ ed generally by the above itinerary of the expedition of 1862. There are many pioneers still in the state who are proud to proclaim that they came by the northern route with the Fisk expeditions. Lived to See State Develop Many members of these various parties are scattered throughout the state and the Minnesota party of 1864 disbanded in Last Chance gulch and dominated the meeting held Oct ober 30, when the name of Helena was given to the later capital of the territory and the present state of Montana. John Summerville of Hel ena, Scott county, Minn., presided at the meeting when the names of Rochester and Winona and others were suggested and aroused discus sion which he closed by suggesting the name of his home town, which he painted in glowing colors and which satisfied all and brought the con troversy to a close. Captain Fisk lived for many years to see the wonderful growth of our young state, in which he always took a just pride, and also to see the Great Northern railway push across the plains which he traversed 25 years before, when it appeared a barren waste, but in which the captain al ways maintained his faith. After his retirement from the army he removed to Helena and edited the Herald and took a deep interest in politics. In 1869 he was appointed territorial auditor, but under legal proceedings he failed to obtain the office. Later he returned to Minne sota, where he died many years ago, respected by all and remembered kindly by all survivors of the various Fisk expeditions, as they have come to be known. V A R I E T Y in foods is essential, o f course, but in providing variety do not overlook the importance ot nourishment. Crisp, delicious Grape-Nuts is a highly nourish ing cereal food in unusually compact form. It supplies the rich nutrition o f wheat and malted barley, including the mineral elements of these splendid grains,without which health and strength cannot be maintained. Grape-Nuts,with good milk, is a complete food. Economical, too, because a moderate amount provides unusual nourishment. Sold by Grocers Everywhere! G r a p e ’N u t s T H E B O D Y BU ILD ER There’s a Reason te 9> Made by Postum Cereal Company, Ino. Battle Creek, Michigan V
