Memories of a Bear Hunter 



tains on the south and goes on to Fort Benton, 

 about a hundred and fifty miles from Cow Island. 

 For protection to the freight discharged here, a 

 company of the Seventh U. S. Infantry was sta- 

 tioned at this point. The freight was under charge 

 of Col. Geo. Clendenin, 19 an old-timer in the 

 country and a very intelligent, reliable and good 

 business man. He was from Washington, D. C. 

 Among the large and well organized freighting 

 outfits of that day, I recall one, the Diamond-R, 

 and another owned by Murphy, Neill & Co. Each 

 outfit consisted of seven teams, and each team of 

 seven yoke of oxen, 'each team of oxen pulling three 

 wagons linked together. At this time the leading 

 wagon was commonly loaded with about 3,500 

 pounds of freight, while the intermediate and trail 

 wagons carried smaller loads. To each outfit there 

 was a foreman, a driver for each team and a night 

 herder; all were well armed with repeating rifles. 

 Usually they made camp early in the day and then 

 turned loose their bulls to graze under the control 

 of a night herder until the next morning. The 

 average day's journey was from ten to fifteen miles. 

 These freight outfits could follow almost any route 

 over the plains country. If they met with steep 

 ravines or boggy places they had the labor and 

 tools to repair the road. In case of a steep, hard 



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