Notes on Memories of a Bear Hunter 



Carroll was one of the points to which the Indians 

 came to dispose of their robes during the last days 

 of the buffalo in Northern Montana, and Bloods, 

 Blackfeet, Piegans, Crees and Red River halfbreeds 

 resorted there in numbers at the season for trade. 



When the water was low, Carroll was sometimes 

 the head of navigation on the river, for boats could 

 reach Carroll when they could not get up to Cow 

 Island. About 1874 The Diamond R built a road 

 from Helena to Carroll, which thus became an im- 

 portant freight point for Northern Montana. There 

 was much travel over this route by stage and freight 

 teams, and the long road winding up the gumbo hills 

 was well worn. 



The high prairie and the isolated mountain ranges 

 nearby were full of game, and sometimes the buffalo 

 used to come down into the river bottom and almost 

 invade the town, calling out the scanty population 

 with all their firearms, to drive them away. 



Standing alone on the border of a debatable ground, 

 which was run over by a dozen tribes, some from west 

 of the mountains, and others from down the river and 

 from the north and the south, Carroll suffered many 

 things because of the Indians. I reached there by 

 boat one scorching day in 1875 to find that the night 

 before Sioux had come into the town and taken every 

 horse it contained, except one cripple, which was un- 

 able to travel. 



Carroll long ago disappeared, for the river, chang- 

 ing its course, wore away the bottom, and presently 

 what remained of the town fell into the muddy Mis- 

 souri. It is still remembered by a few people as one 



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