CAMPING ON THE TONGUE RIVER. 



J. H. AGER. 



The suggestion was well received; we 

 talked the matter over; all 4 families lived 

 in the same block, and the details were 

 soon agreed on. A new and commodious 

 compartment tent., a kitchen tent, an outfit 

 of Gold Medal folding camp furniture, 

 made at Racine, Wis., together with a lib- 

 eral supply of groceries, were purchased. 

 Shot guns and target rifles were cleaned 

 and cased, shells loaded, reels and lines 

 overhauled and put in order, and a quan- 

 tity of brown and gray hackle, coachman, 

 professor and white miller trout flies laid 

 in. 



It was 6 o'clock on the evening of July 

 19th, 1899, when we boarded the Burling- 

 ton train for Ranchester, Wyoming, where 

 we were to leave the railroad and continue 

 our journey in wagons. Our party con- 

 sisted of a banker, a city officer, an in- 

 surance man and a railroad employee, each 

 being accompanied by his wife. With us 

 were also Chester, my 13-year-old son, 

 and Edie, the accomplished housekeeper, 

 whose authority in camp was never ques- 

 tioned, and whose cooking rarely failed to 

 evoke praise. Sometimes it led to gor- 

 mandizing. 



The ride from Lincoln, Nebraska, to 

 Ranchester, Wyoming, is one of interest. 

 The few hours of daylight left us on the 

 evening of our starting revealed Eastern 

 Nebraska as a sea of corn, wheat and pas- 

 ture, broken with islands of trees, in which 

 were nestled cozy homes peopled with 

 prosperous and contented occupants. The 

 next morning we breakfasted at Edge- 

 mont South Dakota. On resuming our 

 journey we skirted the Southern end of 

 the Black Hills, entered the coal and oil 

 fields of Wyoming, and passed through 

 the Bad Lands, which in turn gave way to 

 the rich irrigated valleys and well stocked 

 ranches lying North of and parallel to the 

 Big Horn mountains. 



With proverbial promptness, the Bur- 

 lington sat us down at Ranchester on time, 

 a little after 2 p. m. By previous arrange- 

 ment, Tom Davis, the mountaineer, team- 

 ster and guide, was at the station to con- 

 vey us to the mountains which, although 

 appearing not more than 2 miles away, 

 are in reality 9 miles distant. With several 

 hours of davlight before us we speedily 

 bundled ourselves into his spring carryall, 

 leaving him to follow with our belongings 

 loaded on his big 4-horse mountain 

 wagon. A delightful ride of an hour 

 took us to Dayton, a small village on 



the banks of Tongue river, at the base of 

 the foothills. The Hotel Davis, well man- 

 aged by the little daughter of our team- 

 ster, was our refuge until the next morn- 

 ing. The evening was spent by the ladies 

 in strolling about the village and beside 

 the river, while the male members of the 

 party bought some additional supplies at 

 the store. 



The next day was devoted to the selec- 

 tion of a site and establishing camp. 

 Through the kindness of Mr. George Mil- 

 ward and sons, who owned the land and 

 in honor of whom we named our camp, 

 our tents were pitched in a grove of large 

 trees on the bank of Tongue river, about 

 half a mile from where the stream emerges 

 from the mountains and begins its journev 

 through the valley to the North. Our first 

 night in camp found us at peace with all 

 the world. 



What a beautiful view was ours! with 

 a mountain stream of unrivalled beautv 

 flowing past our door, its clear, cold 

 waters laughing, dancing and leaping over 

 their rocky bed to join the far-away Yel- 

 lowstone, making perpetual music without 

 note of discord; with lofty mountain 

 peaks towering above us, their sides 

 adorned with great pines and evergreens 

 and vari-colored smaller growth, or 

 seamed and scarred by convulsions of in- 

 conceivable force that must have made a 

 continent tremble. The sunrise was splen- 

 dor, its setting was transcendent beauty, 

 whose glories neither pen nor brush can 

 depict. Except durinj 2 or 3 hours in the 

 early afternoon, when we sought the ham- 

 mocks, conveniently hung in the shade of 

 the trees surrounding camp, the days were 

 pleasant and the nights always cool 

 enough to make blankets a necessity. 

 How we slept! In middle life we were 

 permitted to again enjoy the dreamless, 

 restful sleep of childhood; and after such 

 a night, a bath in the melted snow of tin- 

 river and a breakfast eaten with camp 

 appetites, care was a stranger and living 

 a delight. 



We found much enjoyment in contriving 

 numerous articles for comfort and conve- 

 nience about the camp. With the aid of 

 a few spikes, a rake was manufactured and 

 our door yard tidied to a degree of neat- 

 ness surpassing many a city lawn. 

 Benches, shelves gun racks and cupboards 

 were improvised, everything was assigned 

 a place and a fine was imposed on each 

 one failing to return to its proper place, 



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