266 



THE ROCK CLIMBERS. 



XVII. — PACKERS AND HARNESS MAKERS. 



this trip To learned a hitch that was new to him. 

 It was simple and yet effective, extremely useful 

 when the packer lacks a saddle on which to pack his load, 

 and even more so when he has no lash cinch. The old 

 reliable method of packing is by means of the diamond 

 hitch, and no other system is likely ever to supersede 

 this, but the stirrup hitch has its uses, and is by no means 

 tb be despised, Yo was an old packer, yet when he heard 

 Jack talk of the "grapevine twist," the "Walla Walla 

 wind" and the "stirrup hitch," he opened both eyes and 

 ears and began to ask questions, for he realized that one 

 is never too old to learn. A little cross-examination 

 elicited from Jack the information that the first two were 

 old and worthless acquaintances under new names, but 

 the stirrup hitch was really something new. 



"The main thing that it's good for/' said Jack, the 

 morning that they left the lake for Swift Current, "is to 

 pack when you aint got no cinch. Everybody knows 

 that if you put a bundle of blankets on a horse with a 

 single rope passing under his belly, that rope's going to 

 make him sore. Now the stirrup hitch gives you four 

 ropes passing under his belly, and the consequence is that 

 the pressure and the rubbing is divided up, and don't 

 come all in one place. So you don't gall your animal, 

 and the holding ropes being spread out over his whole 

 belly, the load is much less likely to get loose or to turn, 

 or come off in any way. Well pack the pinto with some 

 of the blankets that way some day, Yo, and you'll see 

 that it aint a bad hitch. I don't brag much on throwing 

 the diamond, but I guess I can put on the stirrup well 

 enough to give you the idea of it." And he did. 



The moraing after the meat had been brought down 

 from the mountain, two of the men crossed the lake after 

 the horses, while the third busied himself about camp 

 putting things in shape for packing up and returning to 

 the St. Mary's lakes. The men were gone a long time, 

 and when at length they made their appearance they had 

 only six horses. One was missing. This seemed very 

 mysterious, for it was difficult to conceive where it could 

 have gone. On one side was the impassable mountain, on 

 the other the lake. Evidently, if they had not missed it 

 on the mountainside it must have gone up stream or 

 down. If it had gone down stream they would see it or 

 its trail on their way out, and it was therefore only ne- 

 cessary to search the valley above the lake and make sure 

 that it was not there. The next three or four hours were 

 devoted to a careful bunt through the forest and the 

 beaver swamp, and then, as no trace of the missing beast 

 could be found, the men one by one returned to camp 

 and made ready to start. 



The loads were more than twice as heavy going out as 

 they had been coming in, and so had to be newly arranged. 

 The hams, saddles and ribs of the sheep made a good 

 load for one of the mules; the remainder of the meat 

 and the head, with the camera and cook outfit went on 

 the other, while the bedding was all put on the pinto and 

 fastened with the stirrup hitch. 



To pack with this hitch a rope thirty or forty feet long 

 is needed, but no saddle and no cinch. The rope is 

 doubled evenly and a loop about three feet long knotted 

 in its middle part, and after the blankets have been folded 

 and laid on the animal's back, extending from the withers 

 back to the loin, the loop is spread out in an oval on top 

 of the load, the knot being toward the horse's head. The 

 free ends of the rope hang down to the ground on either 

 side of the withers. The two packers, one standing on 

 either side of the animal, take, each, one of these free 

 ends, and carrying it back toward the end of the load, 

 pass it under the loop and then out, over, and down again, 

 pulling it until the slack is raised a foot or two from the 

 ground. Now holding on to the free end close to where 

 it passes down from the loop, so that it will not pull back 

 when the strain comes, each packer puts his foot in the 

 slack which is swinging above the ground, and, slowly 

 and both together, they rest their weight in it so as to 

 keep the loop spread and to settle the ropes down into 

 the load. Then each one bending down passes the free 

 end of the rope which he holds over his own foot, through 

 the stirrup on his side, and then through that of the man 

 on the other side from above downward, and then draws 

 it back toward himself. This they must do together, 

 each man slipping his foot out of the stirrup as it is drawn 

 away from him. Then if the pulls have been even, the 

 four ropes will lie tight against the horse's breast and 

 belly about six or eight inches apart. It is now only 

 necessary to cinch, by pulling outward on the free ends 

 of the rope evenly and together. This done the free 

 ends may be tied on top of the pack, or if the rope is not 

 long enough for that, they may be tied by a half hitch to 

 the sides of the loop. It will be evident to any one who 

 may attempt to tie this hitch that it is of use principally 

 in an emergency, and yet where one has a broad cinch 

 with a hook at either end it might often be convenient 

 for fastening on ill-shaped bundles that would hardly go 

 in an ordinary pack. 



The men put their blankets on the pinto with this hitch, 

 and started clown along the southern shore of the lake for 

 the valley of the main Swift Current. They had not got 

 more than half way down the lake, when a red object 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



was seen on the other side, which was at once recognized 

 as the missing horse. He was quietly feeding on the 

 hillside where he had been all the morning, but the men 

 had somehow missed him. Crossing the creek Appe- 

 kunny went to him on foot, while the others kept on 

 through the down timber, and presently, after some 

 difficulties, they reached the trail. At their old camp 

 they stopped, gathered up the articles left there, re- 

 packed, and then kept on down the valley. 



Night overtook them before they reached the lakes, 

 but next morning, in a driving rainstorm, they were back 

 at their old camp at the foot of the lower lake. Yo rode 

 over to say good-bye to Lieut. B. , who was just moving 

 out, and Jack and Appekunny took the boat and went to 

 raise the cache. 



The next two days were devoted to harness making. 

 One of the horses which was used in the team was young 

 and green, and did not know how to pull. While they 

 were coming into the lakes he had shown signs of balk- 

 ing on more than one occasion, and it was feared that in 

 going up the long hill he might refuse to pull, and if he 

 did this the Rock Climbers might have a great deal of 

 trouble. It was therefore decided to put the little mules 

 in harness and to drive four-in-hand, but as they had but 

 one set of double harness, a set of lead harness had to be 

 made. Out of what should this be constructed? Their 

 materials were scanty. Two extra riding bridles they 

 had, and their lariats would make traces. Everything 

 seemed easy enough except collars, hames and lead bars. 

 It was suggested that from the hide of the sheep they 

 could make a pair of "»utch collars," but would the 

 mules pull in these? After considerable thought a better 

 plan was evolved. Their sugar was in a seamless canvas 

 sack, which might form the basis of a pair of collars 

 large enough for the mules. The sugar having been 

 transferred to another receptacle, the sack was sj>read 

 out flat on the ground, and on each side of it the pattern 

 of a collar roughly marked out, something like this: 



Then the sewing tools were got out, the sail needles 

 and a ball of manilla twine. The sack was then cut along 

 the curved lines, the dotted lines sewn up, and this part 

 packed with cotton from an old quilt. Then the cut 

 edges were sewn together and packed with cotton. Can- 

 vas sti'ings, for tying the ends of the collar together over 

 the neck, were fastened on, and the collars were found to 

 fit the little animals for which they were made admir- 

 ably. Next Jack took the ax, and going into the brush 

 cut some crooked green willow sticks, which with a little 

 shaping made two pairs of hames, and strings were made 

 to answer for straps and buckles. Lariat ropes made 

 good traces and two strips of old canvas did duty as back 

 bands. The lead bars and single trees were formed of 

 willow sticks. All this was not done in a minute, but 

 took the better part of two days, and then one morning 

 the wagon was packed, Jack and Yo' cut a couple of wil- 

 low poles, and, mounting their horses, took their posi- 

 tions on either side the team; Appekunny gathered up his 

 lines, got into the wagon and cracked his whip, and the 

 "St. Mary's stage" rolled merrily off toward the river. 



Its journey up the long hill was not devoid of incident. 

 There were times when in crossing the muddy sloughs 

 the wagon got stuck in the mu-e, and timber had to be 

 chopped out or brush cut and a road built to enable the 

 animals to haul it through; but at length the summit of 

 the ridge was surmounted, and the journey continued 

 southwest over the rolling foothills close to the timber. 

 The trail was a rough one, and as Appekunny had no 

 four-horse whip, his leaders were not always under good 

 control. The wise little mules understood the situation 

 very well, and sometimes when the men, for one reason 

 or other, were not close at their sides, they would do 

 about as they liked, and would even stop and stare back 

 at their driver in a most aggravating way. At one or 

 two points at the crossing of muddy streams, which were 

 deep and narrow, with a bad, steep pull out on the other 

 side, Yo and Jack rode across and left their horses, and 

 recrossing on foot, each jumped on the back of a leader 

 and kept them going with spurs and switches, while 

 Appekunny, standing in the wagon, whacked and yelled 

 at the wheelers. 



So one by one the difficulties of the journey were over- 

 come. The weather had again turned bitter cold and 

 again all the standing water was frozen solid. The men 

 put on all their extra clothing, but often walked for 

 warmth, leading their horses. Sometimes when passing 

 close to a timbered point they would halt for a while, 

 build a fire and thaw out. 



Two or three days' slow traveling brought them, after 

 crossing the heads of Milk River to Cutbank Creek, 

 where they remained for a week, waiting for weather in 



L April 26, 1888. 



which they could hunt. It was a stormy time, however. 

 The wind blew almost without ceasing, and it snowed 

 every day. The country is much less difficult to hunt 

 than that about St. Mary's; the mountains, though tre- 

 mendously rough, being less steep and easier to get about 

 on. There are plenty of sheep and goats there too, but 

 the men got none, chiefly on account of the bad 

 weather. 



One or two days were spent in snow and rain on the 

 mountains, and fresh sheep tracks seen, but the weather 

 was really too bad for bunting. In their wanderings 

 over the mountains, some ptarmigan were seen which 

 had assumed their white winter dress. They seem to 

 change early here, becoming entirely white in Septem- 

 ber. Here Yo was guilty of a piece of carelessness which 

 might have had serious consequences. He was working 

 along a steep mountainside close up under the reefs, cross- 

 ing the deep but narrow ravines by wmich the side-of the 

 slope was cut. At one place, to save a few yards' climb- 

 ing, he walked over a steep snowdrift, which was old 

 and hard and covered by a bight coat of newly fallen 

 snow. Presently he slipped, his feet flew up and he fell 

 on his back, and followed by his gun, shot down toward 

 the sharp rocks below. In an instant he gathered him- 

 self, came to a sitting position and dug heels and hands 

 hard into the snow. The ride was short and swift, but 

 when about three-quarters of the way down, he struck a 

 drift of new soft snow and managed to stop himself. 

 His rifle kept on and struck the sharp jagged rocks be- 

 low with a crash which made him fear that it was 

 irretrievably rained, but when he got to it, after cau- 

 tiously climbing down by the edge of the snowbank, he 

 found that the only injury which it had sustained was 

 the loss of a portion of the stock, which had been split off 

 by the force of the blow\ 



How the wind did blow and the storms follow one 

 another in these mountain valleys! Their camp on the 

 North Fork of the Cut Bank was in a grove of pines and 

 willows, admirably protected on all sides, but sometimes 

 it seemed as if the blasts would tear the tent from its 

 fastenings and carry it away. Every day it rained or 

 snowed and blew, and as it was getting late in the season 

 — the middle of November — the men began to think that 

 it was time to be moving out of the mountains. It was 

 impossible to hunt with comfort in such weather, and 

 though they started out several times, they saw nothing 

 save an occasional track. 



High up among the peaks the astonishing violence of 

 the wind was made manifest by the noise made by the 

 gusts in striking the peaks. This thunderous sound was 

 like the sudden puffing of a starting locomotive to one 

 who is close to it, but much louder. One day Jack and 

 Yo had ridden up the valley against a gale of wind, and 

 had taken a deer's track and followed it in the timber for 

 some time, but the wind blew harder aud harder and 

 whipped round among canons and coulees, so that the 

 deer smelt them at some distance, and ran before they 

 saw it, and keeping down the wind could not be come up 

 with. After leaving it they had kept on up the valley, 

 but it blew so hard that it was useless to try to hunt. 

 Turning back they started for camp with the wind at 

 their backs, but it was not until they got out of the tim- 

 ber into the open valley that they began to have any con- 

 ception of how hard it was blowing. 



To describe the fury of this gale so as to give the reader 

 an idea of it is quite impossible. A few incidents of the 

 ride may be mentioned. Through the timber on the hills 

 above the wind of course made the usual rushing, howl- 

 ing noise, and pines and spruces 50ft, high bent until 

 their upper thirds were horizontal, and it seemed as if 

 they must snap. But besides the sounds usually heard 

 in a hard gale of wind, there was a new and louder 

 one, which almost drowned the others. From far above 

 seemed to come a hollow throbbing murmur, as if there 

 were a conflict among the spirits of the upper air. The 

 winds were contending with each other and groaning 

 and straining for the mastery, and the sound of their war- 

 fare made a ceaseless monotone, now lower, now louder, 

 which was like nothing but the hum of machinery in a 

 great factory, but a thousand times louder. This sound 

 formed a deep and terrible bass to the whistling, the 

 screaming and the rushing of the winds, to the swish of 

 the branches and to the dismal shrieks and groans of the 

 tree trunks and branches as they rubbed together. But 

 most of these sounds were drowned by the unutterable 

 uproar of the complaining winds. 



The men had tied their hats on their heads and held 

 their guns in their hands, and so prepared, started out 

 into the open. Here there was no protection and the 

 terrific fury of the wind was felt in its full force. Several 

 times it took them out of their saddles and flung them 

 forward on their horses' necks, while the latter staggered 

 and reeled as if suddenly pushed by some mighty force. 

 Sometimes it almost seemed as if they might be thrown 

 down by the gusts. The men could only keep their seats 

 by leaning back in the saddle, clinging with their legs 

 and bracing with one hand against the saddle horn. Had 

 they been traveling across the wind it would have been 

 impossible to ride. Down in the stream bed water was 

 caught up by the barrel, tossed into the air, seen for an 

 instant as white spray, changing at once to mist and then 



