358 
FOREST AND STREAM 
July, 1920 
Pipestone Pass, though begun by the 
motor, was not finished on power- all its 
own. We had hardly entered upon the 
grade before water boiled from the rad- 
iator; slowly, and more slowly went the 
car. We dropped into low, but to no 
avail. Finally the motor came to a dead 
stop ; it could not develop sufficient power 
to resume the journey, so we had to be 
ingloriously towed up the mountain by 
two scrawny horses. 
Once on the summit, with many miles 
of down grade to the fore, we forgave 
and forgot. Time lost in the ascent bade 
fair to be regained in the descent. Blair 
applied the brakes with diligence, in 
fact, with entirely too much diligence ; for 
soon the odor of burning oil and lamp- 
wick filled our nostrils, and smoke blind- 
ed our eyes. The brake band had burned 
to a char. As this called for a remedy, 
we sought a blacksmith shop. After 
■) 
the smith put a new brakeband in place, 
we discovered that the ammeter failed 
to register. According to the instruction 
book, this was evidence that the gener- 
ator was out of order. In such event, 
the owner is enjoined against tinkering 
with the electrical end of a car, and to 
report, without delay, to the nearest 
agency. Thus, it was back to Butte for 
us. 
Here we were duly initiated into the 
mysteries and secrets of the gasoline 
engine. As the carburetor is the source 
of power in the motor, the carburetor 
was properly adjusted. The use of the 
foot brake is limited to making a quick 
stop on a level road, or to reducing its 
speed gradually. The brake was not de- 
signed to control a descent of the Rocky 
Mountains; in making such a declivity, 
the use of low gear is the proper thing. 
The defective generator was exchanged 
for a new one, and again we renewed our 
journey. Pipestone Pass, the crucial 
test, was climbed with ease; Blair shifted 
into low and, in due time, without mishap, 
we were over the divide. 
We soon reached the valley of the Jef- 
ferson River. This stream, with the 
Madison and Gallatin, forms the mighty 
Missouri. Ascending the Jefferson, we 
followed the course taken by the intrepid 
explorers, Lewis and Clark, who, with 
their little band of pioneers, made the 
first journey across the continent. His- 
tory recalls that they were accompanied 
by an Indian woman, Sasjawea; without 
her guidance, the exploring party might 
have met disaster. Lewis and Clark 
found her living on the Missouri, as the 
captive of another tribe. Learning that 
she had been captured west of the Rock- 
ies; that she knew the trails and passes 
to the Pacific slope, they secured her as 
their guide. She led them safely to the 
headwaters of the Columbia, and as the 
expedition made its way up the Jeffer- 
son, the Indian woman recognized and 
pointed out several spots familiar to her. 
Elk, deer, and antelope were killed on 
the Banks of the Jefferson to supply the 
exploring party with dressed skins for 
clothing. Blair and I recounted numerous 
incidents of pioneer history as we rode 
up this beautiful valley. After leaving 
the Jefferson, we followed a southerly 
direction until we reached Virginia City, 
where we spent the night and the greater 
part of the next day. 
This city is a place of considerable 
interest to motorists. Just west of the 
town a long narrow gulch extends south- 
westerly far up the side of the mountain. 
At the outskirts of the city, the gulch 
enters a broad valley. This is the famous 
Alder Gulch, where gold was discovered 
in 1863 ; and from it gold valued at more 
than sixty million dollars was panned 
out. Blair and I climbed up to the top 
of a small knoll to view the surroundings. 
The old part of Virginia City reminded 
us much of the little Hudson’s Bay post 
at Telegraph Creek in Cassiar. On the 
top of the knoll is a deserted graveyard. 
At the heads of five of the graves are 
wooden markers, informing the visitor 
that the departed were executed for mur- 
der on January 13, 1864. One of the 
markers bore the word, “Peccavi,” mean- 
ing, “I have sinned.” The man buried 
there evidently confessed his crime. Gen- 
eral Napier, a distinguished Irishman, 
and one of the Irish commanders of the 
English army in India, perpetrated a 
celebrated pun on the word “Peccavi.” 
He announced to his Government the cap- 
ture of Sind by a telegram consisting of 
one word, “Peccavi.” Alder Gulch, and 
the markers at the graves of the mur- 
derers, aroused a desire to learn more 
of Virginia City. During the evening, 
the proprietor of the hotel loaned me an 
old book, long since out of print, entitled 
“Vigilante Days and Ways.”. This book 
contains the history of the crimes that 
resulted in the organization of the Vigi- 
lantes ; also, an account of the methods of 
that organization. 
When news of the rich strike at Alder 
Gulch was learned, it spread like wild- 
fire and thousands of adventurers hast- 
ened to stake out claims in the new El 
Dorado- So rich was the find, and so 
abundant the dust and the nuggets, that 
the miners were posssessed of a devil, in 
the form of the purse of Fortunatus. 
Prospectors and miners are notoriously 
profligate. They spend with a prodigal- 
ity that is equivalent to casting pearls 
before swine. No thought of saving ever 
enters their minds ; gold that comes easily 
goes easily. 
While placer mining flourished in Vir- 
ginia City, it was a typically lawless 
mining camp. Here were the dance 
halls, the saloons, the gambling dens, 
where miners spent, in less than half of 
the night, all that they had earned during 
the day. Those upon whom fortune 
smiled either danced with the most at- 
tractive women and bought champagne 
or they took places at the gambling table 
where the stakes were the highest. Each 
dance cost the miner one dollar. And, 
at the concluding call, “All promenade — 
to the bar,” his intriguing partner led 
him thither and ordered the most expen- 
sive drinks ; but of these she drank 
sparingly, lest their effect impair her 
ability to separate her partner from his 
geld. 
A S vultures flock to carrion, murderers 
and thieves flocked to Virginia City. 
The efforts of the courts to sup- 
press crime were impotent; for Montana 
was but a sparsely settled frontier, where 
there had been no development of law and 
order, where there had been no estab- 
lishment of efficient legal machinery. 
Officers clothed with police powers were 
few. In the early days of the West some 
of the very officers themselves became 
road agents. Robbery was but a matter 
of common moment, murder but the gos- 
sip of a day. Murders were committed 
openly upon the streets and in the 
saloons. Merchants and express drivers 
were waylaid as they sought to carry 
gold to some distant point where it 
would be safe. An account of one of the 
