Forest and Stream 
Terms, $3 a Year, 10 Cts. a Copy, 
Six Months, $1.50. 
NEW YORK, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1911. 
VOL. LXXVIINo. 27. 
Ne. 127 Franklin St., New York. 
A New Reservation 
E VERYONE who is interested in the conser¬ 
vation of forests or in the preservation of 
wild animal life must think with satisfac¬ 
tion of the new reservation that has been estab¬ 
lished by the State of Montana on the bank of 
the Upper Missouri River. 
The small herds of mountain sheep, mule deer 
and antelope, within the boundaries of this tract 
of land, have survived 
the persistent hunting of 
their species ever since 
the bordering river be¬ 
came the highway to the 
Northwest, and this fact 
indicates the excellence 
of the locality as a 
breeding ground and 
perpetual refuge for 
these animals as well as 
for buffalo whose deep 
trails may still be seen 
leading from pasturage 
to water. 
Through the influence 
of a series of very in¬ 
teresting letters written 
to Forest and Stream 
by J. W. Schultz some 
years ago, two of us, 
worshippers at the shrine 
of the Indian and buf¬ 
falo, navigated the Up¬ 
per Missouri ancj inci¬ 
dentally visited the sec¬ 
tion of Montana now re¬ 
ferred to. Mr. Schultz 
was to have been our 
companion for the pur¬ 
pose of repeating, for 
our private enjoyment, 
the story of his ex¬ 
periences in the land 
bordering on the river, between Fort Benton— 
the head of navigation in old times—and the 
Wolf Point Indian Reservation during the thrill¬ 
ing period of the white man’s invasion of the 
red man’s ancestral domain. Wolf Point was 
chosen as the place of our debarkation because 
the river and railroad converge there and also 
because the bead work and handicraft of plains 
Indians of the Assinaboine-Sioux tribe, whose 
reservation is located at the point, were reputed 
to be superior in design and color effect to that 
of other present day tribes. 
Most unfortunately for us Mr. Schultz was 
unable to keep his engagement, but as our minds 
By LIPPINCOTT 
were set upon the cruise down the turbid stream 
and freshly primed with kindred historical 
events, we were not to be deterred even by this 
serious disappointment, and so, resolving to be 
our own guides rather than postpone the excur¬ 
sion, we provided ourselves with Government 
survey maps and the Forest and Stream letters 
and set forth just about one hundred years after 
Lewis and Clark blazed this trail for civilization. 
Our factotum, canoe builder, woodsman and 
cook had preceded us to Benton by about a week, 
and as a monument to his versatility and indus¬ 
try, we found on our arrival there a very com¬ 
mendable houseboat completed and also manned. 
Two self-styled trappers, who contemplated try¬ 
ing their luck at some point well down the river, 
had agreed to work their passage thitherward 
in consideration of our towing their skiff on 
which were their traps, winter supplies and dogs, 
and many a time when, like a battering ram, the 
heavily loaded skiff threatened to sink us, or 
when it ran aground and had to be pried out 
of mud, or when the worthless dogs escaped 
and had to be sought, we wished the whole 
mongrel lot was either at its destination; or, if 
I may be permitted to say so, at a place far be¬ 
yond, where the climate is said to be warm. 
Of the voyage with its accompanying interests 
and excitements and of the wonderful scenery 
along the way, I wrote to Forest and Stream 
some years ago, and 
therefore will now con¬ 
fine my tale to the neigh¬ 
borhood of the reserva¬ 
tion which, it is hoped, 
the United States Gov¬ 
ernment will adopt as 
one of its own during 
the present session of 
Congress. 
The map we carried 
designated a townsite on 
the river’s brink just be¬ 
low the mouth of the 
Musselshell, and as we 
had been afloat for some 
fifteen days with scarce¬ 
ly a sight of a human 
being, we resolved to 
spend the night on the 
boat as usual, but near 
this advertised congre¬ 
gation of natives from 
whom we might expect 
the reflection of some 
local color. We dis¬ 
covered, however, that 
but two buildings were 
represented by the dot 
on the map, one of them 
being the postoffice, and 
the other a saloon, and 
as neither was then be¬ 
ing patronized, the town 
was the loneliest we had ever visited. 
While returning to the boat we were hailed 
by a loose-jointed, greasy, ill-smelling individual 
who, in the gathering darkness, was endeavor¬ 
ing to locate the river without plunging over the 
bank in order to water some animals. From an 
ensuing conversation, held while he prepared to 
camp under his wagon body we learned that he 
had driven across the plains from the direction 
of Niles City in search for some straying live 
stock, and on the way had seen antelope and 
mule deer. This information was very entertain¬ 
ing to us for the reason that, excepting some 
deer and ducks, we had seen no game whatever. 
PACK HORSES ENJOYING A MOSQUITO SMUDGE. 
From Mrs. Schaffer’s “Old Indian Trails.” 
Courtesy of G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 
