April 13, 1907.I] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
were a part of the effort to secure such protec¬ 
tion. A commission of three persons was ap¬ 
pointed to consider this subject. It consisted 
of Acting Gov. Meagher, Judge Munson, and E. 
W. Carpenter. They arrived at Benton early 
in September, and after holding a council de¬ 
termined that the Piegans, Bloods, Blackfeet, 
Gros Ventres and Crow Indians must be brought 
into Benton and there induced to make a per¬ 
manent and lasting peace. Runners were sent 
out inviting the Blackfeet tribes to come in, but 
no one could be found who would undertake to 
hunt up and bring in the Crows and Gros 
Ventres. 
At this season the country between the Mis¬ 
souri and Yellowstone rivers was usually over¬ 
run by war parties of Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapa- 
hoes and Blackfeet, making travel exceedingly 
dangerous for anyone, even for an experienced 
prairie man. 
While they were trying to find a man to make 
this trip, someone suggested to the Commis¬ 
sioners that I was accustomed to traveling any¬ 
where. and they might get me. They sent, ask¬ 
ing me to call on them at the agency, which 
was then at Benton, and when I came, the Gov¬ 
ernor said, “Sheriff, we want a man to go and 
get the Crows and Gros Ventres Indians to 
come to Benton and meet us in council. Will 
you go and get them for us? We are informed 
that you can and do travel anywhere on the 
plains.” 
“Yes, I do,” I answered, “if I have special 
business of my own to attend to.” 
The Governor said, “The Government is anx¬ 
ious to bring about a general peace between 
these warring tribes, and also to put an end to 
hostilities against the white people. In a few 
days a steamboat load of goods will arrive, to 
be given as presents to all Indians who meet 
us in council. We want you to go and bring 
in these tribes.” 
“But,” I said to him, “how can I go? I have 
to look after my eating house, the butcher shop, 
the duties of sheriff, and of marshal. I have 
two prisoners on hand and no jail in which to 
confine them.” 
But they kept on talking and persuading, until 
I saw that, as the western phrase has it, they 
were going to get me into a jack pot. To cut 
it short they prevailed on me to undertake the 
mission to bring in the two tribes. 
I appointed a deputy to look after my busi¬ 
ness, and informed the Commissioners that I 
must have a certain Piegan Indian as compan¬ 
ion, and asked them to send a runner to Little 
Dog the Chief, with a paper, asking him to send 
Eagle Eye to Benton as soon as possible. In 
two days Eagle Eye was there. I had christened 
him Jack. I had once saved his life. He was 
a cool and brave man, and would die for me 
if called on to do so. He had been with me on 
two former trips. 
I was at the agency when Jack arrived, and 
when I told him what was wanted of him, he 
gave a war whoop that startled the Commis¬ 
sioners. I owned two of the fastest horses in 
the country, and got two good horses for Jack. 
I selected one pack horse, a fast one which would 
follow like a dog. I took some tobacco and 
some food with which to feast the Indians, cal¬ 
culating to put about seventy-five pounds on the 
pack horse. 
A brief digression may be interesting and per¬ 
569 
haps useful. I had a pair of Spanish panniers 
made of canvas or leather fastened together and 
hung over the pack saddle. At the bottom of 
the off side pannier was a four-inch strap end¬ 
ing in a buckle. On the nigh side pannier a 
strap was fastened at the bottom and these 
straps were buckled together under the horse’s 
belly. This held both panniers down close to 
the horse’s body. The panniers can be made of 
any size according to the amount one wishes to 
pack. Mine would carry 100 pounds of assorted 
goods. In case of emergency, the animal being 
saddled, you can place the panniers on the 
saddle, cinch, mount and be off in twenty 
seconds. 
On my best horse I kept day and night an 
Indian pad saddle as a substitute for a riding 
saddle. Its weight was ten pounds; the horse 
wore a hackamore for a bridle, and the reins 
were tied to the horse’s mane. This was a use¬ 
ful precaution in case of being surprised or 
jumped by Indians and not having time to 
saddle. Such an occurrence may take place not¬ 
withstanding all your alertness. My other horse 
I rode with a California saddle. Jack was 
similarly fitted out, except that he had two 
Indian pads. I had bought from Judge E. R. 
Munson the first Henry rifle that ever came into 
the Territory, paying him $106 in gold dust. I 
had two .45 caliber Colt’s revolvers. Jack had 
a Sharp’s rifle using paper caps that I had given 
to him some time before. I got him two .45 
caliber Remington revolvers. He had also his 
bow and arrows. 
On the second day after Jack’s arrival, we 
packed up at the agency, a number of persons 
being present. The Commissioners could not 
understand why we were so heavily armed, since 
we were going on a peaceful message for the 
Government. Their questions and manifest 
ignorance of Indians brought a smile to the 
faces of many of those present, as if a war party 
would care what business we were engaged in, 
or, if they did care, would stop to ask. After 
awhile we shook hands with our friends and 
started. Many of them said, “Look out, Bill, this 
is likely to be your last trip,” but I felt that, 
being armed as we were, no small party would 
get the “age” on us. 
Jack had told me that a Piegan war party, 
which had returned a few days before, had in¬ 
formed him that the Crows had been camped 
at Medicine Springs between the Moccasin 
Mountains, that being about ninety miles from 
Benton as the crow flies, but had moved their 
village some days before. He also told me there 
were three Blackfoot war parties out after Crows 
and Gros Ventres. We should have to look out 
for them. With this information as to where 
to pick up the trail, it would be easy for us 
to locate the Crow village, unless we met hostile 
war parties. For about half the distance to the 
Medicine Springs, the country is very broken. 
We forded the Missouri River and struck 
across a rolling country to Arrow Creek, thirty 
miles from Benton, and reached the creek about 
sixteen miles east of Rattling Buttes. These 
buttes, at the east end of the Highwood Moun¬ 
tains, were in a dangerous country. It was a 
famous resort for war parties, and game of all 
kinds was abundant. Here we stood guard turn 
about. Because you see no Indians nor sign of 
any, it does not follow that none are in the 
neighborhood. In a hostile or semi-hostile coun¬ 
try never trust to appearances, but be as much 
on the alert as if you knew the enemy was in 
close proximity. Have everything ready for 
action, either to defend your position or to re¬ 
treat. 
The next morning before daylight, we built a 
fire out of dry willows and made coffee. Our 
bill of fare was pemmican and crackers. We 
had discovered a few buffalo feeding over a 
ridge near to camp, and I asked Jack to try to 
get one with an arrow. It was too dangerous 
to use a gun to kill this game. If any Indians were 
within hearing, the report would have brought them 
to us in force, and might have caused us annoy¬ 
ance. Many a party has come to grief from the 
lack of such knowledge. Jack went off and in 
a short time returned with the tongue, the hump 
and one depouille, which we used as a substi¬ 
tute for bread. By this time I had the stock 
ready to start. 
After viewing the surrounding country from a 
high knoll and observing no signs of danger, we 
started. We had to pass over a broken coun¬ 
try between Arrow Creek and Wolf Creek, a 
distance of some eighteen miles. As we passed 
over a high ridge far off to our right, perhaps 
seven miles, we discovered about 100 buffalo on 
a stampede. We left the ridge and approached 
a hill that had some trees upon it, and from 
this point looked over the country in order to 
learn, if possible, what had caused the buffalo 
to “raise,” for buffalo seldom stampede unless 
they are frightened by somebody in the vicinity. 
We discovered nothing, and at length went on to 
FORT BENTON AND THE RIVER IN 1862. 
From a Sketch by an Army Officer. 
