Feb. i, 190S.] 
I 69 
hey would have made off with about fifty horses. 
My small party was camped about six miles away 
m the road to the forks of the Musselshell. We 
vere not disturbed. 
i After dropping into the wagon road from 
udith Gap to the Yellowstone River near Por¬ 
cupine Butte, Mr. Gordon left me on the 24th 
ff August, much to my regret. He is still liv- 
ng, as is understood, and is a prosperous sheep- 
nan in that vicinity. Without mishap we reached 
he Yellowstone Valley at the mouth of Big 
Timber and made camp in the first or lower 
anon of that stream on the evening of the 26th. 
Ve had passed only two ranches on the route— 
lage’s and Carpenter’s—the only ranches seen 
ince leaving the Musselshell. This camp was 
vithin two miles of the present site of the flour- 
shing city of Livingston. 
At daylight of the morning of the 27th camp 
.as aroused by a commotion among the horses 
lade by a black bear which had been feasting 
n bullberries all night in a neighboring thicket, 
-evi, who was investigating the cause of the 
acket. had a close shot at the bear, but on pull- 
ig the trigger found no cartridges in the rifle 
nd the bear escaped unharmed. 
It was a cool and sharp morning and old Bones, 
ae horse I had been riding for ten days, was 
lade lively by the crisp air, and on my mount- 
ig. in a shorter time than it takes to write it, 
e had commenced to pitch and eventually threw 
le a somersault over his head. I landed on my 
ack—a very hard fall, the effects of which T 
felt for several days. This was the second fall 
e had given me, and I determined on revenge, 
decided that I would never mount him again, 
ad second that I would get rid of him on the 
arliest opportunity. He had been bought as a 
arness horse in Helena, but on the first tight 
all he had balked, would neither go forward 
pr backward. After worrying with him for a 
ty or so it became necessary to put my pet hunt- 
g mare Kate in his place in the wagon. I had 
?en riding old Bones ever since. A man who 
as to travel with me through the park agreed 
ride him. After this catastrophe we pro¬ 
ved through the canon, but soon reached a 
'int where, on account of the sidling road over 
projecting spur of the mountain, it was neces- 
ry for the men to pack our plunder over the 
ur, and then, by ropes, hold the wagon from 
rning over. 
I will make a short retrospect of the rnove- 
:nts of the Nez Perces Indians after their ad- 
nt into the Yellowstone National Park, as we 
2re destined soon to come up against that 
^position. 
The Nez Perces Indians had arrived at Henry’s 
ke, near the western border of Yellowstone 
rk, on their route to the buffalo country, and 
a refuge from the whites across the Canada 
rder. It is not out of place to relate in de- 
the causes of this outbreak of this tribe. 
Sometime in the year 1840, this tribe, as well 
the Flatheads and some other tribes of Indians 
the western slope of the Continental divide, 
1 been converted to Christianity, through the 
orts of Father de Smet, of St. Louis, and his 
laborers, and had remained so. The Nez 
ices had a valuable reservation around the 
mhi Agency on Snake River, which soon at- 
c ted the greed of the aggressive white man. 
cy commenced a system of encroachments, re¬ 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
suiting first, in individual killing, then the kill¬ 
ing increased until the -entire tribe turned out 
on the war path and all the white men in their 
reach were killed. The movements of the mili¬ 
tary forced them to action. 
Under Chief Joseph and Chief Looking Glass 
they commenced that memorable march for the 
buffalo country on the eastern slope of the Rock¬ 
ies, and thence for a refuge across the Canada 
boundary. A truce was declared in passing 
through the white settlements on the western 
slope, and in passing out the head of the Bitter 
Root Valley and on to the headwaters of the 
Jefferson, no depredations were committed. On 
the Big Hole River, a tributary of the Jefferson, 
they were overtaken by a force of soldiers sent 
out from Fort Shaw under General Gibbon. Al¬ 
though with an inferior force, with his enemy 
armed with repeating rifles, more effective in a 
fight in the brush than the army rifle, he made 
a vigorous attack at daylight on their camp. 
The Indians rallied, made a firm resistance and 
effectually repulsed the attack. Gibbon could not 
renew the fight without re-enforcements, and the 
Indians continued on their prearranged route. 
The Nez Perces were much exasperated at the 
killing of a number of their women, either with 
arms in their hands or by stray bullets. After 
the fight these Indians killed every white man 
and took all the horses that came within their 
reach. Up to the time of their arrival at Henry's 
Lake, eight or ten white men had been killed 
and the teams of a freight outfit gobbled up. 
Chief Joseph showed much military skill in 
the management of his campaign. Whenever he 
passed an important trail leading toward the 
white settlements a scouting party was sent down 
that trail far enough to avoid a surprise. George 
Herendeen had been sent out from Fort Ellis to 
find out the whereabouts of these Indians, and 
in going out to Henry’s Lake, where he ex¬ 
pected to find traces of them, he passed at the 
crossing of the Madison a camp of some fifteen 
or twenty miners from the Pony mines, acting 
as scouts, and with the further intention of mak¬ 
ing a dash on the camp of hostiles to secure a 
lot of their horses. Herendeen reached the 
vicinity of Henry’s Lake about the time that 
the Indians arrived there, climbed a tree and 
saw enough to satisfy him this was the hostile 
outfit he was in search of. Returning by the 
camp of miners on the Madison—about twelve 
miles from Henry’s Lake—he warned them of 
the situation and advised vigilance on their part. 
They expressed perfect confidence in their ability 
to take care of themselves, and the probability 
is that they at once went to sleep. Late at night 
a band of Joseph’s scouts came down the,trail, 
discovered the camp, and after locating the 
horses by a fusilade scattered the miners and 
made off with their horses, much to the miners’ 
astonishment. They were left afoot on the 
wrong side of the Madison River. 
In the meantime a military force of seven or 
eight hundred men, cavalry and mounted in 
fantry, had been concentrated and were follow¬ 
ing these Indians, at this time about two days’ 
march behind them. The next heard of Joseph’s 
band was at the Lower Geyser basin, near which 
they surprised and captured a party of tourists, 
Mr. Carpenter, his wife and sister-in-law and four 
or five men from about Helena, Montana, among 
them Albert Oldham, whom I knew. Chief 
Joseph rescued the two women and a younger 
brother and protected them. The young bucks 
commenced a fusilade on the men, killing Car¬ 
penter and wounding several more—among them 
Albert Oldham—as they took to the brush. 
As it turned out Carpenter was merely stunned 
by a scalp wound and afterward revived, and he 
and Oldham were taken care of by Howard’s 
men as they came up. On reaching the vicinity 
of the Yellowstone Joseph's scouts surprised an¬ 
other party of four white men camped just above 
Great Falls and killed one man, the others es¬ 
caping to the brush. Before fording the Yellow¬ 
stone, Chief Joseph gave the two white women 
a pony each and started them down the trail on 
the west side of that stream. At the pass over 
the Mount Washburn range they met a scout¬ 
ing party of cavalry under Lieut. Schofield, who, 
took charge of them and delivered them at Far- 
rel’s ranch at the mouth of Trail Creek. Mrs. 
Carpenter then supposed her husband had been 
killed. 
Two of the men, who escaped through the 
timber when fired upon at their camp just above 
Great Falls, had reached the Mammoth Hot 
Springs where they met McCartney. One of 
these men from Helena induced McCartney to 
go back with him and try to find his friend, who 
on taking to the brush had cried out to those in 
front, I am shot.” He might be alive and 
wounded he thought. McCartney acceded at 
once. They found his dead friend—he had been 
finished by the hostiles—buried him and started 
on their return. 
The trail McCartney and companion traveled, 
via lower Falls, branched from a much traveled 
trail, coming down the East Fork of the Yel¬ 
lowstone or Lamar River, passing that stream 
by Baronettes Bridge. As soon as Chief Joseph’s 
outfit reached the East Fork he sent a strong 
scouting party down the trail toward the Mam¬ 
moth Hot Springs and to the lower river, thus 
getting behind McCartney and companion. Five 
miles below these springs, at the mouth of Gard¬ 
ner’s River, was Henderson’s ranch, and at that 
point was a scouting party of eight or ten citi¬ 
zens occupying the one room cabin, and bent on 
getting a lot of Indian ponies. 
The Nez Perces scouting party pushed on to 
Mammoth Hot Springs on the 2d of September, 
killing one man, the companion of the man with 
McCartney, two others—one a colored man—es- 
caping to the brush. They pushed on toward 
the Yellowstone at once. It was Sunday morn¬ 
ing, a warm pleasant day, and the “boys” hav¬ 
ing nothing else to do determined to go afishing 
in the Yellowstone River about three hundred 
yards away. Their horses were picketed near 
the cabin, their rifles and camp outfit were for 
the most part in the cabin. About the time the 
fish began to bite freely the Indian scouting 
party, having made a quick reconnaissance, dashed 
into the camp, swooped up the horses, set fire 
to the cabin and were away on the back trail in 
a very short time. 
In the meantime McCartney and companion on 
their return had reached near the head of the 
trail, coming up a fork of Gardner’s River about 
three miles from the Hot Springs. McCartney 
told me that when about fifty yards from the 
point, where the trail dropped into the gorge of 
that stream, he was met by a band of loose 
horses evidently driven. As they came over the 
hill in sight of McCartney they stopped, with 
their ears pricked up. McCartney recognized 
