The Yellowstone Park in Early Days 
By COL. WILLIAM D. PICKETT 
( Conclusion .) 
A FTER passing through the lower canon of 
this stream we arrived at Farrell’s ranch 
at the mouth of Trail Creek in the fore¬ 
noon of the 28th of August. From this point 
the road to Bozeman leaves the Yellowstone. 
I halted here to await developments. I found 
the rumors heard within the last week, of the 
advance of the hostile Indians through the Na¬ 
tional Park, and of the killing of the tourists 
that fell into their hands, were mostly true and 
as have been told in the retrospect before out¬ 
lined. 
That night Mrs. Cowan, her sister and a 
younger brother arrived, who were of that party 
of about ten who were captured near the Lower 
Geyser basin and were then supposed to be the 
only survivors. 
On the night of the 29th two companies of 
the Second Cavalry arrived from Fort Ellis' 
About midnight the camp was aroused by the 
attempt of Indians to steal horses, but they were 
met by a vigorous fire and were driven off. On 
the 2d of September Lieut.-Col. Gilbert of the 
Seventh Infantry reinforced the other two com¬ 
panies and moved up the river. During this 
time I made agreeable acquaintance with several 
officers of this force, among them Lieut. H. L. 
Scott, of the Second Cavalry, a friendship which 
has been kept bright ever since whether as Major 
Scott in Cuba and the Philippines or Col. Scott 
of the West Point Military Academy. During 
this time scouts Goff and Leonard and Mr. Mc¬ 
Cartney and companion, who were ambushed by 
the hostile scouts, came into camp. 
On the 6th of September, Col. Gilbert, having 
failed to get in communication with Howard’s 
command by the Yellowstone trail, came back 
through the second Yellowstone canon and went 
up Miners Creek and over to the Madison River. 
Had he delayed one day longer he would have 
learned that General Howard was at the Yellow¬ 
stone Lake, and the hostile Indians had passed 
on through the park. 
After this movement of troops, believing it 
would be some days before the situation could 
become settled, I determined to go back to Boze¬ 
man and await developments. I took with me 
as far as Fort Ellis, Goff, the wounded scout. 
On the 7th of September I got partial satis¬ 
faction by selling old Bones to Quarter-master 
Adams, for a cavalry horse to be forwarded to 
General Howard. Good luck to him. 
In a few days it was learned the hostile In¬ 
dians had passed through the National Park, fol¬ 
lowed by Howard’s forces. 
As there was still time to make a hasty trip 
through the park before the severe winter set 
in I determined to do so. I was urged not to 
make the attempt on account of the hostiles’ sick 
or wounded that would be left behind and other 
Indians. I recognized the risk, but as I had as 
a youngster served as a mounted volunteer dur¬ 
ing the Mexican War on the northwest frontier 
of Texas against the Comanches, and all the bad 
Indians of the Indian Territory and of the 
Kansas Territory who infested that frontier, I 
had some knowledge of Indian ways. Added 
to this experience was that of four years’ ser¬ 
vice in the late war between the States. These 
experiences fully qualified me to judge of the 
credence to be placed in war rumors. I was 
very anxious to make the trip for other reasons. 
Only one man of suitable qualities could be 
found willing to make the trip—Jack Bean. He 
knew the routes through the park; he was a 
good packer and mountain man, cautious, but 
resolute. We went light. I rode my hunting 
mare Kate; Jack his horse, and we packed my 
little red mule Dollie. I was armed with a .45- 
90-450 Sharps long range rifle, and Jack with a 
.44-40-200 repeater. In addition to a belt full 
of cartridges. Bean carried around his. neck a 
shot bag pretty full of cartridges, so that in 
case of being set afoot they would become handy. 
When Dollie was packed with all the bedding, 
etc., there was not much visible except her ears 
and feet. 
We left Bozeman on the nth of September 
and nooned in the second canon of the Yellow¬ 
stone on the 13th. While nooning, a portion of 
the cavalry that accompanied Col. Gilbert on 
his trip around from the head of the Madi¬ 
son. passed down toward Fort Ellis, having with 
them Cowan and Albert Oldham, who had sur¬ 
vived the hostile Indians near the Lower Geysers. 
, In the afternoon we passed up the river, by 
the cabin of Henderson, burned by hostiles, 
turned up Gardiner’s River and camoed within 
three miles of Mammoth Hot Springs. As this 
squad of cavalry passed down we were conscious 
that we had to depend entirely on our own re¬ 
sources for the balance of the trip, for there was 
probably not another white man in that park. 
A note in my diary says, “International rifle 
match commences to-day.” 
Early on the 14th we passed up to these last 
named Hot Springs, spending two or three hours 
viewing their beauties an,d wonders. These, with 
all the numerous wonders of this true wonder¬ 
land are indescribable, and I will not weary your 
readers by attempting to describe any of them. 
Many of them have, doubtless, visited them. We 
passed by the cabin, in the door of which the 
Helena man had been killed a few days before, 
after having escaped the attack on the 'camp 
above the Grand Falls. 
Our trail passed up the gorge of one fork of 
Gardiner’s River in sight of the falls of that 
stream. Just beyond where the trail emerged 
from the gorge McCartney and his companion 
had met the hostile scouts. There lay their 
pack outfit, which they had left behind on the 
2d or 3d of September, as before narrated. 
Among the abandoned outfit was a miner’s shovel 
which these brave men had taken along to bury 
their friend if dead. We camped , that night on 
the lower Blacktail Creek. Early on the follow¬ 
ing day we passed the place where Goff and 
Leonard, the two scouts, had been ambuscaded. 
The willow brush was all “shot up” and near 
the trail was the dead sorrel horse that Leonard 
had ridden. We examined the vicinity of this 
ambuscade for the brave Indian boy who, as he 
fell, was seen to draw his revolver. It was not 
to be found. That vicinity was afterward thor¬ 
oughly searched, but there never could be found 
any trace of this boy. His fate has never been 
revealed. There were splendid mountain views 
from the trail in the day’s travel. 
In the afternoon of Sept. 15 the trail descended 
to the valley of the \ ellowstone and passed with¬ 
in one mile of Baronet’s Bridge, across which 
Howard’s command passed on the 5th of Sep¬ 
tember in pursuit of the Nez Perces. We soon 
dropped into the trail followed by that command 
and followed it back to Tower Falls. These 
falls are named from the tower-like ledges of 
rock that overhang the falls, which have about 
the appearance of the Minnehaha Falls near 
Minneapolis, with a single cascade of about 130 
feet. Just before dark Jack missed one of the 
horses, and for a while there was an Indian 
scare, but fortunately the animal had only wan¬ 
dered a short distance, and was soon recovered. 
V\ e v. ere a little more sensitive'to Indian scares 
since two scouts from General Howard’s com¬ 
mand had been met on the 13th, who reported 
that about 100 Bannock scouts from Lemhi- 
agency had deserted Howard, taking along more 
horses than belonged to them. They were aim¬ 
ing to ford the Yellowstone about ten miles 
above the Grand Falls, where the Nez Perces 
crossed. We were warned to be on the look¬ 
out for them, as they were in dangerous temper. 
Our danger would come when we should leave 
the Grand Falls and pass through some open 
country in the direction of the Lower Geyser 
Basin about the 17th. 
