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EARLY HISTORY FERGUS COUNTY GATHERED FROM RECORDS AND
THE EARLY TRADITIONS OF INDIANS
BY DAVID HILGER
(Secretary of Montana Historical Library)
Indian tradition from authentic sources indicates that the Judith Basin was
the summer resort for the Black feet, Nez Perces, Gros Ventres, Piegan, and at
times the Crow tribes of Indians, for at least a century before the famous Lewis
and Clark expedition wended its laborious way up the swift waters of the upper
Missouri river in 1805.
The first white man to cross the territorial confines of Fergus County and
the Judith Basin was Father De Smet who on Sept. 13-14, 1846, camped at or
near the junction of Ross's Fork and the Judith River. This great explorer and
missionary came in contact with the Black feet and Nez Perce Indians near the
mouth of the Big Horn where they were camped after a battle with the Crow
Indians. Father De Smet joined them and traveled with them to the Musselshell
River, where the two tribes parted and Father De Smet continued with the Black
feet to the Judith Gap, thence across the Basin to Arrow Creek and on past
Square Butte to Fort Benton. The Shoshoni Indians went home by going up the
Musselshell River thence across the range to Three Forks. The battle referred to
with the Crow Indians was strictly in Crow territory.
Father De Smet's diary is complete and interesting and his description of
the great numbers of buffalo in this section is but a repetition of the early recital
of adventures and explorations made in the forties and fifties and forms an
Object Description
| Title | Early History of Fergus County gathered from records and the early traditions of Indians |
| Creator | David Hilger |
| Description | Traces all the people who came through the Fergus County area. |
| Physical format | |
| Publisher | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana. |
| Subject | Fergus County, Montana. Lewistown, Montana |
| Contributed by | Lewistown Public Library, Lewistown, Montana. |
| Coverage-geography | Fergus County, Montana |
| Rights information | No copyright restrictions |
| Full text of this item | EARLY HISTORY FERGUS COUNTY GATHERED FROM RECORDS AND THE EARLY TRADITIONS OF INDIANS BY DAVID HILGER (Secretary of Montana Historical Library) Indian tradition from authentic sources indicates that the Judith Basin was the summer resort for the Black feet, Nez Perces, Gros Ventres, Piegan, and at times the Crow tribes of Indians, for at least a century before the famous Lewis and Clark expedition wended its laborious way up the swift waters of the upper Missouri river in 1805. The first white man to cross the territorial confines of Fergus County and the Judith Basin was Father De Smet who on Sept. 13-14, 1846, camped at or near the junction of Ross’s Fork and the Judith River. This great explorer and missionary came in contact with the Black feet and Nez Perce Indians near the mouth of the Big Horn where they were camped after a battle with the Crow Indians. Father De Smet joined them and traveled with them to the Musselshell River, where the two tribes parted and Father De Smet continued with the Black feet to the Judith Gap, thence across the Basin to Arrow Creek and on past Square Butte to Fort Benton. The Shoshoni Indians went home by going up the Musselshell River thence across the range to Three Forks. The battle referred to with the Crow Indians was strictly in Crow territory. Father De Smet’s diary is complete and interesting and his description of the great numbers of buffalo in this section is but a repetition of the early recital of adventures and explorations made in the forties and fifties and forms an interesting chapter, all of which was enacted long before the first cattle and sheep were driven to this enchanted section. The present location of Lewistown was the center of Indian encampments and the gathering place of many Indian tribes, owing to its splendid location as to cross roads, wood, water and grass, the essentials for Indian encampment. A careful study of the archives of the State Historical Society reveals the following summary of exploration of this favored section, given in chronological order: 1853 – Military records tell us that on Sept. 1, 1853, Lieutenant John Mullan, was sent by Gov. Isaac Stevens in search of Flathead Indians supposed to be summering in the Judith Basin, for the great Peace meeting of all the tribes in Northwest Montana and which convened that year at the mouth of the Judith river near where Claggett is now located. 1860 – In July and August, 1860, Lieut. John Mullan commanded a government engineering party going from Fort Benton, via Square Butte; Camp Lewis on Big Spring Creek, two miles below Lewistown, thence to McDonald and Flatwillow Creeks, to the Musselshell River near Roundup, to an easterly to southeasterly course to the Yellowstone River. 1869 – Captain Clift of the 13th Infantry came through the Judith Gap, thence north to Camp Lewis, near Lewistown, thence to Armells Creek and Cone Butte to Carroll on the Missouri river. 1873 – Peter Koch, now deceased and well-known pioneer of Bozeman, located on Spring Creek near the mouth of Casino Creek in November, 1873 and built a trading post for Story & Hoffman of Bozeman, and this was the first habitation or post built in the Judith Basin. Mr. Koch records the fact that they were encamped there during the winter of 1872-’73 and while awaiting the arrival of trading goods from Bozeman by bull teams, the men put in their time playing “Casino”, and so they named Little and Big Casino creeks after this game of cards then in vogue as a pastime, and so to Peter Koch must be given the credit of building the first home of any description in the Judith Basin. Mr. Koch left there in March, 1874. 1874—Captain C. Williams of the 7th Infantry came into the Judith Gap with a military escort and traveling west crossed the Basin near where Hobson and Stanford are now located and continued through, the “Rocky Gap” to Sun River and fort Shaw. 1875 – Captain Ludlow of the U. S. Engineering corps, with an escort, entered the Judith Basin at Judith Gap, thence to Camp Lewis and on to Carroll on the Missouri river. There various exploration parties have left carefully prepared reports and are authentic. I doubt if there is a man in Fergus County that is aware that Legislative Assembly of 1866, which convened in Virginia City, passed a bill which was approved by Acting-governor Thomas Frances Meagher, creating the county of Musselshell, which embraced a large part of the present county of Fergus. Here is a copy of the bill as passed: An Act to create the County of Musselshell, define the boundaries thereof, and to establish the County seat for the same. Be it enacted by the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Montana: Section 1. That all that district of country embraced within the following described boundaries, is hereby declared to be a county, to be known as Musselshell County, to-wit: Commencing at a point where the line of longitude one hundred and nine West, crosses the Missouri river, thence east, following down the Missouri river, the line of longitude one hundred and seven west, thence south to the dividing ridge between the waters of the Missouri and Yellowstone rivers; thence west along the said dividing ridge to the line of one hundred and nine west longitude, thence north on said line to the place of beginning. Section 2. That Kercheval City is hereby declared to be the county seat of Musselshell. Section 3. That the governor shall have the power to appoint the necessary county officers for said county, who shall hold their respective offices until their successors shall be elected at the next annual election after the passage of this act, and be qualified according to law. Section 4. This act to take effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval. April 10th, 1866. A. E. MAYHEW, Speaker of the House of Representatives ANSON POTTER, Executive Office Virginia City, Montana Territory April 10th, 1866 Approved, THOMAS FRANCES MEAGHER, Acting-governor, Territory of Montana. As will be noted Kercheval City at the mouth of the Musselshell River was named the county seat. On May 4th, 1866, Acting-governor Meagher appointed Ray W. Andrews, sheriff of Musselshell County and the original document is on file in the State Historical Library. The National Congress by an amendatory act to the Organic Act, approved March 2, 1867, annulled all the legislative acts passed by the Territorial Legislature in 1866, known as the Meagher Legislature. But it is, nevertheless, a positive fact that from April 10, 1866, to March 2, 1867, Musselshell county had a positive legal existence and Kercheval City, a paper town at the mouth of the Musselshell river, was the county seat and Ray W. Andrews was the legal sheriff during that time but there is no record as to whether he ever performed any services as such or whether he was ever in the newly created county. All of the present Fergus County east of the 109 degree Standard parallel was at that time in Musselshell County. Such are briefly, the known and recorded facts of the country embraced within the territorial confines of Fergus county and no doubt many a sage will ponder over the facts here-in recited, which shows the necessity of more closely observing “Pioneer Day” on the first Monday of November of each year and getting acquainted with the early history of our respective communities as the present law clearly contemplates. It must be remembered also that owing to the condition of the Missouri river as regards navigation above the mouth of the Musselshell, especially in season of low water, steamboats could reach Fort Benton only in high water and it became a necessity to construct a wagon road from Carroll to Helena, via the most practicable route, in order to transfer supplies in the latter part of the season, hence the Carroll road was established and it was opened in the early seventies, via White Sulphur Springs, Martinsdale, Judith Gap, Camp Lewis (now the County Farm on Spring Creek), thence to Armells Creek and on into Carroll. This had much to do with the subsequent settlement of Fergus County. Indian trails following game trails follow the natural contours of mountain passes and the trails leading through the Judith Gap into the Basin thence to the present site of Lewistown and on to Carroll, going north or via Arrow Creek and Square Butte to Fort Benton in a northwesterly direction – or again going west to “Rocky Gap” towards the Great Falls and again going from Camp Lewis (Lewistown) to McDonald Creek eastward – were all followed by the construction of county roads and subsequently railroad construction, which shows that the buffalo and the Indian were good natural engineers and followed the contour of the various mountain passes on subsequent railroad locations as located by modern engineers. I must impress the reader with the fact that the present location of Lewistown from early history through all the fur trade was an important point long before the railway lines entered the Judith Basin through the opening in the mountain range known as “Judith Gap” I must record another historical incident that happened at Judith Gap many years ago: On April 20, 1867, John M. Bozeman (after whom the town of Bozeman was named) and T. W. Cover were met by a party of Crow Indians with whom were five renegade Piegan Indians at a point about seven miles east of the present location of the city of Livingston. The Crows were friendly and knew Bozeman. After passing them, the five Piegans dropped out from the band of Crows and returning overtook and killed Bozeman and severely wounded Cover, who escaped in the brush along the river bank and subsequently reached the town of Bozeman and recovered from his wounds. This act of killing of Bozeman was resented by the Crows and retaliation came swift and sure. The leader of the Piegan Indians was Mountain Chief and with him were his three sons. In the early part of 1869, Mountain Chief and his sons were intercepted by a war party of Crow Indians in the Judith Gap. The former being the same party that killed Bozeman the year before were promptly run down and surrounded and all killed as punishment for the killing of Bozeman. This story is authentic and is made a matter of record by a manuscript of one of the government scouts, a Crow, now on file in the Historical Society. Herein, I have briefly recorded the history of the Judith Basin and may I not ask that the teachers of our schools of Fergus and Judith Basin counties, will, at least, on Pioneer Day, read this article to their pupils to avoid subsequent research and inquiry. I have heretofore told the story of “Judith” and will only briefly allude thereto. The Judith River was named by Captain Clark in 1805, after Julia Hancock of Fincastle, Virginia. Julia was at that time thirteen years of age and nicknamed Judith by her companions. I presented a sepia photographic reproduction of the celebrated Colonial artist, Gilbert Stuart, to the Judith Basin High School at the graduating exercises in 1923, so it would appear that Judith was uppermost in the mind of the great explorer, William Clark, for he married her on his return to the “States” five years after his return to St. Louis. Returning to the narrative of Father De Smet as recorded in his journal of Sept. 15, 1846, on the Judith River at a cottonwood grove at or near the intersection of Ross’ Fork creek, he says: “I performed it (mass) in the open air under the bower of green boughs, the work of the Indians, to implore the blessings of Heaven upon this great desert and the wandering tribes that roam over it, praying that they may be joined in the bonds of peace. Flatheads, Nez Perces, Piegans, Bloods, Gros Ventres, and Blackfoot of the different tribes to the number of more than two thousand surrounded the humble altar that had been raised in the desert to the living God, upon which the victim without spot was offered for them. The single- minded harmony and joy that seemed to animate the Flathead and the representatives of the various tribes of Blackfoot, are truly unheard of; one would say that their ancient quarrels are long forgotten; this is remarkable because it is the duty of an Indian to cherish in his heart, even to his last breath a desire of vengeance upon his enemies. Will this peace last? Let us pray the Lord to strengthen their good dispositions and grant them perseverance. Already the question of baptizing all the Piegan children is raised, but for the pleasure and business of the day, the ceremony is deferred to another day.” Think of this great word picture in the center of the Judith Basin, seventy-seven years ago, of the work of this great apostle, alone and single-handed, in establishing peace between the various tribes of Indians and teach them the gospel as the lowly Nazarene, did far from home and civilization, and a theme for the “D Lander’s” picnic that annually assembles at the Experiment Station at Moccasin, not very far from where over two thousand Indians in their original and uncivilized state did homage to the “Black Robe” before ninety-five per cent of these farmers were born. I have continued myself as noted already, to recorded history and much more might be said regarding the legendary lore but my efforts are in vain unless the present population seeks to preserve the priceless history of the past and to these pioneers who first grazed their flocks and herds over the hills and plains of the Judith Basin, may I not say in closing that if the spirit of the “Black Robe”, Father De Smet would return, there would still be much work to be done in teaching the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man at the annual Farmers’ Picnic. |
Description
| Title | Early History 1 |
| Full text of this item | EARLY HISTORY FERGUS COUNTY GATHERED FROM RECORDS AND THE EARLY TRADITIONS OF INDIANS BY DAVID HILGER (Secretary of Montana Historical Library) Indian tradition from authentic sources indicates that the Judith Basin was the summer resort for the Black feet, Nez Perces, Gros Ventres, Piegan, and at times the Crow tribes of Indians, for at least a century before the famous Lewis and Clark expedition wended its laborious way up the swift waters of the upper Missouri river in 1805. The first white man to cross the territorial confines of Fergus County and the Judith Basin was Father De Smet who on Sept. 13-14, 1846, camped at or near the junction of Ross's Fork and the Judith River. This great explorer and missionary came in contact with the Black feet and Nez Perce Indians near the mouth of the Big Horn where they were camped after a battle with the Crow Indians. Father De Smet joined them and traveled with them to the Musselshell River, where the two tribes parted and Father De Smet continued with the Black feet to the Judith Gap, thence across the Basin to Arrow Creek and on past Square Butte to Fort Benton. The Shoshoni Indians went home by going up the Musselshell River thence across the range to Three Forks. The battle referred to with the Crow Indians was strictly in Crow territory. Father De Smet's diary is complete and interesting and his description of the great numbers of buffalo in this section is but a repetition of the early recital of adventures and explorations made in the forties and fifties and forms an |
