Since then over $85,000,000 has been taken out of this remarkable gulch.
Recently a correspondent of the Anaconda Standard had an interview with the Henry Edgar referred to, which interview was published in the “Standard” Sept. 5, 1899, from which the following extracts are taken. Mr. Edgar said:
“In February, 1863, I sold my claim, which was No. 8 on Stapleton’s bar at Bannock, and went to Deer Lodge to get an outfit for this expedition. We intended to join Stuart’s party, which left Bannock about the same time we departed from Deer Lodge. That was the latter part of April or the first part of May. We were in reality bound for the Black Hills. Simmons accompanied us as our guide. There were six in the party. We had got two days’ travel below the mouth of Clarke’s Fork in the neighborhood of Pompey’s Pillar, when we were captured by the Indians. There was no fighting. That would have been sure death, they so far outnumbered us. They took us into camp and made medicine over us for three days.
“It was jointly through Bill Fairweather and Lewis Simmons that we were saved. I do not understand why it was, but a rattlesnake would never bite Bill. When he saw one he would always take it up and carry it along with him. They never seemed to resent anything he would do with them and he never killed one. As we were going towards the Indian village he picked up a rattlesnake, and just at the outskirts of the village he picked up another. When the Indians saw him come in with a rattlesnake on each arm they were awed. He put the snakes in his shirt bosom and Simmons told the Indians that he was the great medicine man of the whites.
“They took us into the medicine lodge, where a large bush was placed in the center. They marched us around that several times and finally Bill said if they repeated it he would pull up the sacred medicine bush. They marched us around again and Bill pulled up the bush and walloped the medicine man on the head with it. We then were formed three to three, back to back. We had refused all along to give up our guns and revolvers. The old chief drove the other Indians back with a whip. They had a council which lasted from noon till midnight. In the meantime we were sentenced. If we proceeded they would kill us. If we turned back and relinquished our horses we would not be harmed. It was Hobson’s choice. I received for my three horses an old horse, blind in one eye, and a yearling colt. For my three pairs of Oregon blankets a buffalo robe and a half, and for my grub, consisting of flour, bacon, coffee, beans, etc., a dozen dried buffalo tongues. Simmons remained with the Indians.
INDIAN WAR DANCE.
“We came back on the north side of the Yellowstone, after one day’s travel. We met an old squaw, who warned us not to cross the river. We took up into the mountains and camped there until morning, fearful of the Indians. We then saw thirty or forty of them looking for our trail. We remained until night and then crossed to the south side of the river. We came up pretty near to Shield’s river or Twenty-five-Yard creek, where we crossed to the north. There we found the Indians were ahead of us and had gone over the hills toward West Gallatin. We came on over the pass where the city of Bozeman now lies, and saw the Indians coming up the valley. We concealed ourselves in the brush along the creek and exchanged shots with them. There was a parley. They agreed that if we came out they would not harm us, but we wouldn’t trust them. We waited until dark and then struck for the Madison river, crossed it and went into the hills between the Gallatin and the Madison. The following day we crossed the Madison river and came up what is now known as the head of Wigwam gulch. We camped beside a lake at the foot of Bald mountain. We killed an elk there, and remained during the afternoon and over night to dry and smoke the meat.
“The day after we came down by the lake and over the bridge to Alder gulch. That was on May 26, 1863, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun was shining brightly. Fairweather and I were to make camp and stand guard. The other four proceeded up the gulch, to what is now Highland, prospecting. About sundown Bill went across the creek to picket the horses.
“‘There is a piece of bed rock projecting,’ said Bill, ‘and we had better go over and see if we cannot get enough money to buy a little tobacco.’ So Bill took the pick and shovel and I took the pan and we crossed the creek. He dug the dirt up and shoveled it into the pan. I went down to the creek to wash it. While I was washing the dirt he scratched around in the bedrock with his butcher knife and picked out a piece of gold and called: ‘I’ve found a scad.’ I had the pan about half washed down and I replied: ‘If you have one I have a thousand.’ And so I had. That first pan weighed about $2.30. We washed three pans before dark and the three aggregated twelve dollars and some cents. As we finished, the other four returned tired and hostile because we hadn’t taken care of the horses. They had only found a color. I showed Sweeney what we had and asked him what he thought of the pan. ‘Salted, by G—d,’ exclaimed Sweeney. ‘You know well enough if you pike me down and run me through a sluice you couldn’t get a color,’ said I. Then all were in good humor. We had dried elk meat for supper.