Billings Senior High School - Kyote Yearbook (Billings, MT)

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It was then the prairie schooner had its era in this history. Those who poured into the country can be classed in but two sections, Sturdy, strong and law respecters wishing only rightful earnings And outlaws, as from nether regions, coming there for looting only. . These becatne the dread road agents, more because the cold ofwinters And the distance from the railroad, the deep snow, the Statue of Bduffalo lack of horse-9 c?ia3f,l9i:iti2m12Q Caused prwatzon, desperation, neediness gnd actual ' wanting. And these highway nlen grew bolder, pillaging and killing madly ' Till a 1-nan risked life and fortune on a road with no companions. There were fifty, led by Plununer whowas sheriff of the county, All his deputies were agents and each -man who carried nzfoney A Was held up during his journey by a secretive procedure. Their ways were not helter-skelter but well planned and executed. First they killed for money only, later for but love of killing. Finally their depredations grew so great that some revoltedg Hence they formed the l7igi!antes to oppose that regin of terror. They began with only nine who swore their punishment was hanging, But when Pluin1ner,glong suspected, was accused and pronounced guilty All uncertain up to that tinie swelled the band of vigilantes. Vigilante just-ice sta-rted with the hanging of the agent T I Called George Ives, a heartless bandit, rnad when drunken, laughing, reckless, Gay and sociable when sober but his gunplay was respected. Two months later all these agents either Q fled or reached the gallows, Plunnner and his ba-nd were finished 3 self- created justice conquered. Vigilante work was over so a civil judge and jury Were appointed and respected as the state's first bar of justice. Now when Slade, well liked when sober but a denzon when with whiskey, Colonel W. F. Cody or Buffalo Bm, a famous Indian fighter and a. not- , 'SB-YIGSPS, D, 183- ed rider of the pony express

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Robbe1 s Roost, where Plum- mer and road agents had their rendezvous: now a private residence And these -men were quite essential in develop: ing onr history. When a claim was staked by someone all the -restless., everchanging Sea of inzigrationl rushed the scene of the dis- covery, seemed to Know by divination when a mine was worth the ' rushing. , Thus the era was developed, picturesque, faery romantic. The first gold found in llilontana was by Finlay, or Benetsee On his farm in Deer Lodge county but his find was soon forgotten: In the half-score years that followed, off anal on was gold discovered, Richest of these finds being one on Plfillard Creek where thuszoise Sprang up Bannoclc City, largest of the colonies estaiblishedf Cold Toni! was a prospector of solitary habits, Hurlbut, Stuart and Saunders too were present there among the others, Alder Gulch was soon disco'verea'g where now stands Virginia City A nd was then. known- as state capital, was discovered by Fairweather, N ext important was Last Chance Gulch, where grew Helena as her canipf Was discoifered by John C owan, worn ont, . . . worried and discouraged, 0 Out of food and all provisions, panned that soil as his last prospect. ' Thus was na-med the gnlch that saved llllllg, body, soul and e en a fortnne Deer Lodge county boasts the nugget larg- est of all those discov,fered. ' In eighteen-hnndred-sixty the-re prez'ailed within Montana Only wilderness with no more than two ' settlements ontstan.ding, 'f Then the gold stampede cotnnreucing it was -peopled as by magic. California and Pikes Peak State '5 had just passed the stage that's lawless To niai-ntain stern law and order hence their outlaws rushed Montana. ' ' H850-Sanders, p. 166. 1'East Bannock population - 400, date 1862 then in Dakota territory and Deer Lodge was in Washington. 51863-Thought to have had richest placer minings discovered in world. 111864- d C it li 1874 VV th 3000 'TFL Helena ma e ap a n . or S , . Benton and Ft. Owen to east and west. 5Colorado. Boothill Cemetery, near Billings: So called becalise of the large number buried there who met death violently

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Slaudered court and jury madly he awak- ened civil fury And was hanged by vigilantes, resurrected for the last time, For new justice, la-za' and order were estab- lished, firmly seated Iu that lawless territory tc'hich before knew no restrictions' New the struggle 'twixt the races for the -izortlzwest really started Tho at first the redntan welcomed and was friendly to the ivlz-iteman. But as C0'lllIllf?7'C0 came between. them there Q entered the fire-water, And hostility afwaleened, as it brought deceit and zvarfare. ' General George A. Custer, who perished with his entire cavalry white battling against the Sioux in 1876 There was treachery on both sides such as Bakefs raid atrocious And the murder by Piegans of Malcolm Clarke and familyg - But the redman's only justice came from that gained by the warpathgl The Sioux were the first to realize that exterzsio-rzl of the railroad Was the death knelt of the redtnan, so prepared to fight the railroad I f they took it farther 1t'estzc'ard,' but it was brought on regardless gg ' They refused the reservations and committed deeds most lawless. Hence the goverunzent determined now to conquer them completely And sent out an army led by Terry, Crook and also Gibbon. It was from this trip that Cus ter's frightful massacre resulted ' Ou- the little Big Horn river where his cavalry was slaughtered, Not a single white escaping to bring news of the encounter.: Sanders, p. 217. 1'Sanders, p. 230. 51872. 121876. ' Custer's Battlefield