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The Yellowstone Expedition down the Yellowstone in
1874 is identified in a way with the history of Gallatin County, as
it was started from Bozeman, the prime object being to open up the
Wolf Creek country, where the men supposed there were rich placer
mines as represented by a man named J. L. Vernon, a former Bozeman
teacher, who claimed he had found gold in paying quantities in the
Wolf Creek Mountains.
James Gourley, one of the party, a pioneer who came
to what is now Montana in 1862, and who on May 4, 1932, celebrated
his ninety-second birthday anniversary in Bozeman, said, "I don't
think there was ever an expedition made into the heart of a hostile
Indian country that equaled this. The country was alive with Sioux
Indians, and yet we made that march, losing only one man out of 146
that started from Bozeman."
With the 146 men, everyone having a saddle horse,
the outfit included about 20 wagons with about 50 teams and some
cattle, 100 packhorses, one 12-pound Howitzer and one 12-pound
Napoleon. "The company was organized," Mr. Gourley says, "about the
middle of February, 1874, with Benjamin Franklin Grounds captain. He
was a Texan, who had seen service in California in early days. The
outfit over which he had wonderful command was composed of ranch men
from Gallatin Valley, citizens of Bozeman, hunters and trappers from
the Yellowstone, prospectors and miners from various parts of the
territory."
The weather was intensely cold, and when they reached the Sweet
Grass country, they had to keep the cattle moving all night to keep
them from freezing, and some of the men had feet, hands and ears
frost-bitten. Going on to the Yellowstone they had to shovel the way
through snowdrifts and in one place it took 50 men with ropes to
pull the wagons and teams up the steep hills.
They had several skirmishes with Indians and narrow
escapes from being killed, but routed the Indians most of the time
with the big guns. The Indians filled the wagon sheets full of
holes, and killed 21 of their horses one night.
In one skirmish, the men killed several Indians,
frightened about 30 from a couley, got the scalps of 13 Indians and
captured 23 of their horses. While in camp on the Rosebud, the
Indians tried to get the herd of horses but failed. One Indian was
shot off his horse, and while trying to get the scalp of this red
man, "Zack Yates, one of our best men," Mr. Gourley said, "was shot
through the heart, and died instantly. This was the only man killed
on the trip."
A dummy grave was dug to fool the Indians, and into
this was put a loaded shell, some sticks of giant powder and other
missiles to cause trouble if the Indians opened the grave, and the
body of Mr. Yates was taken to the next camp and buried in the
breast-works. With numerous narrow escapes in the skirmishes on the
trip, it seemed marvelous that no more men were killed, and that no
serious trouble came from the extreme cold, but Mr. Gourley said, "I
think our success came from the fact that we always got in the first
shot. We worked on their superstitions, making them think our
medicine was stronger than theirs, through leaving cartridges loaded
with giant powder that they picked up.
"We did not find any gold," he continued, "but we
traveled slowly on the way home, making our camps with great
caution. We crossed the Big Horn River at
Fort C. F. Smith, April
10, and arrived back in Bozeman May 3."
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