 Section 9 of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Sue Anderson. Army Letters from an Officer's Wife, 1871, 1888, by Francis Rowe. Section 9. Letters from 1878, Part 1. Camp Baker, Montana Territory, February, 1878. Home seems very cozy and attractive after the mountains of snow and ice. We crossed and recrossed on our little trip to Helena. The bitter cold of those canyons will long be remembered. But it was a delightful change from the monotonous life in this out-of-the-way garrison, even if we did almost freeze on the road, and it was more than pleasant to be with old friends again. The ball at the hall Friday evening was most enjoyable, and it was simply enchanting to dance once more to the perfect music of the dear old orchestra. And the young people in Helena are showing their appreciation of the good music by dancing themselves positively thin this winter. The band leader brought from New Orleans the Creole music that was so popular there, and at the ball we danced La Verité four times. The last was at the request of Lieutenant Joyce, with whom I always danced it in the South. It is thoroughly French, bringing in the waltz, polka, shottish, miserca, and radhawa. Some of those Creole girls were the personification of grace in that dance. We knew of the ball before leaving home and went prepared for it, but had not heard one word about the ball-mask to be given at the Army Social Club at Mrs. Gordon's Tuesday evening. We did not have one thing with us to assist in the makeup of a fancy dress. Nevertheless, we decided to attend it. Faye said for me not to give him a thought that he could manage his own costume. How I did envy his confidence in man and things, particularly things, for just then I felt far from equal to managing my own dress. I had been told of some of the costumes that were to be worn by friends, and they were beautiful, and the more I heard of these things, the more determined I became that I would not appear in a domino. So, Monday morning I started out for an idea, and this I found almost immediately in a little shop window. It was only a common paste-board mask, but nevertheless it was a work of art. The face was fat and silly, and droll beyond description, and to look at the thing and not laugh was impossible. It had a heavy bang of fiery red hair. I bought it without delay, and was wondering where I could find something to go with it in that little town when I met a friend, a friend indeed, who offered me some wits of silk that had been dyed a most hideous shade of green. I gladly accepted the offer, particularly as this friend is in deep mourning and would not be at the ball to recognize me. Well, I made this really awful silk into a very full skirt that just covered my ankles, and near the bottom I put a broad band of orange-colored camber, the stiff and shiny kind. Then I made a mother-hubbered apron of white paper camber, also very stiff and shiny, putting a big full roosh of the camber around neck, yoke, and bottom of sleeves. For my head I made a large cap of the white camber, with roosh all around, and fastened it on tight with wide strings that were tied in a large stiff bow under my chin. We drew my evening dress up underneath both skirt and apron, and pinned it securely on my shoulders, and this made me stout and shapeless. Around this immense waist and over the apron was drawn a wide sash of bright, pink, glossy camber that was tied in a huge bow at the back. But by far the best of all, a real crown of glory was a pigtail of red, red hair that hung down my back and showed conspicuously on the white apron. This was a loan by Mrs. Joyce, another friend in mourning, and who assisted me in dressing. We wanted the benefit of the long mirror in the little parlor of the hotel, so we carried everything there and locked the door, and then the fun commenced. I am afraid that Mrs. Joyce's fingers must have been badly bruised by the dozens of pins she used, and how she laughed at me, but if I looked half as dreadful as my reflection in the mirror, I must have been a sight to provoke laughter. We had been requested to give names to our characters, and Mrs. Joyce said I must be a country girl. But it still seems to me that an idiot would have been more appropriate. I drove over with Major and Mrs. Carlton. The dressing rooms were crowded at Mrs. Gordon's, so it was an easy matter to slip away, give my long cloak and thick veil to a maid, and return to Mrs. Carlton before she had missed me. And it was most laughable to see the dear lady go in search of me, peering in everyone's face. But she did not find me, although we went down the stairs and in the drawing room together, and neither did one person in those rooms recognize me during the evening. Lieutenant Joyce said he knew to whom the hair belonged, but beyond that it was all a mystery. That evening will never be forgotten, for as soon as I saw that no one knew me, I became a child once more, and the more the masquers laughed, the more I ran around. When I first appeared in the rooms there was a general giggle, and that was exhilarating, so off I went. After a time Colonel Fitz James adopted me and tagged around after me every place, I simply could not get rid of the man. I knew him, of course, and I also knew that he was mistaking me for someone else, which made his attentions in anything but complimentary. I told him ever so many times that he did not know me, but he always insisted that it was impossible for him to be deceived, that he would always know me, and so on. He was acting in a very silly manner, quite too silly for a man of his years and a Colonel of the Regiment, and he was keeping me from some very nice dances too, so I decided to lead him a dance and commenced a rare flirtation in cozy corners and out of the way places. I must admit, though, that all the pleasure I derived from it was when I heard the smothered giggles of those who saw us. The Colonel was an abdominal and had not tried to disguise himself. We went into supper together, and I managed to be almost the last one to unmask, and all the time Colonel Fitz James, Domino removed, was standing in front of me and looking down with a smile of serene expectancy. The Colonel of a Regiment is a person of prominence. Therefore, many people in the room were watching us, not one suspecting, however, who I was. So, when I did take off the mask, there was a shout, Why, it's Mrs. Ray, and, oh, look at Mrs. Ray, and several friends came up to us. Well, I wish you could have seen the Colonel's face, the mingled surprise and almost horror that was expressed upon it. Of course, the vain man had placed himself in a ridiculous position, chasing around and flirting with the wife of one of his very own officers, a second lieutenant at that. It came out later that he, and others also, had thought that I was a Helena girl whom the Colonel admires very much. It was rather embarrassing, too, to be told that the girl was sitting directly opposite on the other side of the room where she was watching us with two big black eyes. And then, further down, I saw Faye also looking at us. But then a man never can see things from a woman's point of view. The heat and weight of the two dresses had been awful, and as soon as I could get away I ran to a dressing room and removed the camber. But the pins, there seemed to be thousands of them. Some of the costumes were beautiful and costly also. Mrs. Manson, a lovely little woman of Helena, was a comet. Her short dress of blue silk was studded with gold stars, and to each shoulder was fastened a long, pointed train of yellow gauze sprinkled with diamond dust. An immense gold star with a diamond sunburst in the center was above her forehead, and her rounder neck was a diamond necklace. Mrs. Palmer, wife of Colonel Palmer, was King of Hearts. The foundation a handsome red silk. Mrs. Spencer advertised the New York Herald. The whole dress, which was flounced to the waist, was made of the headings of that paper. Major Blair was recognized by no one as an American citizen in plain evening dress. I could not find Faye at all, and he was in a simple red domino, too. I cannot begin to tell you of the many lovely costumes that seemed most wonderful to me, for you must remember that we were far up in the Rocky Mountains, five hundred miles from a railroad. I will send you a copy of the Helena paper that gives an account of the ball, in which you will read that Mrs. Ray was inimitable, the best sustained character in the rooms. I have thought this over some, and I consider the compliment doubtful. We remained one day longer in Helena than we had expected for the ball-mask. Consequently we were obliged to start back the very next morning, directly after breakfast, and that was not pleasant, for we were very tired. The weather had been bitter cold, but during the night a chinook had blown up, and the air was warm and balmy as we came across the valley. When we reached the mountains, however, it was freezing again, and there was glassy ice every place, which made driving over the grades more dangerous than usual. In many places the ambulance wheels had to be blocked, and the back and front wheels of one side chained together so they could not turn, in addition to the heavy break, and then the driver would send the four sharp-shod mules down at a swinging trot that kept the ambulance straight, and did not give it time to slip around and roll us down to eternity. There is one grade on this road that is notoriously dangerous, and dreaded by every driver around here because of the many accidents that have occurred there. It is cut in the side of a high mountain, and has three sharp turns back and forth, and the mountain is so steep it is impossible to see from the upper grade all of the lower that leads down into the canyon called White's Gulch. This one mountain grade is a mile and a half long, but the really dangerous place is near the middle turn, where a warm spring trickles out of the rocks and, in winter, forms thick ice over the road, and if this ice cannot be broken up, neither man nor beast can walk over, as it is always thicker on the inner side. I was so stiffened from the overheating and tried to fool dancing at Mrs. Gordon's, it was with the greatest difficulty I could walk at all on the slippery hills, and was constantly falling down, much to the amusement of Faye and the driver. But ride down some of them I would not. At Canyon Ferry, where we remained overnight, the ice in the Missouri was cracked, and there were ominous reports like pistol shots down in the canyon below. At first Faye thought it would be impossible to come over, but the driver said he could get everything across if he could come at once. Faye walked over with me, and then went back to assist the driver with the mules that were still on the bank refusing to step upon the ice. But Faye led one leader and the driver lashed and yelled at all of them, and in this way they crossed, each mule snorting at every step. There were the most dreadful groans and creakings and loud reports during the entire night, and in the morning the river was clear, except for a few pieces of ice that were still floating down from above. The Missouri is narrow at Canyon Ferry, deep and very swift, and it is a dreadful place to cross at any time, on the ice or on the cable ferry boat. They catch a queer fish there called the Ling. It has three sides, is long and slender and is perfectly blind. They gave us some for supper and it was really delicious. We found everything in fine order upon our return, and it was very evident that K. G. had taken good care of the house and how, but Billy Grayback had taken care of himself. He was given the run of my room, but I had expected, of course, that he would sleep in his own box, as usual. But no, the little rascal in some way discovered the warmth of the blankets on my bed, and in between these he had undoubtedly spent most of the time during our absence, and there we found him after a long search, and there he wants to stay all the time now. And if anyone happens to go near the bed, they are greeted with a fiercest kind of smothered growls. The black horse has been sold and Faye has bought another, a sorrel that seems to be a very satisfactory animal. He is not as handsome as Ben, nor as fractious either. Betty is behaving very well, but is still nervous and keeps her four feet down just long enough to get herself over the ground. She is beautiful and Kelly simply adores her, and keeps her bright red coat like satin. Faye can seldom ride with me because of his numerous duties, and not one of the ladies rides here, so I have Kelly go, for one never knows what one may come across on the roads around here. They are so seldom traveled, and are little more than trails. End of letter. Camp Baker, Montana Territory March, 1878. The mail goes out in the morning, and in it a letter must be sent to you, but it is hard, hard for me to write, to have to tell you that my dear dog, my beautiful greyhound, is dead. Dead and buried. It seems so cruel that he should have died now, so soon after getting back to his old home, friends, and freedom. On Tuesday Faye and Lieutenant Lomax went out for a little hunt, letting Hal go with them, which was unusual and to which I objected, for Lieutenant Lomax is a notoriously poor shot and hunter, and I was afraid he might accidentally kill Hal, mistake him for a wild animal, so as they went down our steps I said, please do not shoot my dog, much more in earnest than in jest, for I felt that he would really be in danger, as it would be impossible to keep him with them all the time. As they went across the parade ground, rifles over their shoulders, Hal jumped up on Faye and played around him, expressing his delight at being allowed to go on a hunt. He knew what a gun was made for, just as well as the oldest hunter. That was the last I saw of my dog. Faye returned long before I had expected him, and one quick glance at his troubled face told me that something terrible had happened. I saw that he was unheard and apparently well, but where was Hal? With an awful pain in my heart I asked, did Lieutenant Lomax shoot Hal? After a second's hesitation Faye said, No, but Hal is dead. It seemed too dreadful to be true, and at first I could not believe it, for it had been only such a short time since I had seen him bounding and leaping evidently in perfect health, and oh, so happy no one in the house even thought of dinner that night, and poor black cages sobbed and moaned so loud and long, Faye was obliged to ask him to be quiet. For hours I could not listen to the particulars. Faye says that they had not gone out so very far when he saw a wild cat some distance away, and taking careful aim he shot it, but the cat, instead of falling, started on a fast run. Hal was in another direction, but when he heard the report of the rifle and saw the cat he started after it with terrific speed, and struck it just as the cat fell, and then the two rolled over and over together. He got up and stood by Faye and Lieutenant Lomax while they examined the cat, and if there was anything wrong with him it was not noticed. But when they turned to come back to the post dragging the dead cat after them, Faye heard a peculiar sound, dear Hal, on the ground, in a fit much like Vertigo. He talked to him and petted him, thinking he would soon be over it, and the plucky dog did get up and try to follow, but went down again and for the last time. The swift run and excitement caused by encountering an animal wholly different from anything he had ever seen before was too great a strain on his weak heart. Before coming to the house Faye had ordered a detail out to bury him, with instructions to cover the grave with pieces of glass to keep the wolves away. The skin and head of the cat, which was really a lynx, are being prepared for a rug, but I do not see how I can have the thing in the house, although the black spots and stripes with the white make the fur very beautiful. The fur is straight through the body. The loneliness of the house is awful, and at night I imagine that I hear him outside whining to come in. Many a cold night have I been up two and three times to straighten his bed and cover him up. His bed was the skin of a young buffalo and he knew just when it was smooth and nice, and then he would almost throw himself down with a sigh if I did not cover him at once he would get up and drop down again and there he would stay hours at a time with the fur underneath and over him with just his nose sticking out. He suffered keenly from the intense cold here because his hair was so short and fine and then he was just from the south to where he was too warm most of the time. It makes me utterly wretched to think of the long year he was away from us at Baton Rouge. But what could we have done? We could not have him with us in the very heart of New Orleans for he had already been stolen from us at Jackson Barracks a military post. With him passed the very last of his blood a breed of greyhounds that was known in Texas, Kansas and Colorado as wonderful hunters also remarkable for their pluck and beauty of form. He was a very talented hunter and ever on the alert for game not one morsel of it would he eat however not even a piece of domestic foul which he seemed to look upon as game sheep he considered fine game and would chase them every opportunity that presented itself. This was his one bad trait an expensive one sometimes but it was the only one and was overbalanced many times by his lovable qualities that made him a favorite with all. Every soldier in the company loved him and was proud of him and would have shared his dinner with the dog any day if called upon to do so. End of Letter End of Section 9 Section 10 of Army Letters from an Officer's Wife 1871-1888 This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sue Anderson Army Letters from an Officer's Wife 1871-1888 by Francis Rowe Section 10 Letters from 1878 Part 2 National Hotel Helena, Montana Territory 1878 To hear that we are no longer at Camp Baker will be a surprise but you must have been accustomed to surprises of this kind long ago. Regimental headquarters the companies that had been quartered at the Helena Fairgrounds during the winter and the two companies from Camp Baker started from here this morning on a march to the Milk River Country where a new post is to be established on Beaver Creek. It is to be called Fort Assiniboine. The troops will probably be in camp until fall when they will go to Fort Shaw. We had been given no warning whatever of this move and had less than two days in which to pack and crate everything and I can assure you that in one way it was worse then being ranked out for this time there was necessity for careful packing and crating because of the rough mountain roads the wagons had to come over but there were no accidents and our furniture and boxes are safely put away here in a government storehouse. At the time the order came Faye was recorder for a board of survey that was being held at the post and this in addition to turning over quartermaster and other property kept him hard at work night and day so the superintendents of all things pertaining to the house and camp outfit fell to my lot the soldiers were most willing and most incompetent and it kept me busy telling them what to do the mess chest and Faye's camp bedding are always in readiness for ordinary occasions but for a camp of several months in this climate where it can be really hot one day and freezing cold the next it was necessary to add many more things just how I managed to accomplish so much in so short a time I do not know but I do know that I was up and packing every precious minute the night before we came away and the night seemed very short too but everything was taken to the wagons in very good shape and that repaid me for much of the hard work and great fatigue and I was tired almost too tired to sit up but at eight o'clock I got in an ambulance and came nearly forty miles that one day Major Stokes and Captain Martin had been on the board of survey and as they were starting on the return trip to Helena I came over with them which not only got me here one day in advance of the company but saved Faye the trouble of providing for me in camp on the march from Camp Baker we left the post just as the troops were starting out Faye was riding Betty I brought Billy of course and at Canyon Ferry I lost that squirrel after supper I went directly to my room to give him a little run and to rest a little myself but before opening his box I looked about for places where he might escape and seeing a big crack under one of the doors covered it with Faye's military cape thinking as I did so that it would be impossible for a squirrel to crawl through such a narrow place then I let him out instead of running around and shying at strange objects as he usually does he ran straight to that cape and after two or three pulls with his paws flattened his little gray body and like a flash he and the long bushy tail disappeared I was in desabeel but quickly slipped on a long coat and ran out after him near my door was one leading to the kitchen and so I went on through and the very first thing stumbled over a big cat this made me more anxious than ever but instead of catching the beast and shutting it up I drove it away in the kitchen which was dining room also sat the two officers and a disagreeable old man and at the farther end was a woman washing dishes and begged him to keep very quiet while I searched for him then the old man laughed that was quite too much for my overtaxed nerves and I snapped out that I failed to see anything funny but still he laughed and said perhaps you don't but we do I was too worried and unhappy to notice what he meant and continued to look for Billy but the little fellow I could not find any place in the house or outside where we looked with a lantern when I returned to my room I discovered why the old man laughed for truly I was a funny sight I had thought my coat much longer than it really was that is all I am willing to say about it I was utterly worn out and every bone in my body seemed to be rebelling about something still I could not sleep but listened constantly for Billy I blamed myself so much for not having shut up the cat and fancied I heard the cat chasing him after a long, long time it seemed hours I heard a faint noise like a scratch on tin and lighting a lamp quickly I went to the kitchen and then listened but not a sound was to be heard at the further end a bank had been cut out to take room for the kitchen which gave it a dirt wall almost to the low ceiling and all across this wall were many rows of shelves where tins of all sorts and cooking utensils were kept and just above the top shelf was a hole where the cat could go out on the bank I put the lamp back of me on the table and kept very still and looked all along the shelves constantly finally I heard the little scratch again and looking closely at some large tins where I thought the sound had come from I saw the little squirrel he was sitting up in between two of the pans that were almost his own color with his head turned one side and hands on his heart watching me inquisitively with one black eye he was there and apparently watching him was another matter I approached him in the most cautious manner talking and cooing to him all the time and at last I caught him and the little fellow was so glad to be with friends once more he curled himself in my hands and put two little wet paws around a thumb and held on tight it was raining and he was soaking wet so he must have been out of doors it would have been heartbreaking to have been obliged to come away without finding that little greyback and perhaps never know what became of him I know where my dear dog is and that is bad enough we heard just before leaving the post that men of the company had put up a board at Hal's grave with his name cut in it we knew that they loved him and were proud of him but never dreamed that any one of them would show so much sentiment Faye has taken the horses with him and KG also the young men of Helena gave the officers an informal dance last night at first it promised to be a jolly affair but finally as the evening wore on the army people became more and more quiet and at last it was distressing to see the sad faces that made dancing seem a farce they are going to an Indian country and the separation may be long I expect to remain here for the present but shall make every effort to get to Benton after a while where I will be nearly one hundred and fifty miles nearer Faye the wife of the adjutant and her two little children are in this house and other families of officers are scattered all over the little town end of letter Cosmopolitan Hotel Helena Montana Territory 1878 you will see that at last I decided to move over to this hotel I made a great mistake in not coming before and getting away from the cross old housekeeper at the international who could not be induced by entreaties fees or threats to get the creepy crawly things out of my room how I wish that every one of them would march over to her some fine night and keep her awake as they have kept me so unhappy to leave Mrs. Hull there with a sick child but she would not come with me although she must know it would be better for her and the boy to be here where everything is kept so clean and attractive there are six wives of officers in the house among them the wife of General Bork who is in command of the regiment she invited me to sit at her table and I find it very pleasant there she is a bride to us the weather has been playing all sorts of pranks upon us lately and we hardly know whether we are in the far north or far south for two weeks it was very warm positively hot in this gulch but yesterday we received a cooling off in the form of a brisk snow storm that lasted nearly two hours Mount Helena was white during the rest of the day and even now long streaks of snow can be seen up and down the peak but a snow storm in August looked very tame after the awful cloudburst that came upon us without warning a few days before and seemed determined to wash the whole town down to the Missouri River it was about eleven o'clock and four of us had gone to the shops to look at some pretty things that had just been brought over from a boat at Fort Benton by ox train Mrs. Pearson, Mrs. Hull and the rest of us had gone to the Missouri next door expecting to join Mrs. Joyce and me in a few minutes but before they could make a few purchases a few large drops of rain began to splash down and there was a fierce flash of lightning and deafening thunder then came the deluge oceans of water seemed to be coming down and before we realized what was happening things in the street and things back of the store in the valley below all along the gulch runs a little stream that comes down from the canyon above the town the stream is tiny and the bed is narrow on either side of it are stores with basements opening out on these banks well in an alarmingly short time that innocent looking little creek had become a roaring foaming black river carrying tables chairs, wash stands little bridges everything it could tear up along with it to the valley many of these pieces of furniture lodged against the carriage bridge that was just below the store where we were making a dangerous dam so a man with a stout rope around his waist went in the water to fill them out on the bank but he was tossed about like a cork and could do nothing just as they were about to pull him in the bridge gave way and it was with the greatest difficulty he had been swept down with a floating furniture he was dragged back to our basement in an almost unconscious condition and with many cuts and bruises the water was soon in the basements of the stores where it did much damage the store we were in is owned by a young man one of the bow of the town and I think the poor man came near losing his mind he rushed around pulling his hair one second picking his hands the next and seemed perfectly incapable of giving one order or assisting his clerks in bringing the dripping goods from the basement very unlike the complacent diamond pin young man we had danced with at the balls the cloudburst on Mount Helena had caused many breaks in the enormous ditches that run around the mountain and carry water to the mines on the other side no one can have the faintest conception of how terrible a cloudburst is until they have been in one it is like standing under an immense waterfall at the very beginning we noticed the wagon of a countryman across the street with one horse hitched to it the horse was tied so the water from an eaves trough poured directly upon his back and not liking that he stepped forward which brought the powerful stream straight to the wagon unfortunately for the owner the wagon had been piled high with all sorts of packages both large and small and all in paper or paper bags one by one these were swept out and as the volume of water increased in force and the paper became wet and easily torn their contents went in every direction down in the bottom was a large bag of beans and when the pipe water reached this there was a white spray resembling a geyser not one thing was left in that wagon even sacks of potatoes and grain were washed out it is a wonder that the poor horse took it all as patiently as he did during all this time we had not even heard from our friends next door after a while however we got together but it was impossible to return to the hotel for a very long time because of the great depth of water in the street Mrs. Pierce whose house is on the opposite side of the ravine could not get to her home until just before dark after a temporary bridge had been built across the still high stream not one bridge was left across the creek and they say that nothing has been left at Chinatown that it was washed clean except that any amount of dirt has been piled up right in the heart of Helena the millionaire residents seem to think that the great altitude and dry atmosphere will prevent any ill effects of decaying debris we went to the assay building the other day to see a brick of gold taken from the furnace the mold was run out on its little tracks soon after we got there and I never dreamed of what white heat means until I saw the oven of that awful furnace we had to stand far across the room while the door was open and even then the hot air that shot out seemed blasting the minute the furnace were protected of course the brick mold was in another mold that after a while was put in cold water so we had to wait for first the large and then the small to be opened before we saw the beautiful yellow brick it was still very hot but we were assured that it was then too hard to be in danger of injury it was of the largest size and shaped precisely like an ordinary building brick and its value was great it was to be shipped on the stage the next morning on its way to the treasury in Washington it is wonderful that so few of those gold bricks are stolen from the stage the driver is their only protector and the stage route is through miles and miles of wild forests and in between huge boulders where a hold up could be so easily accomplished end of letter Camp on Maria's River Montana Territory September 1878 an old proverb tells us that all things come to him who waits but I never had faith in this for I have patiently waited many times for things that never found me but this time after I had waited and waited the tiresome summer through ever hoping to come to Fort Benton and when I was about discouraged things came and here I am in camp with Faye and ever so much more comfortable than I would have been at the little old hotel in Benton there are only two companies here now all the others having gone from regimental headquarters to Fort Shaw otherwise I could not be here for I could not have come to a large camp our tents are at the extreme end of the line in a grove of small trees and next to ours is the doctors so we are quite cut off from the rest of the camp KG is here and Faye has a very good soldier cook so the little mess including the doctor is simply fine I am famished all the time for everything tastes so delicious after the dreadful hotel fair the two horses are here and I brought my saddle over and this morning Faye and I had a delightful ride out on the plane but how I did miss my dear dog he was always so happy when with us and the horses and his joyous bounds and little runs after one thing and another added much to the pleasure of our time Fort Benton is ten miles from camp and Faye met me there with an ambulance I was glad enough to get away from that old stage it was one of the jerky bob back and forth kind that pitches you off the seat every five minutes the first two or three times you bump heads with the passengers sitting opposite you can smile and apologize with some grace but after a while your hat will not stay in place and finally you discover that the passenger is the most disagreeable person you ever saw and that the man sitting beside you is inconsiderate and selfish and really occupying two thirds of the seat we came a distance of 140 miles getting fresh horses every 20 miles or so the morning we left Helena was glorious and I was half ashamed because I felt so happy at coming from the town where so many of my friends were in sorrow but tried to console myself with the fact that I had been ordered away by Dr. Gordon there were many cases of typhoid fever and the rheumatic fever that has made Mrs. Sergeant so ill has developed into typhoid and there is very little hope for her recovery the driver would not consent to my sitting on top with him so I had to ride inside with three men they were not looking at all and their clothes looked clean and rather new but gave one the impression that they had been made for other people their pale faces told that they were tender feet and one could see there was a sad lacking of brains all around the road comes across a valley the first 10 or 12 miles and then runs into a magnificent canyon that is 16 miles long called prickly pear canyon as I wrote some time ago everything is brought up to this country by enormous ox trains some coming from the railroad at Corrine and some that come from Fort Benton during the summer having been brought up by boat on the Missouri River in the canyons these trains are things to be dreaded the roads are very narrow and the grades often long and steep with immense boulders above and below we met one of those trains soon after we entered the canyon and at the top of a grade where the road was scarcely wider than the stage itself and seemed to be cut into a wall of solid rock just how we were to pass those huge wagons I did not see but the driver stopped his horses and two of the men got out the third stopping on the step and holding on to the stage so it was impossible for me to get out unless I went out the other door and stood on the edge of an awful precipice the driver looked back and not seeing me bawled out where is the lady get the lady out the man on the step jumped down then but the driver did not put his reins down or move from his seat until he had seen me safely on the ground and had directed me where to stand in the meantime some of the train men had come up and as soon as the stage driver was ready they proceeded to lift the stage trunks and all over and on some rocks and treetops and then the four horses were led around in between the rocks where it seemed impossible for them to stand one second there were three teams to come up each consisting of about eight yoke of oxen and three or four wagons it made me almost ill to see the poor patient oxen straining and pulling up the grade huge wagons so heavily loaded the crunching and groaning of the wagons rattling of the enormous cable chains and the creaking of the heavy yokes of the oxen were awful sounds but above all came the yells of the drivers and the sharp pistol-like reports of the long quips that they mercilessly cracked over the backs of the poor beasts it was most distressing after the wagons had all passed men came back and set the stage on the road in the same indifferent way and with very few words each man seemed to know just what to do as though he had been training for years for the moving of that particular stage the horses had not stirred and had paid no attention to the yelling and cracking of whips while coming through the canyons we must have met six every one of which necessitated the setting in mid-air of the stagecoach it was the same performance always each man knowing just what to do and doing it too without loss of time not once did the driver put down the reins until he saw that the lady was safely out and it was ever with the same sing-song balanced to the right voice that he asked about me except once when he seemed to think more emphasis was needed when he made the canyon ring by yelling why in hell don't you get the lady out but the lady always got herself out rough as he was I felt intuitively that I had a protector we stopped at Rock Creek for dinner and there he saw that I had the best of everything and it was the same at Spitzler's where we had supper we got fresh horses at the leavings and when I saw a strange driver my heart sank fearing that from thereon I might not have the same protection we were at a large ranch sort of an inn and just beyond was Frozen Hill the hill was given that name because a number of years ago a terrible blizzard struck some companies of infantry while on it and before they could get to the valley below or to a place of shelter one half of the men were more or less frozen some losing legs some arms they had been marching in thin clothing that was more or less damp from perspiration as the day had been excessively hot these blizzards are so fierce and holy blinding it is unsafe to move a step if caught out in one on the plains and the troops probably lost their bearings as soon as the storm struck them it was almost dark when we got in the stage to go on and I thought it rather queer that the driver should have asked us to go to the corral instead of driving around to the ranch for us very soon we were seated but we did not start and there seemed to be something wrong judging by the way the stage was being jerked and one could feel too that the break was on one by one those men got out and just as the last one stepped down on one side the heads of two cream colored horses appeared at the open door on the other side their big troubled eyes looking straight at me during my life on the frontier I have seen enough of native horses to know that when a pair of excited Mustang leaders try to get inside a stage it is time for one to get out so I got out one of those men passengers instantly called to me you stay in there I asked why because it is perfectly safe said a second man I was very indignant at being spoken to in this way and turned my back to them the driver got the leaders in position and then looking around said to me that when the bulky wheelers once started they would run up the hill like the devil and I would surely be left unless I was inside the stage I knew that he was telling the truth and if he had been the first man to tell me to get in the coach I would have done so at once but it so happened that he was the fourth and by that time I was beginning to feel abused it was bad enough to have to obey just one man went at home and then to have four strange men three of them idiots too suddenly take upon themselves to order me around was not to be endured I had started on the trip with the expectation of taking care of myself and still felt competent to do so perhaps I was very tired and perhaps I was very cross at all events I told the driver I would not get in that if I was left I would go back to the ranch so I stayed outside taking great care however to stand close to the stage door the instant I heard the loosening of the break I jumped up on the step and catching a firm hold each side of the door was about to step in when one of those men passengers grabbed my arm and tried to jerk me back so he could get in ahead of me it was a dreadful thing for anyone to do for if my hands and arms had not been unusually strong from riding hard-mouthed horses I would undoubtedly have been thrown underneath the big wheels and horribly crushed for the four horses were going at a terrific gate and the jerky was swaying like a live thing as it was anger and indignation gave me extra strength and I scrambled inside with nothing more serious happening than a bruised head but that man he pushed in back of me and not knowing the nice little ways of jerkeys was pitched forward to the floor with an awful fud but after a second or so he pulled himself up on his seat which was opposite mine and there we two sat in silence and in darkness I noticed the next warning that there was a big bruise on one side of his face at the side of which I rejoiced very much it was some distance this side of the hill when the driver stopped his horses and waited for the two men who had been left they seemed much exhausted when they came up but found sufficient breath to abuse the driver for having left them but he at once wore it out get in I tell you or I'll leave you sure enough that settled matters and we started on again very soon those men fell asleep and rolled off their seats to the floor where they snored and had dreams I was jammed in a corner without mercy and of course did not sleep one second during the long wretched night twice we stopped for fresh horses and at both places I walked about a little to rest my cramped feet and limbs at breakfast the next morning I asked the driver to let me ride on top with him which he consented to and from there on to Benton I had peace and fresh air the glorious air of Montana yesterday the day after I got here I was positively ill from the awful shaking up mental as well as physical I received on that stage ride we reached Benton at eleven Faye was at the hotel with an ambulance when the stage drove up and it was amusing to look at the faces of those men when they saw Faye in his uniform and the government outfit we started for camp at once and left them standing on the hotel porch watching us as we drove down the street it is a pity that such men cannot be compelled to serve at least one enlistment in the army and be drilled into something that resembles a real man but perhaps recruiting officers would not accept them end of letter Fort Shaw Montana Territory October 1878 my stay at the little town of Sun River Crossing was short for when I arrived there the other day in the stage from Benton I found a note awaiting me for Mrs. Bork saying that I must come right on to Fort Shaw so I got back in the stage and came to the post a distance of five miles where General Bork was on the lookout for me he is in command of the regiment as well as the post as still in Europe of course regimental headquarters and the band are here which makes the garrison seem very lively to me the band is out at guard mounting every pleasant morning and each Friday evening there is a fine concert in the hall by the orchestra after which we have a little dance the sun shines every day but the air is cool and crisp and one feels that ice and snow are not very far off the order for the two companies on the Marias to return to the milk river country was most unexpected that old villain sitting bull, chief of the Sioux Indians, made an official complaint to the great father that the half-breeds were on land that belonged to his people and were killing buffalo that were theirs also so the companies have been sent up to arrest the half-breeds and conduct them to Fort Belknap and to break up their villages and burn their cabins the officers disliked the prospect of doing all this very much for there must be many women and little children among them just how long it will take no one can tell but probably three or four weeks and while Fay is away I am staying with General and Mrs. Bork I cannot have a house until he comes for quarters cannot be assigned to an officer until he has reported for duty at a post there are two companies of the old garrison here still and this has caused much doubling up among the lieutenants that is assigning one set of quarters to two officers but it has been arranged so we can be by ourselves four rooms at one end of the hospital have been cut off from the hospital proper by a heavy partition that has been put up at the end of the long corridor and these rooms are now being calcium mined and painted they were originally intended for the contract surgeon we will have our own little porch and entrance hall and a nice yard back of the kitchen it will be so much more private and comfortable in every way that it could possibly have been in quarters with another family it is delightful to be in a nicely furnished well regulated house once more the buildings are all made of adobe and the officers quarters have low broad porches in front and remind me a little of the houses that I am in only of course these are larger and have more rooms there are nice front yards and on either side of the officers walk is a row of beautiful cottonwood trees that form a complete arch they are watered by an asekia that brings water from sun river several miles above the post the post is built along the banks of that river but I do not see from what it derived its name for the water is muddy the country about here is rather rolling but there are two large buttes one called square butte that is really grand and the other is crown butte the drives up and down the river are lovely and I think that Betty and I will soon have many pleasant mornings together on these roads after the slow dignified drives I am taking almost every day I wonder how her skittish affected ways will seem to me with the regimen again that is with old friends although seeing them in a garrison up in the rocky mountains is very different from the life in a large city in the far south four companies are still at Fort Missoula where the major of the regimen is in command our commanding officer and his wife were there also during the winter therefore those of us who are at Helena and Camp Baker feel that we must entertain them in some way now that everyone has settled the dining and whining has begun almost every day there is a dinner or card party given in their honor and several very delightful luncheons have been given and then the members of the old garrison according to army etiquette have to entertain those that have just come so altogether we are very gay the dinners are usually quite elegant formal affairs beautifully served with dainty china and handsome silver the officers appear at these in full dress uniform and that adds much to the brilliancy of things but not much to the comfort of the officers I imagine everyone is happy in the fall after the return of the companies when their hard and often dangerous summer campaign and settles down for the winter it is then that we feel we can feast and dance but at a frontier post becomes so delightful we are all very fond of dancing so I think that Fe and I will give a cotillion later on in fact it is about all we can do while living in those four rooms we have Episcopal service each alternate Sunday when the Reverend Mr Clark comes from Helena a distance of 85 miles to hold one service for the garrison here and one at the very small village on River and once more Major Pierce and I are in the same choir Dr Gordon plays the organ and beautifully too for some time he was an organist in a church in Washington and of course knows the service perfectly our star however is a sergeant he came to this country with an opera troupe but an attack of diphtheria ruined his voice for the stage and the baritone is still of exquisite quality and just the right volume for our hall and a letter Fort Shaw, Montana Territory January 1879 there has been so much going on in the garrison and so much for me to attend to in getting the house settled I have not had time to write more than the note I sent about dear little Billy I miss him dreadfully for small as he was he was always doing something cunning always getting into mischief he died the day we moved to this house and it hurts even now when I think of how I was kept from caring for him the last day of his short life and he wanted to be with me too for when I put him in his box he would cling to my fingers and try to get back to me it is such a pity that we ever cracked his nuts his lower teeth had grown to perfect little tusks that had bored a hole in the roof of his mouth as soon as that was discovered we had them cut off but it was too late the little greyback would not eat we are almost settled now and Sam, our Chinese cook is doing splendidly at first there was trouble and I had some difficulty in convincing him that I was mistress of my own house and not at all afraid of him Keiji has gone back to Holly Springs he had become utterly worthless during the summer camp for he had almost nothing to do our little entertainment for the benefit of the mission here was a wonderful success every seat was occupied every corner packed and we were afraid that the old theater might collapse we made $80 clear of all expenses we were first so the small people could be sent home early then came our pantomime Sergeant Thompson sang the words and the orchestra played a soft accompaniment that made the whole thing most effective Major Pierce was a splendid villainess and as Dinah I received enough applause to satisfy anyone but the curtain remained down motionless and unresponsive just because I happened to be the wife of the stage manager the prison scene and misery from Il Trovatore were beautiful Sergeant Mann instructed each one of the singers and the result was far beyond our expectations of course the fine orchestra of 20 pieces was a great addition and support our duet was not sung because I was seized with an attack of stage fright at the last rehearsal so Sergeant Mann sang an exquisite solo in place of the duet that was ever so much nicer I was with Mrs. Joyce in one scene of her pantomime, John Smith which was far and away the best part of the entertainment Mrs. Joyce was charming and showed us what a really fine actress she is the enlisted men went to laugh and they kept up a good natured clapping and laughing from first to last it was surprising that so many of the Sun River and ranch people came it was terrible even for Montana and the roads must have been impassable in places even here in the post there were great drifts of snow and the path to the theater was cut through banks higher than our heads it had been mild and pleasant for weeks and only two nights before the entertainment we had gone to the hall for rehearsal with fewer raps than usual we had been there about an hour I think when the corporal of the guard came in to report to the officer of the day that a fierce blizzard was making it impossible for sentries to walk post his own appearance told better than words what the storm was he had on a long buffalo coat muskrat cap and gauntlets and the fur from his head down also heavy overshoes were filled with snow and at each end of his mustache were icicles hanging fine soldierly picture as he brought his rifle to his side and saluted the officer of the day hurried out and after a time returned he also smothered in furs and snow he said the storm was terrific and he did not see how many of us could possibly get to our homes but of course we could not remain in the hall until the blizzard had ceased so after rehearsing a little more we wrapped ourselves up as well as we could and started for our homes the wind was blowing at hurricane speed I am sure and the heavy fall of snow was being carried almost horizontally and how each frozen flake did sting those of us who lived in the garrison could not go very far astray as the fences were on one side and banks of snow on the other but the light snow had already drifted in between and made walking very slow and difficult we all got to our different homes finally with no greater mishap than a few slightly frozen ears and noses snow had banked up on the floor inside of our front door so high that for a few minutes Faye and I thought that we could not get in the house Major Pierce undertook to see Mrs. Elmer safely to her home at the Suttler's Store and in order to get there they crossed a wide space in between the officer's line and the store nothing could be seen ten feet from them when they left the last fence but they tried to get their bearings by the line of the fence and closing their eyes dashed ahead into the cloud of blinding stinging snow Major Pierce had expected to go straight to a side door of the store but the awful strength of the wind they struck a corner of the fence farthest away in fact they would have missed the fence also if Mrs. Elmer's fur cape had not caught on one of the pickets and gone out on the plains to certain death bright lights had been placed in the store windows but not one had they seen these storms killed so many range cattle but the most destructive of all is a freeze after a chinook is the ground with ice so it is impossible for them to get to the grass at such times the poor animals suffer cruelly we often hear them lowing sometimes for days and can easily imagine that we see the starving beasts wandering on and on ever in search of an uncovered bit of grass the lowing of hundreds of cattle on a cold winter night is the most horrible sound cold as it is I ride Betty almost every day but only on the high ground where the snow has been blown off we are a funny sight sometimes when we come in Betty's head, neck and chest white with her frozen breath icicles two or three inches long hanging from each side of her chin and my fur collar and cap white also I wear a seal skin cap with broad ear tabs long seal skin gauntlets that keep my hands and arms warm and high leggings and moccasins of beaver but with a fur inside which makes them much warmer a tight, chamois skin waist underneath my cadet cloth habit and a broad fur collar completes a riding costume that keeps me warm without being bungling I found a seal skin coat too warm and heavy no one will ride now and they do not know what fine exercise they are missing and I am sure that Betty is glad to get her blood warm once during the 24 hours friends kindly tell me that someday I will be found frozen out on the plains and that the frisky Betty will kill me and so on I ride too fast to feel the cold and Betty I enjoy all but the air she assumes inside the post our house is near the center of the officer's line no matter which way I go or what I do that little beast can never be made to walk one step until we get out on the road but insists upon going sideways tossing her head and giving little rears it looks so affected and makes me feel very foolish particularly since Mrs. Conger said to me the other day why do you make your horse dance that way he might throw you and ask her if she would not kindly ride Betty a few times and teach her to keep her feet down but she said it was too cold to go out we have much more room in this house than we had in the hospital and are more comfortable every way almost every day or evening there is some sort of entertainment German, dinner, luncheon or card party I am so glad that we gave the first cotillion that had ever been given in the regiment it was something new on the frontier therefore everyone enjoyed it just now the garrison seems to have gone cotillion crazy and not being satisfied with a number of private ones a German club has been organized that gives dances in the hall every two weeks so far Faye has been the leader of each one with all this pleasure the soldiers are not being neglected every morning there are drills and a funny kind of target practice and a lot of fun and of course there are inspections and other things end of letter end of section 10 part 11 of army letters from an officer's wife 1871, 1888 this is the LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Sue Anderson army letters from an officer's wife 1871, 1888 by Francis Rowe section 11 letters from 1879 and 1880 Fort Ellis, Montana Territory January 1879 it is still cold, stinging cold and we are beginning to think that there was much truth in what we were told on our way over last fall that Fort Ellis is the very coldest place in the whole territory for two days the temperature was 50 below and I can assure you that things hummed the logs of our house made loud reports like pistol shots and there was frost on the walls of every room that was not near roaring fires no one ventures forth such weather unless compelled to do so then of course every precaution is taken to guard against freezing in this altitude one will freeze before feeling the cold as I know from experience having at the present time two fiery red ears of enormous size they are fiery in feeling too as well as in color the atmosphere looks like frozen mist and is wonderful and almost at any time between sunrise and sunset the sun dog can be seen with its scintillating rainbow tints that are brilliant yet exquisitely delicate in coloring our houses are really very warm the thick logs are plastered inside and papered every window has a storm sash and every room a double floor and our big stoves can burn immense logs but notwithstanding all this our greatest trial is to keep things to eat it freezes solid and so far we have not found one edible that is improved by freezing it must be awfully discouraging to a cook to find an abiding cold morning that there is not one thing in the house that can be prepared for breakfast until it is passed through the thawing process that even the water in the barrels has become solid round pieces of ice all along the roof of one side with immense icicles that almost touch the snow on the ground these are a reminder of the last Chinook but only last week it was quite pleasant not real summery but warm enough for one to go about in safety they came down from the sawmill one of those days to see the commanding officer about something and to get the mail when he was about to start back in fact was telling me goodbye the day that I wished I could go to they said you could not stand the exposure but you might wear my little fur coat suggesting the coat was a given that I at once took advantage of and in precisely twenty minutes Charlie, our Chinese cook had been told what to do a few articles of clothing wrapped and strapped and I on Betty's back ready for the wilds the brown horse was our only escort and to his saddle were fastened our various bags and bundles far up in a narrow valley that lies in between two mountain ranges the government has a sawmill that is worked by twenty or more soldiers under the supervision of an officer where lumber can be cut when needed for the post one of these ranges is very high and Mount Bridger first of the range and nearest Fort Ellis along whose base we had to go has snow on its top most of the year often when wind is not noticeable at the post we can see the light snow being blown with terrific force from the peak of this mountain for hundreds of yards in a perfectly horizontal line where it will spread out and fall in a magnificent spray another two or three hundred feet the mill is sixteen miles from Fort Ellis and the snow was very deep so deep in places that the horses had difficulty in getting their feet forward and as we got further up the valley narrowed into a ravine where the snow was even deeper there was no road or even trail to be seen the bark on trees had been cut to mark the way but far astray we could not have gone unless we had deliberately taken the right of a mountain the only thing that resembled a house along the sixteen miles was a deserted cabin about half way up and which only accentuated the awful loneliness Betty had been standing in the stable for several days and that with the biting cold air in the valley made her entirely too frisky and she was very nervous too over the deep snow that held her feet down I always in the middle as there were little grades and falling off places all along that were hidden by the snow and I was cautioned constantly by Faye and Bryant to keep my horse in line the snow is very fine and dry in this altitude and never packs as it does in more moist atmosphere when we had ridden about one half the distance up we came to a little hill at the bottom of which there used to be a bridge that crossed the deep cut banks of one of those mountain streams that are dry eleven months of the year and raging torrents the twelfth when the snow melts it so happened that Faye did not get on this bridge just right so down in the light snow he and Pete went and all that we could see of them were Faye's head and shoulders and the head of the horse with the awful bulging eyes terribly frightened and floundered about until he nearly buried himself in snow as he tried to find something solid upon which to put his feet I was just back of Faye when he went down but the next instant I had retreated to the top of the hill and had to use all the strength in my arms to avoid being brought back to the post when Betty saw Pete go down she whirled like a flash and with two or three bounds was on top of the hill again she was awfully frightened and stood close to Brian's horse trembling all over poor Brian did not know what to do or which one to assist so I told him to go down and get the lieutenant up on the bank and I would follow just how Faye got out of his difficulty I did not see for I was too busy attending to my own affairs Betty acted as though she was bewitched so I went down to the bridge she would not finally when I was about tired out Faye said we must not waste more time there and that I had better ride Pete so I dismounted and the saddles were changed and then there was more trouble Pete had never been ridden by a woman before and thinking perhaps that his sudden one-sidedness was part of the bridge performance he had once protested by jumps but he soon quieted down and we started on again Betty danced a little with Faye but that was all she evidently remembered her lost battle with him at Camp Baker it was almost dark when we reached the sawmill and as soon as it became known that I was with the lieutenant every man sprang up from some place underneath the snow to look at me and two or three ran over to assist Brian with our things it was awfully nice to know that I was a person of importance even if it was out in a camp in the mountains where probably a woman had never been before the little log cabin built for officers had only the one long room with large comfortable bunk two tables, chairs a settle of pine boards and near one end of the room was a box stove large enough to heat two rooms of that size at a time my stiffened body could get inside the stove had been filled to the top with pine wood that roared and crackled in a most cheerful and inviting manner but the snow out there I do not consider advisable to tell the exact truth so I will simply say that it was higher than the cabin but that for some reason it had left an open space of about three feet all around the logs and that gave us air and light through windows which had been thoughtfully placed unusually high the long stable built against a bank where the horses and mules were kept was entirely buried underneath the snow and you would never have dreamed that there was anything whatever there unless you had seen the path that had been shoveled down to the door the cabin the men lived in I did not see at all we were in a ravine where the pine force was magnificent but one could see that the trees were shortened many feet by the great depth of snow our mules were brought to us by Bryant from the soldiers' mess and as the cook was only a pickup they were often a mess indeed but every effort was made to have them nice the day after we got there the cook evidently made up his mind that some recognition should be shown of the honor of my presence in the woods so he made a big fat pie for my dinner it was really fat for the crust must have been mostly of lard and the poor man had taken much pains with the decorations of twisted rings and little balls that were on the top it really looked very nice as Bryant set it down on the table in front of me with an air that the most dignified of butlers might have envied and said compliments of the cook, ma'am of course I was still delighted with the attention from the cook but for some reason I was suspicious of that pie it was so very high up so I continued to talk about it admiringly until after Bryant had gone from the cabin and then I tried to cut it the filling and there was an abundance was composed entirely of big hard raisins seeds in the knife could not cut them so they rolled over on the table and on the floor much like marbles I scooped out a good size piece as well as I could gathered up the runaway raisins and then put it in the stove and this I did at every dinner while I was there almost trembling each time for fear Bryant would come in and discover it lasted long for I could not cut off a piece for Faye as Bryant had given us to understand in the beginning that the Shedivra was for me alone nothing pleases me more than to have the enlisted men pay me some little attention and when the day after the pie a beautiful little gray squirrel was brought to me in a nice airy box I was quite overcome he is very much like Billy color which seems remarkable since Billy was from the far south and this little fellow from the far north I wanted to take him out of the box at once but the soldier said he would bite and having great respect for the teeth of a squirrel I let him stay in his prison while we were out there the first time I let him out after we got home he was frantic and jumped up on the mantel tables and chairs scattering things right and left finally he started to run up a lace window curtain back of the sewing machine on top of the machine was a plate of warm cookies that Charlie had just brought to me and getting a sniff of those the squirrel stopped instantly hesitated just a second and then over he jumped took a cookie with his paws and afterwards held it with his teeth until he had settled himself comfortably when he again took it in his paws and proceeded to eat it with the greatest relish after he had eaten all he very well could he hid the rest back of the curtain in quite an at home way there was nothing at all wonderful in all this except that the squirrel was just from the piney woods where warm sugar cookies are unknown so how did he know they were good to eat? I was at the sawmill four days and then we all came in together on bobsleds there were four mules for each sleigh so not much attention was paid to the great depth of snow both horses knew when we got to the bridge and gave Bryant trouble every bit of the trail out had been obliterated by drifting snow and I still wonder how these animals recognized the precise spot when the snow was level in every place we found the house in excellent order and consider our new Chinaman a treasure a few days before Fay went to the mill I made some Boston brown bread I always make that myself as I fancy I can make it very good but for some reason I was late in getting it on to steam that day so when I went to the kitchen to put it in the oven I found a much abused Chinaman when he saw what I was about to do he became very angry and his eyes looked green he said you know put him in oven I said yes Charlie I have to for one hour he said you no care workman you spoil my dinny you get some other boy now Charlie was an excellent servant and I did not care to lose him but to take that bread out was not to be considered I would no longer have been mistress in the house so I told him quietly very well and closed the oven door with great deliberation the dinner was a little better than usual and I wondered all the time what the outcome would be I knew that he was simply because I had not let him make the bread after his work was all done he came in and said with a smile that was almost a grin I go now and go he did but the other boy came in time to give us a delicious breakfast and everything went on just the same as when old Charlie was here he is in bozeman and comes to see us often this Charlie takes good care of my chickens that are my pride and delight there are twenty and everyone is snow white some have heavy round top knots I found them at different ranches it is so cold here that the chicken roosts have to be covered with strips of blanket and made flat and broad so the feathers will cover the chickens feet otherwise they will be frozen it is a treat to have fresh eggs and without having to pay a dollar and a half per dozen for them that is the price we have paid for eggs almost ever since we came to the territory end of letter Fort Ellis Montana Territory June 1880 everything is packed on the wagons that is all but the camp which we will use on the trip over and in the morning we will start on our way back to Fort Shaw with the furniture that belongs to the quarters and the camp things we were so comfortable in our own house we decided that there was no necessity to go to Mrs. Adams except for dinner and breakfast although both General and Mrs. Adams have been most hospitable and kind the way these two moves have come about seems very funny to me Faye was ordered over here to command C company when it was left without an officer because he was senior second lieutenant in the regiment and entitled to it the captain of this company has been east on recruiting service and has just been relieved by Colonel Knight captain of Faye's company at Shaw that company is now without an officer the senior second lieutenant has to return and command his own company this recognition of a little rank has been expensive to us and disagreeable too the lieutenants are constantly being moved about often details that apparently do not amount to much but which take much of their small salary the Chinaman is going with us for which I am most thankful and at his request we have decided to take the white chickens open boxes have been made specially for them that fit on the rear ends of the wagons and we think they will be very comfortable but we will certainly look like immigrants one on the road the two squirrels will go also the men of the company have sent me three squirrels during the winter the dearest one of all had been injured and lived only a few days the flying squirrel is the least interesting and seems stupid it will lie around and sleep during the entire day but at dark will manage to get on some high perch and flop down on your shoulder or head when you least expect it and least desire it too the little uncanny thing cannot fly really but the webs enable it to make tremendous leaps I expect that it looks absurd for us to be taking across the country a small menagerie but the squirrels were presents and of course had to go the chickens are beautiful and give us quantities of eggs besides if we had left the chickens Charlie might not have gone for he feeds them and watches over them as if they were his very own and looks very cross if the striker gives them even a little corn night before last an unusually pleasant dancing party was given by Captain McAndrews when Faye and I were guests of honour it was such a surprise to us and so kind in Captain McAndrews to give it for he is a bachelor supper was served in his own quarters but dancing was in the vacant set adjoining the rooms were beautifully decorated with flags and the fragrance cedar and spruce Mrs. Adams wife of the commanding officer superintendent all of the arrangements and also assisted in receiving the supper was simply delicious as all army suppers are and I fancy that she and other ladies of the garrison were responsible for the perfect salads and cakes the orchestra was from Boseman so the music was very good quite a party of young people also many of them friends of ours came up from Boseman which not only swelled the number of guests but gave life to the dance for in a small garrison like this the number of partners is limited the country about here is beautiful now the snow is melting on the mountains and there is such a lovely green every place I almost wish we might have remained until fall for along the valleys and through the canyons there are grand trails for horseback riding while Fort Shaw has nothing of the kind end of letter Fort Shaw, Montana territory July 1880 we are with the commanding officer and his wife for a few days while our house is being settled every room has just been painted and looks so clean and bright the Chinaman, squirrels and chickens are there now and are already very much at home and Charlie is delighted that the chickens are so much admired the first part of the trip over was simply awful the morning was beautiful when we left Ellis warm and sunny and everybody came to see us off we started and find spirits and all went well for 10 or 12 miles then we got to the headwaters of the Missouri where the three small rivers Galatin, Jefferson and Madison join and make the one big river the drive through the forest right there is usually delightful and although we knew that the water was high in the Galatin by Fort Ellis we were wholly unprepared for the scene that confronted us when we reached the valley not one inch of ground could be seen but the trees surrounded by yellow muddy water that showed quite a current the regular stage road has been made higher than the ground because of these July freshets when the snow was melting on the mountains but it was impossible to keep on it as its many turns could not be seen and it would not have helped much either as the water was deep the ambulance was in the lead of course so we were in all the excitement of exploring unseen ground the driver would urge the mules and if the leaders did not go down very good we would go on perhaps a few yards if they did go down enough to show that it was dangerous that way he would turn them in another direction and try there sometimes it was necessary almost to turn around in order to keep upon the higher ground in this way mules and drivers worked until four o'clock in the afternoon the dirty water often coming up over the floor of the ambulance and many times it looked as if we could not go on one step further without being upset in the mud and water but at four we reached an island where there was a small house and a stable for the stage relay horses and not far beyond was another island where Faye decided to camp for the night it was the only thing he could have done he insisted upon my staying at the house but I finally convinced him that the proper place for me was in camp and I went on with him the island was very small and the highest point above water could not have been over two feet of course everything had to be put upon it horses, mules, wagons, drivers, Faye and I and the two small squirrels and the chickens also in addition to our own traveling menagerie there were native inhabitants of that island millions and millions of mosquitoes each one with a sharp appetite and sharp sting we thought that we had learned all about vicious mosquitoes while in the south but the southern mosquitoes are slow and caressing in comparison to those Montana things it was very warm and the Chinaman felt sorry for the chickens shut up in the boxes where fierce squirrels seemed to be going on all the time so after he had fed them we talked it over and decided to let them out as they could not possibly get away from us across the big body of water there were twenty large chickens in one big box and twenty-seven small ones that had been brought in a long box by themselves well Charlie and one of the men got the boxes down and opened them at once the four or five mother-hands clucked and scratched and kept on clucking until the little chicks were let out when every one of them ran to its own mother and each hen strutted off with her own brood that is the absolute truth but is not all when night came the chickens went back to their boxes to roost all but the small ones those were left outside with their mothers and just before daylight Charlie raised a great commotion when he put them up for the day's trip when we were about ready to start in the morning a man came over from the house and told Fay that he would pilot us through the rest of the water that it was very dangerous in places where the road had been built up and if a narrow route was not carefully followed a team would go down a bank of four or five feet he had with him just the skeleton of a wagon the four wheels with two or three long boards on top drawn by two horses so we went down in the dirty water again that seemed to get deeper and deeper as we splashed on now and then I could catch a glimpse of our pilot standing up on the boards very much like a circus rider for the wagon wheels were twisting around over the roots of trees and stones in a way that required careful balancing on his part we got along very well until about noon when a soldier came splashing up on a mule and told Fay that one of the wagons had turned over that was dreadful news and made me most anxious about the trunks and chests and the poor chickens too all of which might be down under the water they got the ambulance under some trees unfastened the mules and led them away leaving me alone without even the driver the soldier had thoughtfully led up Pete for Fay to ride back and the mules were needed to assist in pulling the wagon up suddenly the wagon was caught by a tree and did not go entirely over and it so happened too that it was the one loaded more with furniture than anything else so not much damage was done our pilot had left us some time before to hurry on and get any passengers that might come in the stage that runs daily between Helena and Bozeman as soon as I began to look around a little after I was left alone in the ambulance I discovered that not so very far ahead wasn't opening in the trees and bushes and that a bit of beautiful dry land could be seen I was looking at it with longing eyes when suddenly something came down the bank and on into the water and not being particularly brave I thought of the unprotected position I was in but the terrible monster turned out to be our pilot and as he came nearer I saw that he had something on the wagon whether men or women or mere bags of stuff I could not tell but in time he got near enough for me to see that two men were with him most miserable scared tourists both standing up on the seesawing boards the first with arms around the pilot's neck and the second with his arms around him they were dressed very much alike each one having on his head an immaculate white straw hat or his coat a long very long linen duster and they both had on gloves their trousers were pulled up as high as they could get them giving a fine display of white hose and low shoes the last one was having additional wool for one leg of his trousers was slipping down and of course it was impossible for him to pull it up and keep his balance every turn of the wheels the thick yellow water was covered on them and I can imagine the condition they were in by the time they reached the little inn on the island the pilot thought they were funny too for when he passed he grinned and jerked his head back to call my attention to them he called to know what had happened to me and I told him that I was a derelict and he would ascertain the cause further on after a while it seemed hours to me Faye and the wagons came up and in time we got out of the awful mess and on dry land it was the 4th of July and we all wished for a gun or something that would make a loud noise wherewith we could celebrate not so much the day as our rejoicing at getting out of the wilderness the men were in deplorable condition wet and tired for no one had been able to sleep the night before because of the vicious mosquitoes and the stamping of the poor animals so when Faye saw one of the drivers go to a spring for water and was told that it was a large fine spring he decided to camp right there and rest before going further but rest we could not for the mosquitoes were there also and almost as bad as they had been on the island and the tents inside were covered with them as soon as they were pitched if there is a person who thinks that a mosquito has no brain and isn't capable of looking ahead that person will soon lose his mind that person will soon learn his mistake if ever he comes to the Missouri River Montana the heat was fierce too and made it impossible for us to remain in the tents so we were obliged after all to sit out under the trees until the air had cooled at night sufficiently to chill the mosquitoes the chickens were let out at every camp and each time without fail they would get their boxes on the wagons Charlie would put in little temporary roosts that made them more comfortable and before daylight every morning he would gather up the little ones and the mothers and put them in the crates for the day he is willing and faithful but has queer ideas about some things just as I was getting in the ambulance the second morning on the trip I heard a crunching sound and then another and looking back I saw the Chinaman hold the mess chest with head bent over and elbows sticking out jumping up and down with all his strength I ran over and told him not to do so for I saw at once what was the matter but he said he very big he no go downy me fixie him and up and down he went again harder than ever after a lengthy argument he got down and I showed him once more the things in so the top would shut tight there were a good many pieces of broken china and these Charlie pitched over in the water with a grin that plainly said you see me fixie you of course the soldiers saw it all and laughed heartily which made Charlie very angry and gave him a fine opportunity to express himself in Chinese the rest of the trip was pleasant and some of the camps were delightful I am afraid that I no longer possess beautiful white chickens my Chinaman seems to be the owner of all big and small end of letter end of section 11