Chapter 4

In taking stock of his new establishment Mudge found that the firm had business connections of much wider scope than he had thought possible. There was the big stable filled with saddle ponies, driving horses, wagons, buggies, sleighs, sleds and all sorts of transportation equipment; there were cattlemen, teamsters, butchers, cutters and roustabouts, and a hundred-acre corral and slaughter-house down by the rim of the big lake two miles from the office. Sitting Bull, the dun buffalo-pony of the celebrated chief of that name, had recently been acquired for the stable and became Mudge's choice among the list of excellent saddle-horses always available for service or pleasure; trained for buffalo chasing, he was first to be saddled when there was a 'bunch' of steers to be herded to the corral, or, as often was the case, a car load---sometimes a train-load of cattle required the firm's full crew of men and horses for their unloading and roundup into the corral.

It was while such an incoming train load of cattle that the stable boys tested out Mudge's cow-boy proclivities. They conspired to appropriate Sitting Bull together with all the rest of the trained cow-ponies for the roundup, then sent word to the office that he must join to help in the duty of unloading, and that a pony was already saddled for his use a the horse barn. They did not intimate that the critter was a 'cayuse' lately taken on with a herd which had been rounded up from the western territory, and was wholly unbroken, a real raw bad actor.

Of course Mudge rushed to their assistance, was shown the beast and told to lead off and stand guard at the corral gate while the rest of the gang formed a half-circle to keep them from breaking away toward the open prairie, and to guide the 200 head of steers toward the corral gate. Mounting the ugly long-haired animal was easy, and its gait was not uncomfortable for the two miles down the trail to the post assigned; here Mudge dismounted and opened the swinging bar; than led his pony a few yards away and waited the oncoming herd; and it was somewhat exciting to look back on the other members of the crew as they raced along with the running cattle, swinging their sombreros. Mudge closed the gate on them as the last bunch of steers were safely inside the corral, and then turned to mount his newly-made friend cow-pony. He got his left foot in the stirrup and rose to gracefully take his seat in the ornamented stock-saddle, but the saddle met him half way; he never got into it, but fortunately for him, he lit on his feet as the hind feet of the obstreperous bronco neatly lifted his hat at the first rear-end uprising. It was the best exhibition of expert "bucking" that was ever seen in the territory, and it continued all the way back to town; the saddle was found on the railroad track next day. And the victim of the joke had to walk back, to the roars of laughter of the rest of the boys, and buy the drinks.

Louis Riel had just started his rebellion over the Canada border, and we heard lurid tales of how he was leading the 'breeds' in their protests to the Canadian authorities against surveying their lands and selling it to the incoming emigrants, just as the Americans were doing on their side of the line.

These natives adopted a 'Bill of Rights' claiming the same consideration that has been granted other branches of the clan; they had petitioned Parliament for recognition of their rights, but in vain, and so, Riel played the part of Patrick Henry and aroused the natives to a bloody, but hopeless revolution. It was something new for Canada to have trouble with her Indians, and when, in March, they clashed at Duck Lake, Major Crozier counted 12 of his men dead and a dozen wounded; thus Chief One Arrow counted coups in the first round. The Crees joined in the affair, who, under Poundmaker and Big Bear, burned and plundered on of the forts manned by Canadians, and killed nine more troopers, in early April; and by the latter part of the month had killed another 10 and wounded 40 men under Dumont at Fish Creek; a week later Colonel Otter attacked the natives at Cut Knife Hill, and was forced to retire with 8 dead and 14 wounded. By this time, the Canadians were realizing that they had a real job on their hands; they gathered forces and, as English always do, went into real warfare; this time at Batoche, where the fight lasted for four days. The Canadians came out with 8 killed and 46 wounded, while the 'breeds' lost 51 killed and 173 wounded, and Riel was captured. He was tried for treason, and in November, was hanged at Regina.

It was the same fate meted out to every great leader who tried to gain justice for and defend the rights of original proprietors! Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Roman Nose, Geronimo, Joseph, Tecumseh, Osceola and a host of other great men, generals and statesmen equal to any of the white race, were treacherously slain or imprisoned, during the white man's ruthless exploitation of the western world!

Riel was educated for a priest, which means that he was well educated; he was polite in manner, and a clever negotiator; the story went around then, that he instigated the rebellion with the hope and expectation that the Canadian government would buy him off, but that did not check with the Indians' side of the question. The band of Chippewas which occupied the U.S. Reservation at Turtle Mountain on the American side of the Canadian line often related their grievances to the writer, with whom they had to negotiate in the selling of buffalo bones. Many of their friends and relatives were involved with Riel in his attempt to get justice from the Canadians for them, and they, themselves in the U.S.A. had the identical complaint; the lands were being taken up by hordes of settlers coming in from the east, and foreign emigrants, who killed their game and cut down their forests for fuel. Nothing was done by the authorities to correct this injustice; the poor natives had no longer a way to gain a living by trapping, hunting of from their timber thus ruthlessly stolen by the whites. They were forced to gathering up the whitened skeletons of buffalo, with which the prairies were dotted,---a lifeless wilderness left by the insatiable hide-hunters in their final roundup and extermination of the last of the countless herds in America.

Mudge being the representative of the firm in the purchase of the bones dragged in by long caravans made up of their crude wood-carts hauled by whatever animal they possessed large enough to pull it along; a bull, a cow, a steer or pony, rigged to the heavy shafts with raw-hide cables in lieu of formal harness, which they did not possess and could not obtain; they were a picturesque outfit wiggling far out across the flat open prairie, like the drawings of a prehistoric monster, or a sea-serpent floating on the bosom of the ocean. His was a dual position, on the one side he had to deal with and hear the troubles of the Indians; and on the other side, to deal with and listen to the martial music, see the maneuvers and hear the tales of men and officers of the military garrison, stationed there to hold the Indians in subjection.

Spring days went fast, and Dodge's racing mare was in other hands readying for the big time coming, with Jim Hill's Fat Stock Show, races, and Indian war-dances, for which a stockade was being built at the edge of the town. There was talk of extending the railroad into the virgin prairies toward the west; business was booming, with the daily coming of the prairie-schooner and train loads of emigrants; there was 'method' and not 'madness' in Hill's big Fat Stock Show,---of a train load of imported black poll-angus bulls and cows. It was a hardy breed, not unlike the buffalo and calculated to withstand the cold and fatten on the nourishing buffalo-grass; it was Mr. Hill's plan to distribute these animals amongst pioneer settlers as a foundation herd to replenish with domesticated cattle the vast numbers of native beasts which had flourished here through past ages; he was becoming the Empire Builder though he did not know or covet that title then.

The boarding 'round order brought Mudge to the Lakeside Hotel at irregular periods, sometimes to be waited on at table by May, but she was so restricted in her going and coming by Maggie, that there was little chance to cultivate acquaintance; once she was permitted to join for a ride over the flower-decked prairies, along with Mudge who willingly delegated his favorite saddler, Sitting Bull, for her use, while he mounted the chestnut named Davy Jones; the trip was to Stump Lake to inspect cattle which had been offered for sale,---for that was as good excuse as any, and it was a good chance to make dates for more inspection trips. After May had dismounted at the hotel door and Mudge was about to lead the pony away, Billy Osborn appeared at the door of his Gem saloon adjoining and gazed but did not smile as was his usual custom.

The Big Day was at hand. Long trains of excursionists came, with blaring brass bands, from as far east as St. Paul; and the steamboat brought capacity loads of troopers, traders and Indians from the fort; settlers and ranch-hands came in wagons and on horseback from the north and west.

Between Little Fish, Sioux Chief from the Cut Head Reservation; Chief Little Shell, from the Chippewa country at the north; and the Grand Old Chief Wanata, once head chief of all the Sioux wielding more power than any Indian on the North American Continent, Mudge had a busy time in seeing to it that they were well taken care of during the parades and band-contests,---and all had complimentary tickets to the big show in the afternoon. By ten the town was crowded; noon saw it a mob of mixed nationalities, gay with color; Indians with striped blankets and beaded moccasins, cow-boys in sombrero and brilliant scarfs, dangling spurs and belted six-guns; officers and soldiers in rich uniforms of blue, loud with gold braid and clanking sabers. And it was an orderly crowd, hoodlumism was unknown in the old west! While the saloons did a rushing business, there was little sign of drunkenness; no disturbances and no arrests.

Hansbrough was official treasurer, but after the first few minutes of awkwardness at the ticket window, he realized that he was going to be swamped, and sent a distress call to Mudge to come and take his place. Mudge was used to this sort of thing, and piled up the bills in cigar boxes,---and a valise was sent for to hold the cash as it overflowed the drawers, so that 'Hank' was obliged to make several trips to the bank with excess receipts. On the first trip out he had his Interocean office print a big red badge of ribbon with the words 'Asst Treasurer'---and pinned it on Mudge's lapel. "Keep this," he said, "as a memorial of beginning the Great Northern Railroad."

Mudge had little chance to see the races; but it was learned that the boss's mare, which he had trained for an hour, made a record of 4.39. The running race was won by an Indian boy, and the mule race ended in a catastrophy for one of them, which, in its contrary stubbornness, swayed to one side of the race-track, into the end of a wagon-tongue, piercing its side and causing its death.

Evening saw the excursionists from Minnesota boarding their long trains for home, and the steamer operated long into the night to get the multitude of soldiers and Indians to their habitations on the south shore of the long lake. But the ranchers and settlers from the country north and west remained in large numbers to arrange for feeding and taking home their newly acquired prize bulls and cows.

Cowboys amused themselves by riding through the streets yipping and shooting; Indians vanished from the town. Night found the saloons packed, and the red light section flourished; it consisted of two frame houses of two story dimension below the railroad tracks---and it was generally known that Billy Osborn was the backer of one of them, in charge of Alice Gray, who was sponsor for three other good-looking and well-dressed mild-mannered females, twentyish-like.