Yellowstone County MT Archives News.....John Walk, Here Nearly 50 Years, Tells of Old Times September 22, 1929
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Ronald J. Reid rreid21@cox.net August 11, 2008, 7:57 pm

Billings Gazette September 22, 1929
Billings Gazette, Sunday, September 22, 1929, page 8.
JOHN WALK, HERE NEARLY 50 YEARS, TELLS OF OLD TIMES.
  Nearly 50 years ago, John J. Walk and A.A. Ellis brought 1,600 head of cattle 
from Oregon to the Lake Basin, taking more than three months to trail them 
through.  The herd was the first to be turned out on the open range in that 
region and was among the first bunches of cattle on the Yellowstone.  This was 
in 1880 and three years later they brought in 2,000 more head from Oregon.
  The two men had come to Montana from Colorado to start in the cattle business 
and their families stayed at Bozeman while they were trailing the animals 
through.  When they came to the Gallatin river, Mrs. Walk rode out to see the 
herd at the crossing and nearly fell to the river from her horse when she 
became dizzy looking at the swift water.  Two cowboys who saw her danger, got 
on either side and brought her safely out of the stream.
  The Walk and Ellis families moved to Billings shortly after the town was 
established and each built a large house in Foster’s addition in the north part 
of the town, then separated from the rest of the city by a slough where the 
Great Northern tracks are now.  There were only a half dozen houses in that 
section for several years.
  Mr. and Mrs. Walk still live at the same residence, 703 North Broadway, 
although now the street is substantially built up and the slough and white 
alkali flats have long since disappeared.  Mr. Walk’s partner, Mr. Ellis, is 
now a resident of the Red Lodge country.
  When the Walk family first came to the Yellowstone in 1880, they took up a 
ranch on Canyon creek, which later became a part of the Billings ranch.  There 
was a stage station on the creek which, with the post office, boarding house 
and saloon, was conducted by Sid Erwin.  There was one or two other buildings, 
including a blacksmith shop, owned by Dr. W.A. Allen.
  Among the first settlers in that district who are still living are George 
Danford, Dan Sullivan and Frank Summers.
Slough Divided Town.
  The families living north of the slough in Billings built footbridges across 
in order to get to town.  There was also a wagon bridge on Twenty-seventh 
street.  In the spring the melting snows often left the bridges in a precarious 
state and once or twice carried them away.
  Often ducks came in on the slough and Mr. Walk says that more than once he 
has gone there and killed enough ducks for a meal.  Water was brought in 
barrels from the river by Ed O’Donnell at a price of 50 cents a barrel.  The 
water was kept in a barrel at the back door.  Sometimes they would find a fish 
floating around in it.
  Snows were often deep and Mr. Walk had a snowplow with which he made paths 
for the children from that part of town who attended school in the Lincoln 
building, now used to house the school administration.  The building was early 
condemned as unsafe and every time there was a windstorm, there was fear that 
the building would tumble down.
  One of the first social events in the Walk home after it was built was the 
marriage of Miss Lucy Baker who had been the school teacher at the Canyon Creek 
school and had boarded with the Walks, to Samuel R. Salsbury, who had a ranch 
at that time near Canyon Creek.  They had met after Miss Baker came to Montana 
to teach.
  According to Mrs. E.E. Sayer and Mrs. W.B. Peckham of New York City, 
daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Walk, one of the chief family events of those early 
days was the purchase of a fine spring wagon with two seats, which was the 
family equipage for a number of years.  Figures of yellow doer as decorations 
greatly enhanced its attractiveness to juvenile eyes.
Yellowstone Round-up.
  The Yellowstone round-up was organized by Walk and Ellis and other cattle 
owners in the district between the Yellowstone and Musselshell.  Each spring 
and fall a round-up was held to brand calves and separate those to be taken to 
market.  The round-up had corrals in the Lake Basin and also in the Hailstone 
Basin and at Canyon Creek and Park City, and drives were made from the 
surrounding districts to these corrals.  Then they finished up by going across 
the river on the Crow reservation and driving back strays.  Sam Garvin, who was 
foreman for the Jeffries and Maynard outfit, was the captain of the round-up 
for many seasons.
  The largest cattle owner in the district was Nelson Story with the Oxyoke 
brand.  His headquarters were at Bozeman but most of his range stock was kept 
in the Lake Basin.  There were also a number of large Texas outfits in the 
district and on the Musselshell.  The first cattle were brought into 
Yellowstone county by Hoskins and McGirl, about 1879, a year before Mr. Walk 
came here.  Ed Cardwell began in the cattle business on the Yellowstone at 
Merrill shortly afterward.  Mr. Walker was considered one of the best ropers on 
the round-up.  At local fairs until of recent years, he always took part in 
roping contests and few could win from him.
  When the railroad was built through the Yellowstone valley, Mr. Walk took a 
contract to furnish beef to the construction gangs, receiving $16 a head.  
There was little profit because buffalo hunters could furnish cheaper meat 
because they were at no expense in raising their meat, and the buffalo was 
almost as palatable as beef.
  Rabbits Won Out.
  One year, Mr. Walk recalls, the rabbits were so thick in the Lake Basin 
country that the range grass was practically eaten up by them and it was 
necessary to drive the cattle out and find other places for them to feed.
  In later years, Mr. Walk ran cattle on land leased on the Crow reservation.  
Besides the lease rentals the Indians expected occasional gifts of fresh beef, 
and as they helped themselves if the leaseholders were not fairly generous, it 
was considered the best policy to be on good terms with them, as Mr. Walk 
ranged his cattle on Blue creek and Pryor creek.  Mr. Walk has a high regard 
for Chief Plenty Coos, whom he knew well during the years he was on the 
reservation.  He and the chief are of the same age.  Chief Plenty Coos was a 
man of magnificent physique in the prime of his life.  The father of the chief 
was killed by the Sioux on the land owned by the chief and it has long been his 
desire to end his days there, too.
  Mr. Walk says that once when he first knew Plenty Coos he told him to stop at 
his camp at any time for something to eat.  The chief was to show his watch to 
Mrs. Walk as a sing of who he was, but Mr. Walk forgot to tell his wife of the 
arranged signal.  When Plenty Coos pulled out his watch and asked for bread, 
Mrs. Walk, who had been bothered with begging Indians, refused him.  Plenty 
Coos was much offended, but when the cause of his coolness was discovered, Mr. 
and Mrs. Walk made amends by inviting the Chief to dinner at their home and his 
dignity was appeased.
Chief Painted Girls.
  Plenty Coos became a great favorite with the two small Walk girls.  Once when 
they were with their father he took them and fixed their hair in the fashion of 
Indian maidens, adding a yellow paint mark down the parting.  Then he gravely 
looked them over and said, “Itsek Bot-sots” the Crow for “very good.” 
  Once while they were on the Gallatin, a band of Piegans stole some horses 
from the Crows and from the settlers.  Several men went with a band of Crows in 
pursuit and killed some of the Piegans.  The Crows held a scalp dance which 
lasted several days in celebration of their victory.  One of the men named 
Harrison had promised to bring Mrs. Walk a souvenir, and when he returned, he 
dropped a pair of ears which had once belonged to one of the Piegans in her 
hand.  Unlike most cattleman, Mr. Walk never carried a revolver and seldom 
except for hunting or in times of Indian troubles, a rifle.
  Mr. and Mrs. Walk, as a newly married couple, crossed the plains in a covered 
wagon caravan from Missouri to Colorado, about 1872.  The other members of the 
party consited of brothers and sisters of Mr. and Mrs. Walk and their 
families.  For several years, Mr. Walk was a buffalo hunter, killing the bison 
for their hides, the top one bringing $2.75 each.  Mr. Welker’s [sic] record 
kill was 38 in one day.  The headquarters to which the hides were brought after 
they had been cured in the sun came to be known as Walk’s camp and was situated 
on the headwaters of the Republican river. 
Indian Scares.
  While in Colorado they had a number of Indian scares from bands of Sioux and 
Utes.  The women in the district would go into Denver for protection at each 
scare.  Once when there was a rumor of Indians coming, Mrs. Walk refused to 
go,.  One afternoon while Mrs. Walk was resting in the house, an Indian entered 
the room.  Hysterical with fright, Mrs. Walk began to laugh.  The Indian looked 
at her astounded and said, “Heap, brave squaw,” and left the building.  Mrs. 
Walk lost no time when he was gone in getting to the railroad station.  Two 
neighbors were killed by the Indians on this raid.
  Mr. Walk earned a stake from his buffalo hunting to start raising cattle.  
Then when the subdoing of the Indians started the cattle men in eastern 
Montana, he decided to come here.  Mr. Ellis, who cast his fortunes in with him 
at that time, had been a telegraph operator in Colorado.  They went to the 
Grande Rondo country of Eastern Oregon for cattle because they were cheaper 
than in western Montana, where everyone was trying to increase their holdings.  
Considering that it took nearly a year for the round trip, including the 
locating and buying of cattle, little money was gained by the move however, Mr. 
Walk says.
  At the time of the Boulder mining boom at Independence in the early 90s, Mr. 
Walk was interested in the North Star mine there with David Fratt.  He spent 
one winter there, superintending the work of two crews of men.  He also put in 
a stage line from Big Timber to the mines with three relay stations.  At one 
time there were 1,500 men in the camps around Independence.
  Then the hard times of 1893 came and the boom as suddenly collapsed.  “All 
that I ever got out of the mine was a gold ring apiece for myself and wife, 
made out of one of the nuggets and a cough that I have had ever since,” he 
relates.  His stage line horses he took to the Dakotas and sold but the price 
was so low that he had barely money enough to get back home.


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