Could There Be More

[Tiredman]

This one is from our Custer Country book, part of the Lost Treasures of Montana series. It is called, "Could There Be More."

COULD THERE
BE MORE​

Years ago, there was a place called Horse Camp Ranch in Golden Valley County. It was an out-lying camp of a much larger ranch operation that was known as the 1879 Cattle Company, also called “The 79.”
Golden Valley County, Montana, is also known locally as the “Big Coulee Valley.” This is because of the many deep ravines in the region. A section of the county, about eight miles south of Ryegate, was not only excellent ranch land, but a prime location for hiding out. The Big Coulee Creek runs through the valley between huge rimrock formations. This valley is five miles wide and fourteen miles long. There are only two outlets from the valley and the towering ravine walls are all but impossible to scale up or down.
The Horse Camp Ranch lost treasure site is said to have been to the east of Lavina. An old base camp of the 1879 Cattle Company, its purpose was for grazing stock; but many who came to the area were shady, outlaw type characters, like horse thieves, cattle rustlers, and assorted other criminals. Because of this, the area just might hold some old hidden caches from the days when it was used as a hideout!
These desperados were but a small portion of the inhabitants in the region. Legitimate cowboys worked from the camp, tending to the cattle and other livestock. There were rumors of hidden loot here. And, one day, some substance was added to the local talk, when a discovery was made by accident.

More Later ….

 

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[Tiredman]

Supposedly, in 1922, a man named John Thom was out gathering firewood. He noticed near an old cellar, a stagecoach strongbox. The box looked old, like it had been hidden some time ago. Maybe a corner was exposed and drew Thom’s notice. Either way, the box was empty, having been busted open long ago. There was no way to prove where the strongbox came from, but it did seem to support the old rumors of the camp having been used as a hideout years ago.
Checking the Internet for information on the background of the 1879 Cattle Company, the following information turned up: in 1879, the first home ranch of John T. Murphy’s 1879 Cattle Company, was on White Beaver Creek on the Yellowstone River between Reed Point and Columbus. Later, the headquarters moved to the Big Coulee Creek, south of Ryegate.
Livestock was added, with the addition of many horses and sheep in addition to cattle. Once again, the operation increased its holdings and added the “River Ranch” on the Musselshell, near Barber. At the time of this writing, this ranch has since been in the hands of the Eklund family for over fifty years.
The fourth base camp was “Painted Robe,” eight miles upstream on the Painted Robe Creek, west of Broadview. This operation is currently owned by the family of O.C. Richards who later bought the land.
Until the U.S. Government cracked down on the Montana stockmen, “The 79” had access to free grass for a good many years by utilizing and expanding the reach of their “drift” and line fences. A drift fence is a long, continuous fence put up to control the movement of cattle on the open range. Beginning with a small herd of forty cattle trailed up from Texas, it is said that the 1879 Cattle Company grazed over 800,000 acres at its peak. Its holdings and livestock ranged over a large region, from the Yellowstone to the mouth of the Musselshell River.
This large area includes the location of the discovery of the old strongbox by John Thom in 1922.
As free grass dwindled, so did the herds of the “79” ranch. Sheep replaced some of the cattle operations. 1911 marked the beginning of John Murphy’s failing health and the end of this once great operation. Since we have a report of an old strongbox having been found in an out of the way location, one has to wonder what else could still be hidden in the region.
More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

Although I did not pin down the exact site of the Horse Camp Ranch, I have included a map of the region east of Lavinia. Shown is a small place known as Bundy. It is on the railroad line and Musselshell River. The livestock needed water and to graze, so the location of the missing camp where the strongbox was found should be somewhere near the river. The dotted line on the map is the boundary between Golden Valley and Musselshell Counties.

 

[Tiredman]

Old Pinkerton detective agency records contain reports that a shootout between a posse and outlaws occurred in the Lavina area. Kid Curry was wounded in this gunfight. He sported a scar on his right wrist from the gun battle. This identifying mark was used years later to identify a captured suspect in Knoxville, Tennessee, as Kid Curry. Gunshot wounds on his back also further confirmed his identity.
Reports such as this from the Pinkertons help validate local long-running reports that outlaws and other unsavory characters used the Lavina area of Montana to seek refuge from the law.
Photo of a hideout once used by the Curry gang. It is between Lavina and Bozeman, in a secluded spot along Hwy. 191. More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

Could this strongbox be the one found in 1922?
The following newspaper article describes the loss of a strongbox:
ANACONDA STANDARD
Anaconda, Montana
June 3,1892
AS IN VIGILANTE DAYS
–––––––
Robbers Hold Up the Billings and Great Falls Stage.
–––––––
THE TREASURE
BOX SECURED
–––––––
One of the Coach Horses Shot—
Passengers Not Molested—
An Express Robbed on the Santa Fe.
–––––––
Special Dispatch to the Standard.
BILLINGS, June 2.— The stage coach of the Billings and Great Falls line was held up this morning about 9 o’clock; two mail sacks and the treasury box taken. Halsey R. Watson of the Lewiston Argus and his mother were the only passengers.
The hold-up occurred on the summit of Painted Robe Hill, nine miles south of Lavina. The robber shot one horse when the driver, “Old Bill,” obeyed orders and threw out the treasure box and sacks. The robber was a short, slender man, with brown eyes.
Two other masked men stood in the bush. The coach arrived at Billings at 7:00 this evening, when a posse was dispatched by the Under-Sheriff, Ramsey. It is thought that very little money was obtained, as most of the remittances from that country are by checks. The robbers are supposed to be strangers.
More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

The finding of the old article above, on the hold-up of the stage, and the report that the robbers did take the strongbox, would make it a safe bet that the one found in 1922 by John Thom is the same treasury box taken from the stagecoach in this story, since they both happened near Lavina.
Still more later ….

 

[Tiredman]

The old newspaper article which follows, contains interesting information that ties in with several stories within this book, Point Of Rocks; Could There Be More?; and Billings Questions:
FALLON COUNTY TIMES
Baker, Montana
December 17, 1936

STAGE LINE OPENED AFTER INDIANS WERE QUIETED ONLY TO FACE NEW HAZARDS IN RUTHLESS BANDITRY
–––––––––––––––
Travelers in Montana before the railroad era had in general three choices in mode of transportation, and in certain sections, a fourth. They could go afoot, horseback, or by stagecoach. For the fourth choice they could travel by water in boat or canoe on some of the state’s rivers or lakes. The bull team and horse freight outfits are not included, for those who went with them usually had to go afoot, regardless of their intentions, or the promises of the drivers when they started.
More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

Needless to say, a stagecoach trip was filled with action. Galloping four-horse teams and bumping coach over the trail were followed by the hustle of eating and changing teams at the stage stations—and there was always the possibility that the stage might be held up and the passengers robbed.
One of the most useful stage lines in Montana was that between Miles City and Bozeman, established in 1877. It had been contemplated for several years; and when put into operation, proved an important factor in speeding the development of the eastern part of the state. One thing that deterred its establishment was the fact that the route, during the early seventies was through a distinctly hostile Indian country.
The campaign against the Sioux, which ended in the Custer massacre, and the subsequent routing of red men, allayed the fears of citizens sufficiently to bring about the install-lation of the line.
Some of the earliest settlers became stage drivers, or maintained stage stations At Stillwater were the Countrymans; at Rapids, Isaac Hensley; at Coulson, P. W. McAdow; at Huntley, Omar Hoskins and Thomas McGirl, who also operated a ferry across the Yellowstone River. Still farther down the Yellowstone River towards Miles City, the famous frontiersman, “Liver Eating” Johnson had a station.
More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

HAZARDOUS AND TRYING ORDEAL
Those who started on a stage journey had no assurance they would get through on time, or indeed, at all. The coaches were usually crowded, if not with passengers, with baggage and mail for people along the route. There were breakdowns and delays as the result of steep grades and deep ruts; and now and then, swollen streams to ford, which held up the procession.
The conveniences at the stage stations were meager. “Liver Eating” Johnson’s idea of the comforts of life, for instance, were probably not such as to favorably impress a traveler from the more effete East. The squalor and lack of sanitation that existed in many of the stations made the time of departure from them the most impressive memory of the visit, regardless of the enthusiasm which had attended the arrival with its hopes for a period of rest, relaxation, and refreshment that would take the edge off the remainder of the trip.
Although the hostile Indians were pretty well cleaned out in the Yellowstone Valley before the Miles City-Bozeman stage line was inaugurated, there were times when Indians caused some uneasiness to travelers. In 1877, when Chief Joseph and his band of Nez Perces were in the Clark’s Fork of the Yellowstone country, a jerkey, so-called because it was a springless vehicle different from the old Concord coach, fell into their hands.
More Later ….

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

I am learning a great deal from this post. Really interesting.
For whatever reason, I never forgot something I read long ago, except for the names. Some writer was once given this advice by an old editor: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Facts are often kind of dull compared to legends.
Something else I thought of just now. Some people are driven by passion. Some others see an angle to make a profit. Those things driven by profit seem pretty sterile compared to the things which grow from passion. When the profit is gone the profiteer moves on. The person driven by passion slogs onward. Those with passion leave us with something of more value, I think.

 

[Tiredman]

I am learning a great deal from this post. Really interesting.
For whatever reason, I never forgot something I read long ago, except for the names. Some writer was once given this advice by an old editor: When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Facts are often kind of dull compared to legends.
Something else I thought of just now. Some people are driven by passion. Some others see an angle to make a profit. Those things driven by profit seem pretty sterile compared to the things which grow from passion. When the profit is gone the profiteer moves on. The person driven by passion slogs onward. Those with passion leave us with something of more value, I think.

Correct my getting into doing this was due to Thomas P. Terry and his books. There is a lot to researching these stories and clearing up confusion with some of the old stories or legends as some call them. At first I set out to find the whole story behind the short briefs. The plan was folks that metal detecting or like lost treasure stories would like them. We ended up doing better than planned and hit the tourist market. Who would have thought there was a tourist market for lost treasure, then came the Travel Channel which was another unexpected result.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

.... Who would have thought there was a tourist market for lost treasure, ....

Who woulda thunk it. Human nature has never changed.

... . Facts are often kind of dull compared to legends.... .

Ok, will Hillbilly Prince get deleted for this ?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Who woulda thunk it. Human nature has never changed.



Ok, will Hillbilly Prince get deleted for this ?

 

[Tiredman]

Great set of rules. I looked them over. I will continue sharing our stories. They are pretty much the articles that Jeff of PA finds and posts. We just go to extremes and have much longer versions. I do have treasures found and sometime will get around to posting them.

 

[Tiredman]

INDIANS AND ROAD AGENTS
Chief Joseph was too much of a general to overlook such an opportunity for further establishing himself with his people as a man of dignity. He turned his horse loose and rode the jerkey in triumphal progress down the Clark’s Fork Valley, its sole passenger, until, at Canyon Creek, the soldiers made it so hot for his band that he had to catch up his horse and with his followers, take to the hills for safety.
Much more to be feared than the Indians, were the road agents who sprang up as the line prospered. More than one stagecoach driver lost his life at their hands, while the losses in money and valuables cannot be estimated. When bullion from the mines was being carried by the stages on the Miles City line, it was not unusual to have a special guard, or sometimes an escort of soldiers, accompany it. The story is told in eastern Montana of one band of robbers that rode behind a coach and unstrapped and carried away with them a trunk containing several hundred dollars worth of valuables, without the driver or any of his passengers being aware of their presence.
When the stage route from Billings to Fort Benton was established over the old Lavina trail, and from Billings, to Buffalo, Wyo., by way of Fort Custer, the opportunities for the bandits increased, as did their numbers.
The stage lines were maintained until well along in the nineties when the building of the Great Northern and Burlington railroads put them out of business. They were operated despite the particular activity of the road agents along their routes.
More Later ….

 

[Tiredman]

This portion pinned down the location of two caches (Holdup Cut).
HOLDUP CUT
On the old Lavina trail, not far from Billings and near the head of Five Mile Creek, after the road had swung away from Alkali Creek, was a notch in the hills known as Holdup Cut, so named, it is said, because it was a particularly favorable spot for holdups. And a number of them took place there. The road skirted along a point of rock with a cliff on one side and the creek on the other; so removing all chance for the stage to turn around if once cornered. The trail then crossed the stream and turned north.
The Billings and Benton line’s first superintendent was Walter Burke. He was later replaced by John J. Davis. One of the promoters of the line was T.C. Power, later United States Senator from Montana and long one of its leading stockmen, merchants and capitalists. The first driver employed on, the line was a man named Hayes, but he was followed by many others. In 1885, Wells Fargo & Co. let an express contract to the Billings-Benton line and express stations were established at Lavina, Halbert, Ubet, Cottonwood, Lewistown, Maiden, and Fort Maginnis.
Tradition has it that the town of Ubet owes its name Col. Wilbur F. Sanders, Montana lawyer pioneer who prosecuted the bandits rounded up in Alder Gulch by the Vigilantes. He and several others were riding on the stage line in that region with a morose and curt driver whose response to all remarks was a short yes or no. Finally, one of the party produced a bottle of liquor and proffered it to the reinsman with the query, “Have one?”
“You bet,” he responded heartily, and the members of the party dubbed the next stopping place Ubet in memory of the driver’s display of garrulity.

 

[Hillbilly Prince]

Correct my getting into doing this was due to Thomas P. Terry and his books. There is a lot to researching these stories and clearing up confusion with some of the old stories or legends as some call them. At first I set out to find the whole story behind the short briefs. The plan was folks that metal detecting or like lost treasure stories would like them. We ended up doing better than planned and hit the tourist market. Who would have thought there was a tourist market for lost treasure, then came the Travel Channel which was another unexpected result.

Writing that facts are often kind of dull compared to legends was not aimed at you- think you understand it was a very general observation.
I don't think using the term "legend" has to mean a tale is necessarily untrue.
Your work in sorting through the times, the people, places, and events might keep folks from going on wrong trails, or give them an insight which might lead to lost treasure.
I was just thinking if a outlaw gang had a few successes, it stands to reason they had to hide some of the goods somewhere. Where would they spend it all under their circumstances. And they could hardly carry it with them at all times.

 

[Tom_in_CA]

wow

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Tom, this is the legend forum, IT IS ABOUT TREASURE LEGENDS, if your getting "miffed" or have trouble with legends then don't enter the forum, stop harassing members who believe and or are researching legends.

 

[Tiredman]

Thank you!