Hugh O'Neil's train was at Ft. Bridger when John F. Bishop and John Swing overtook it. (Swing was drowned in 1864, in the Snake River. Reported to have had $4,000 gold and a large revolver on him, so he never came to the surface.)
The train consisted of about 130 men, women and children. We arrived at Blackfoot, and found the stream too high to ford. We took a wagon cover, put it around a wagon box, and ferried our stuff across. When we got to the Snake we could ford, as it had not commenced to rise. Al. E. Graeter, John Cowan, one of the men to discover Last Chance, and Robert hereford were along. Hereford had been in Montana before, so he knew the trail. We crossed the Medicine Lodge Divide, and though it was April there was no snow. We arrived in Bannack, April 20th, 1863.
Swing had 125 pairs of boots which he had bought in Denver and sold in Bannack for $13.00 per pair. Mr. Bishop mined some in Bannack, and later was in Beven's Gulch. He tells the following rather peculiar story of one of the first miners' trials in Beven's Gulch. It seems that a man had come from Oregon with a large band of horses, and he accused a young man that was with him, of having robbed him. The Sheriff was McCarty, for whom McCarty Mountain was named. In arresting the young man, he did not treat him too kindly. The young fellow was afraid of the justice that he might receive at Virginia, and hearing that a man named Dan Dixon was up the Gulch, he went up to see him and to get him to intercede for him. Bishop and Dixon had listened to the young man's story and came to the conclusion to go down to Bagdad, the town of the gulch, and see fair play. When they got down there, they found that quite a number of the miners were full, so they got on the jury. They listened to the testimony, and rendered a verdict, that the defendant should knock the stuffing out of the plaintiff, and that they, the jury, would stand by and see that no one interfered while the sentence was being carried out, which they proceeded to do. This happened some time in August, 1863.
Mr. Bishop soon bought an outfit, and began to freight from Utah. He also went to Cow Island, on the Missouri, below Benton for a load. While he was loading at that place, the Indians came in considerable numbers, and were very insulting, but the whites were compelled to allow them to do as they pleased. It was on this trip that the following happened:
A man and his wife had shipped a horse and buggy on the boat, and thought they would not experience much trouble from the Indians, between that point and Fort Benton. They started out gaily enough and were gone but a little awhile, when the boys saw something coming back as fast as possible, which, on inspection, proved to be our friend. He was shouting Indians! Indians! as loud as he could. The train immediately corralled, and waited for the attack. They waited for some time and one of the fellows said he would go and investigate. He ascended a hill on the road and found that there was a, prairie dog town, and that the little fellows, sitting on their mounds, looked in that peculiar atmosphere, almost as large as men on horses. It was the effect of a mirage.
Later on, Mr. Bishop settled on the Beaverhead and began the raising of stock. He was probably the first Justice of the Peace in Beaverhead Valley, and helped throw the diamond hitch that bound more than one couple together for life. "Uncle John" has many a little story of the early days of Montana. I am indebted to him, as well as others, for the incidents recorded in this story. He is hale and hearty, at an advanced age, and bids fair to enjoy many more years in our Treasure State.