Old Missoula

Recollections of A Pioneer by Carrie L. Bonner

My first recollection of any moment was when I was six years old. At that time my parents were leaving Indiana for the far west by the overland route, or “crossing the plain,” as it was then called. They started out in company with several other families, but as we had fine horses and they only ox teams, our progress was slow. My father, therefore, decided that the traveling was too tedious for him, and in spite of remonstrance from the rest of the family, who were afraid to go on alone, he decided to separate from the rest of the party. Tales of danger to be encountered from the Indians, who were always on the warpath, constantly reached us. We left, the party, and with only one man besides my father and two brothers, proceeded on our way, the men taking turns standing guard at night. The horses were always picketed close to camp. We saw many Indians; some of them came trading a little, more wanted just to visit, and to sit around the fire and smoke, eating what they could get in the meantime. We heard reports of massacres ahead and behind us which we found afterwards to be true. After three long months of travel we landed safely in Oregon, which at that time, was sparsely settled. We made our first stop at a small place called Jacksonville, where we passed a most exciting and dangerous time because of the Oregon war with the Indians. I remember seeing them dodging among the trees on the hillside near our house, red with war paint and armed with bow and quiver, some with guns, always ready to do battle. Also I recall hearing every day of settlers being killed and their homes being burned. Some of the injured settlers escaped to the town, where my mother took them into her home and bound up their wounds.

At night the women and children of the village were gathered into the only stone building there, the men standing guard outside, fearing every moment the town would be burned. This was, I think, the most dangerous period of all my pioneer life. After this we lived for several years in California; later we came by coach through the state of Oregon as far as Portland, then across Puget Sound to Victoria, which was at that time, a very small and truly English village. The trip was then, as it is now, very delightful, although the boats were small and incomplete. Finally we drifted into Lewiston, Idaho, (then a part of the state of Washington), where we were living when three men were hung there for murdering men who were returning from Montana, where great gold mines had been discovered. I will remember the impression made on me by these occurrances, and when my brother and my husband (for I was married in Lewiston), started with pack animals to come to Montana, my heart was full of fear for their lives. Notwithstanding, they both  saw and knew many of the cutthroats at that time so plentiful here, they were never molested, although they traveled from Missoula to Walla Walla several times alone, carrying large sums of money with them.

In the year 1868, I accompanied my husband to Missoula. We left Walla Walla in July with a pack train of two hundred and fifty mules, loaded with merchandise of all kinds; my mother accompanied us. My son, who was only eleven months old at that time, of course needed milk to drink, so we brought along a cow for his accommodation. We came by the Mullan road, through the Coeur d’Alenes. I drove a span of large grey horses, all the way across the mountains, except when it was impossible to see or find a road on account of the fallen and burnt timber. At such places Mr. Bonner would take the buggy into the bed of the stream, which was a roaring mountain river with a rocky bed, and follow it for miles before finding a place to come out. My mother and I in the meantime, rode on the backs of two large mules, which though gentle, were stubborn and hard to manage. When the road would be regained I would again take my seat in the carriage and drive on. Perhaps Mr. Bonner would spy a grouse high in a pine tree, take out his revolver and kill it. At such times we would have a fine dinner, with gravy made from the milk of our cow.

We met many Indians who would cross themselves to show us they were good Indians and friendly to the white man, although at one time the report was spread all over the Northwest that we were massacred, and we were wept over by our friends, we were spared to read our own obituaries which we saw in several papers after we arrived in Missoula, which place we reached in September. I was driving the first Concord buggy that came into this, then little village of three hundred souls.

That winter was one of pleasure to me in many ways, as we managed to have dances and other social meetings; nevertheless I was all the time in dreadful fear of the Indians. There were as many as fifty lodges on the south bank of the river, about where my residence now stands. They were howling and dancing like the wild things they were all through the night. At that time there were no fire arms in the town, so the gentlemen sent a petition to Washington for arms and that winter some were received. We were obliged to keep our doors locked day and night, or upon looking into the next room we might find a “red face” prowling in our closets, to see what they could steal. Many an Indian have I ordered out of my house, while my heart was in my throat, only to see him pick up his gun, which he had just left outside the door and walk off, frightened at my apparent bravery.

After enduring for a year this fear of the Indians, I left Missoula for Deer Lodge, where I remained until the Indians were placed on reservations. A beautiful new fort had been built and occupied by troops, the city was growing in size and importance, when I once more came to Missoula to make my home.

This article appeared in ‘The Woman’s Souvenir of Missoula, Montana’, published by the Ladies of the Christian Church  in 1910.
Made available courtesy of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Library – Special Collections.

Mrs. Bonner’s husband was a founder of what would become The Missoula Mercantile Company. The Bonner home was perhaps Missoula’s grandest mansion of all, built in 1891. It covered the entire city block just east of what is now Hellgate High School. E. L. Bonner and Frank Higgins are credited with donating the original land for establishing the University of Montana in Missoula. Bonner, Mt. and Bonner’s Ferry, Id. are both named for E. L. Bonner.

The 1864 Lewiston, Idaho incident that Mrs. Bonner referred to above was the trial, conviction, and hanging of three of the men responsible for killing Lloyd Magurder and his party of packers as they returned to Lewiston, Idaho from Virginia City, Montana.

Link to photo of Bonner Mansion: http://content.lib.umt.edu/cdm/ref/collection/pharchives/id/5039