Show Chas E. E Street Writes Of Early Day History Editor Park Record n cord John L. L Street one of or nine sons of or General Joseph M. M Street and the daughter of General Thomas Posey the latter a n notable officer In the Revolutionary Revolutionary Revolutionary war was the most adventurous or of orthe orthe the brothers His father was born In old Virginia of an old Dominion family of Revolution fighters He was the first to strike out for the west and settle In Frankfort Kentucky and started star d a newspaper there the Western World In 1804 a a. place then far west Later La r he moved to Illinois where he was made general of militia and had some Indian fighting experience Later was appointed Indian agent of or the and stationed at Prairie du Chien Wisconsin where he assisted In Ira the Black Hawk war and the capture of or the famous Black Hawk was made by his trained Indians In In- In-I In diana and the wiley chief was delivered to him Later he was made agent of ot I the Sac and Fox Indians and he es established es- es established the the- agency In Iowa where he lived for some years and died there It was at City still on the map that his son John In his early teens ens became the hunter for tor the big family I and the Agency With negroes Indians and dogs to help with the abundant I wild wll t game John did the shooting He Hebe became beme be me a crack shot with rifle shotgun I Ian and an pistol The Indians had a name for tor I him hID hi that meant Eye Shot from his skill ski 1 In shooting heads off ort of wild tur tur- turkeys turkeys keys prairie chickens and tree I The river bottoms and the rolling hills hUls were a a. hunters hunter's paradise In the eighteen forties for all kinds of game gamero I Two ro of the brothers established chain stores sto s across the state of Iowa perhaps thee the first In the west reaching to St. St I Louis Other brothers owned the Mis Mis- Missouri Missouri Missouri River Ferry between Council Bluffs and Omaha Two of the brothers sur- sur surveyed sur sur- surveyed surveyed and out the river town of or Omaha for which they received one- one sixteenth part This was before It was I extended They also owned a very large part par of the river town of Nebraska City J One of the Street brothers was a a. graduated graduated graduated civil engineer and took a a. very large government contract to survey In Kansas He was taken Ill and John L. L his brot brot- brother brother brother I her qualified and finished the Job of ot surveying This surveyor was a city engineer and was A. A W. W Street who later la r was to tobe tobe tobe be postmaster r at Salt Lake City 1867 1870 well known In Utah It was while John L. L was doing this government survey In Kansas that men asked him to survey a a. townsite and lay layout out the lots offering him I think a tenth of or the lots for the work He was afraid his time was too short to stop for this and finish his contract on time so refused but he offered it If they would make his section line he was then running the main street of the new town he would stake It and turn turnoff turnoff off of a number of or cross streets this was accepted accept d which he did for nothing but That thanks That was the beginning b of the town now now known as Emporia Kansas John L. L Street had made the trip from New York around the Horn Hort to San Francisco and returned the same way after atter one year in California gold fields field in its wild days of Ho He had been assisting his brothers Inthe in inthe Inthe the mercantile business last In West- West Westport port Missouri during the Civil war There was border warfare there Quan- Quan trills trill's band of guerrillas gu as the Jay Haw Raw Hawkers Hawkers kers Union and and others It was a hot place to maintain business and be robbed every few days day John L. L had twenty kegs of gun powder In the th basement of his two-story two stone store I building hidden In a hole Its discovery cry ery would perhaps mean death as well I Continued on Page Two I Chas E. E Street Writes Of Early Ear Day ay History 1 Continued from Page Pace Pa e One as robbery He carried that powder in wooden buckets across the open street I In broad daylight and stored It In a 0 bank vault with a 0 time lock by the device of or covering co the powder with a 0 paper then a layer of bran packed with eggs in sight on top Ho barely got away awny with his life Ufe and anda a trusty pistol for help later In the winter of 63 4 he prepared to go out west on one of his brothers overland o freight trains to Montana In Inthe Inthe the spring He practiced with his pistol driving carpet tacks stuck In a 0 board at 25 and 30 feet distance also on quick action on the draw all important in the far west In the spring the first train out from rom the outfitting store at Nebraska City was a mule express at three miles an hour followed by the slower ox train of double wagons wagons' John L. L had a good horse and he did the scouting and the hunting for the train along the way He was the only man who could Bit hit the prairie dog as he sat like a pin be beside be- be beside beside side his hole for a quick dodge Into It at the gun flash as was claimed His reputation as a shot dead-shot with rifle rUle or pistol proceeded him Into Vir Vir- Virginia Virginia Virginia ginia City at Alder AIder Gulch and on to Last Chance Gulch Montana His ability to beat the other man man to the draw and cover his man saved 6 ved his life Ufe several se times yet he got by without killing a man Getting the drop and stopping the was enough It was well known that he could shoot the buttons of the mans man's shirt If 1 he wished He took charge of the depot train store for his brother the big freighter from the Missouri River to Montana In Inthe Inthe Inthe the flour shortage of the winter of 64 5 the fast one hundred pound sack was bid up by ten men to one hundred I dollars and was divided among them Salt was one dollar donar a pound until it I gave out When I arrived with my mother i ithe the summer of 65 by steamer up the Missouri to Fort Benton and over O to Helena a belated freight train snowed in in the fall before be re got Into the camp and my father spent all day Sun Sun- Sunday Sunday Sunday day selling flour at per hundred and salt five pounds for one dollar Later John L L. became express agent at Helena for the Ben Holliday stage lino that handled all the gold shipments out of Helena He always left home with two wo pistols under his coat at the office the he shell shelves shel cs under the tho counter had hand handguns guns He was never robbed at nt the office but jut the loaded stages were often otten help up by Road Agents as the robbers were called lie ire showed the largest nugget of he tho day very often It weighed about 2000 It was shaped like a mans man's hand but thicker His brother David Street was pay pay- paymaster paymaster paymaster master and purchasing agent for the Ben Holliday stage line linc clear through After it was sold to Wells Fargo they were both out of a Job John L. L L went into nto business In Helena later to buy buya i a 0 ranch In Gallatin Valley near his brothers brother's family who was a 0 lawyer in Bozeman his sons ran a big cattle and horse ranch and farm on the East Gal- Gal litin river Here John L L. had to fight Indians We were all furnished by the government with extra guns and am- am ammunition even boys of 14 years in fn fact I had my supply at 12 years of age The Tho citizens were organized into companies My cousin Thomas Street was as our captain One time the Bloods and the came through Flat Head He d Pass four miles mU s from our farm tarm In the night as usual on foot toot stole horses and rode out to return through the narrow rocky pass This had been done several sc times before sometimes killing a few settlers but this time the citi citi- citizens citizens citizens zens were quick enough to cut them oft off at the pass The Indians left their horses as they were surrounded and ran up a steep rocky hill and built a 0 awall awall wall where nature also helped them Behind this they fought The citizens deployed behind trees rocks and stumps and fought Indian fashion There were many fine shots among the whites s and they picked the Indiana Indians off oft every time timea a scalp lock showed up and between the rocks After several hours the tho soldiers reach reach- reached ed there from Fort Ellis near Bozeman The officer proposed to charge the tho In Indians In- In Indians Indians and scoffed the style stylo of citizen fighting Our captain warned him that somo some Indians might still be alive but the order was given to charge up the hill to the wall as the tho soldiers looked over one ono soldier was shot dead by a dying Indian as a last act The Indian was dead before he could be shot He ne was tho the last Indian and the soldier was the only white man killed One time a strong force of Sioux In In- made a night raid and drove out over head of horses and mules The Tho Cowan Bros were horse and mule raisers and they lost heavily The citi citi- citizens citizens citizens zens were assisted by soldiers in the pursuit of the Indians and they were followed dear clear down Into the Little Rose RoseBud RoseBud RoseBud Bud country very near to where the custer Massacre occurred three years later The soldiers had given up slid returned but the citizens kept on until they realized the numerous Indians were circling to close them In It was Sioux home country The Tho whites barely escaped by leaving night fires and travel- travel travelIng traveling i Ing night and day by a short cut out I When my father came back from that two weeks raid he was black as an In Indian In- In Indian Indian dian no soap or towel and wild game game without salt the only food horse nearly i dead Guns and revolvers were a part of our lives in those days one did not venturo ven ven- venture venturo turo ture far without arms It was game or Indians The GalUtin Valley region was wasa a game paradise fishing and hunting or trapping was apt to absorb all the spare time of men and boys To become an expert marksman was every boys ambi ambi- ambition amblI I tion I remember how I envied my fathers father's ability He had nerves of steel while I was liable to get buck-ague buck when after big game I recall an nn instance when we were sitting together on the front seat of a 0 wagon agon driving a II couple of mules along the road when they suddenly stopped spread apart and sat I back with a snort there in the middle I of the road rond was a huge rattle snake I closely coiled colled with neck and head erect and weaving In defiance Father pulled I his revolver took careful aim at the slowly moving head with its forked tongue ton ton- tongue tonI I gue guo darting in and out He ne shot the I snakes snake's head hend off and I kicked the body off the road Lucky shot was all he said We were hunting near the mountains with my cousins shooting grouse In the best fall season The flock would rise and light in a wide limbed pine tree if It one began at atthe atthe atthe the bottom and worked up the tho birds would continue to sit but if top birds were killed kilted first and dropped all would scare and fly ny We raised a 0 tree full of the birds and father said Be sports now only heads beads count give Five the birds a chance begin at nt the bottom I remember remember remember ber that father got seven birds the theother theother theother other three of us got two but wasted a lot of ammunition on heads w we missed Ho always preferred his Henry rifle to any other He ne always lord had the gun gun- gunsmith gunsmith gunsmith smith our guns and pistols He was a beautiful wing shot But after coming to Park City neither one of us ever cared to hunt that was left to the younger boys The ease of Montana hunting had spoiled us In the summer and fall of 1873 the the army grasshoppers came In clouds that darkened the sun into Gallatin Valley and I was told continued for five years I We traded our ranch for beef cattle added them to our herd and drove to Utah where we e expected to sell and go by rail to Texas but Park City caught us and held us we never got away from Utah to stay long away aware That was July 1874 and Is another story largely known CHAS CRAB E E. STREET I Salt SnIt Lake City Utah September 12 12 1039 1939 |