30 Years Ago

Thursday, September 21, 1989

Centennial trail drive… Montana yields its treasures

Old cowboys are not easily impressed by ordinary social events.

And that goes double for such hands as Charles Patten, Powder River County’s Representative on the Great Centennial Cattle Drive, and Slug Mills, Multi-County Wagonmaster for the event.

Feelings ran so deep, however, both had to carefully search for words when describing the Drive. But of course, that was not just another social event.

“There just ain’t any words to describe it. Words like wonderful and awesome don’t even scratch the surface,” said Patten during a post-drive interview.

“I really can’t find the words to explain it. You just had to have been there to fully understand it,” said Mills. “It was unbelievable.”

But, perhaps it was Patten who finally summed the event up better than anyone else to date.

“The Treasure State really yielded up its treasure… its true wealth… of some mighty wonderful, big hearted, dedicated people. They showed the world what it is really like out here,” he said. “By God, I was proud.”

And, it all went off without a hitch, truly a remarkable feat considering the sheer enormity of the event. A special bond was established among the people, representing all walks of life, that will live on in their memories for a lifetime. Few harsh words were spoken and none of the predicted (and hoped for by many) catastrophes took place.

“There were a lot of people who said that it couldn’t be done. But when it was over their score was zero and ours was the highest possible,” said Patten. “In our camp we never had a horse hurt or crippled or even back-bit. There were people there from all walks of life and yet not a harsh word was spoken. The people who were on the drive knew what they were doing… they knew how to string the cattle out and how to move them. There were leaders in front the whole way to slow the Longhorns. By the time we were done those cattle would have followed the leaders through the coals of Hell. A lot of credit has to go the Wagonmasters too. They worked night and day.”

As is the right of the local area, one of the last remaining homes of the working cowboy, Southeastern Montana was well represented in both the cattle drive and on the wagon train. Along with Patten, working cowboy Jim Wilson represented Carter County on the drive.

Mills said he had about 250 people in his camp, around 125 of whom were from Carter, Fallon, Powder River and Wibaux counties. Mills said he also had people from New York, Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, South Dakota, California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho as well as representatives from Japan, Korea and Sweden. Included were film crews from Japan and Florida, and a journalist professor from New York.

“Those who didn’t know much about horses and wagons and such did what they could,” said Mills. “Everybody just kind of helped out where they could and watched out for everybody else.”

“We got through it in good shape. It was a hell of a trip. Everybody was having so much fun they hated to see it end,” said the Wagonmaster, who estimated he averaged about two hours of sleep a night. “It was just astonishing to see. There were a few accidents, although we never had an accident in my camp. About the closest we came was when we took one kid to the medical tent. And then all he needed was a shot. He was hyperventilating from all the excitement.”

From memory, Mills gave a list of locals with wagons and their outriders. Included in his group was the official Montana Centennial Wagon, owned by Kevin Irish and his family of Helena. “We were extremely honored to have them choose our group,” he said. Others with wagons from the area, along with his own, included Mr. and Mrs. Leland Gundlach of Baker, Mr. and Mrs. Keith Larson of Ekalaka with two wagons, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Stieg of Ridgeway, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks Anderson of Ekalaka, Rex Schaffer of Broadus, the Carl Schmaus family of Forsyth, the Greg Tooke family of Ekalaka, Lee and Sonia Fruit of Broadus, Tracy and Peggy Fruit of Broadus, Mark Bowers of Alliance, NE, Larry Amende of Broadus, Skin and Betty Collins of Broadus, John Smith of Broadus, the Harold Draine, Jr. family of Hammond and Jack Goss and Hi Jack Goss of the Ashland community. Along those accompanying the wagons were Audrey Snodgrass, Charlee Mills, Moritz Espy, Chuck and Charlotte Hubing, Melanie Samuelson, Frank Mehling, Richard and Celia Yates, John Denson, Buckshot Somers, Darrel Hanson, Jim Hoar, Neilon Millar, Rick Rice, Darla Dunning, Nan Stevens, Kristy Vallejo, and Doug and Ren Gardner, along with Warren and Jeff Wash, Mike Williams, Steve Mills, Ken Greslin, and Bill Kane, associated with supply details. A complete list will hopefully be included in next week’s Examiner.

Both Patten and Mills also had nothing but praise for Latigo and its leaders. “They did a wonderful job, and they didn’t get anything out of it but the satisfaction of being with us and seeing our happiness,” said Patten. “They deserve a lot of recognition, much more than they seem to have gotten so far.”

Patten took his praise and gratitude to a much higher level. “We had quite a lightning storm Friday night,” he said. “It kind of reminded you who was really in charge.”

“It was a beautiful vacation. I never once thought about things back home… broken fences and other things I had to get done,” said Patten. The level of excitement was so high for the cowboy, in fact, that he said although he was often on one or the other of his horses, Red Cloud and Bird Catcher, from daylight until dark, he never once felt tired.

“It was a wonderful experience. I’m really happy and honored that the people of Powder River County selected me to represent them on the drive,” Patten added. “I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of talking about it. I’ll probably bore people to death after a while.”