Thirty-seven Days of Peril.
Mr. T. C. Everts is spoken of frequently in Bishop Tuttle'scontribution. He was commissioned Assessor of Internal Revenue forMontana in 1861.
A graphic description of Mr. Everts' wanderings, in his ownlanguage, appeared in Scribner's Magazine of November, 1871, asfollows:
SCRIBNER'SMONTHLY
VOL. III. November, 1871. No. 1
THIRTY-SEVEN DAYS OF PERIL
I have read with great satisfaction the excellent descriptivearticles on the wonders of the Upper Yellowstone, in the May and Junenumbers of your magazine. Having myself been one of the party whoparticipated in many of the pleasures, and suffered all the perils ofthat expedition, I can not only bear testimony to the fidelity of thenarrative, but probably add some facts of experience which will notdetract from the general interest it has excited.
A desire to visit the remarkable region, of which, during severalyears' residence in Montana, I had often heard the most marvelousaccounts, led me to unite in the expedition of August last. Thegeneral character of the stupendous scenery of the Rocky Mountainsprepared my mind for giving credit to all the strange stories told ofthe Yellowstone, and I felt quite as certain of the existence of thephysical phenomena of that country, on the morning that our companystarted from Helena, as when I afterwards beheld it. I engaged in theenterprise with enthusiasm, feeling that all the hardships andexposures of a month's horseback travel through an unexplored regionwould be more than compensated by the grandeur and novelty of thenatural objects with which it was crowded. Of course, the idea ofbeing lost in it, without any of the ordinary means of subsistence,and the wandering for days and weeks, in a famishing condition,alone, in an unfrequented wilderness, formed no part of mycontemplation. I had dwelt too long amid the mountains not to knowthat such a thought, had it occurred, would have been instantlyrejected as improbable; nevertheless, "man proposes and Goddisposes," a truism which found a new and ample illustration in mywanderings through the Upper Yellowstone region.
On the day that I found myself separated from the company, and forseveral days previous, our course had been impeded by the densegrowth of the pine forest, and occasional large tracts of fallentimber, frequently rendering our progress almost impossible. Wheneverwe came to one of these immense windfalls, each man engaged in thepursuit of a passage through it, and it was while thus employed, andwith the idea that I had found one, that I strayed out of sight andhearing of my comrades. We had a toilsome day. It was quite late inthe afternoon. As separations like this had frequently occurred, itgave me no alarm, and I rode on, fully confident of soon rejoiningthe company, or of finding their camp. I came up with the pack-horse,which Mr. Langford afterwards recovered, and tried to drive himalong, but failing to do so, and my eyesight being defective, Ispurred forward, intending to return with assistance from the party.This incident tended to accelerate my speed. I rode on in thedirection which I supposed had been taken, until darkness overtook mein the dense forest. This was disagreeable enough, but caused me noalarm. I had no doubt of being with the party at breakfast the nextmorning. I selected a spot for comfortable repose, picketed my horse,built a fire, and went to sleep.
The next morning I rose at early dawn, saddled and mounted myhorse, and took