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57 DOI: 10.7330_9780874219203.c005 5 The Third Factor Leading to Vigilantism in the Region The Insecure Means of Transporting Wealth Oh, for God’s sake, don’t kill me! You can have all the money I’ve got. –Bill Bunton, October 26, 1863 T he criminal enterprise that allegedly operated under the auspices of Sheriff Plummer, and which is described below, primarily targeted travelers leaving the region with gold and gold-related wealth. The transportation of wealth to and from south central Montana could not be accomplished in 1863–64 by planes or automobiles, yet to be invented. Even railroads had not yet reached the area, as the charter for the Northern Pacific Railroad was not signed by President Lincoln until July 2, 1864, and the main line connecting Lake Superior to Puget Sound was not completed until 1883.1 Construction of the Utah & Northern Railroad, which headed north to Dillon, Montana,2 and then linked with the Northern Pacific Railroad at Butte, was not launched until 1873 and was not completed until 1883.3 Unlike today, there was no electronic means for transferring money between bank accounts. Travelers of the time therefore relied primarily upon horses and slow-moving horse-drawn stagecoaches as a means of transporting themselves, and their wealth, over a limited number of known trails connecting the greater Northwest with established locales such as Salt Lake City to the south, San Francisco to the west, and points east in Minnesota.4 The trails included the Bozeman Trail, the Bridger Trail, the Oregon Trail, the Mullan Road, the Montana Trail, the Nez Perce Trail, the Corinne Road, and the Northern Overland Route.5 The Third Factor Leading to Vigilantism in the Region 58 The Mullan Road ran between Fort Benton, in what is now Montana, to Dalles, Oregon.6 It was named after Lieutenant John Mullan, who conducted its initial exploration and construction.7 The road’s construction began in 1850s and was not completed until 1862.8 Its initial purpose was to aid surveys for an anticipated Pacific-bound railroad.9 It was a significant route into Montana Territory from the Pacific Northwest.10 The OregonTrail was a major trail connecting points in Missouri to Oregon Territory.11 There was a marked increase in the use of the Oregon Trail in 1849 and 1850 as part of the California gold rush,12 and then by emigrants in the early 1860s fleeing the Civil War that was being fought in the eastern United States.13 Prospectors traveling to the gold discoveries at Bannack and Alder Gulch followed the Oregon Trail as far east or west as Fort Bridger, and then turned north into Montana.14 There were two main trails that headed north from there to Montana. One was the Bozeman Trail, forged by John Bozeman, which cut to the east of the Big Horn Mountains to what would become Fort C. F. Smith and then west to Virginia City and beyond.15 The second was the Bridger Trail, which cut to the west of the Big Horn range toward Virginia City.16 Each trail had its advantages and disadvantages. The Bozeman Trail was not as direct as the Bridger Trail. The significance of the Bozeman Trail was more than the trail itself, as its opening triggered more than a decade of warfare between the federal government and Native American Indians of the northern plains.17 Travelers on the trail were subject to skirmishes with the Sioux Indians.18 The Sioux and their allies, the Northern Cheyenne and the Northern Arapaho, were protective of the bountiful hunting grounds that were guaranteed to them by the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty.19 There was no military presence on the Bozeman Trail in 1863 and 1864,20 as Fort C. F. Smith was not established until 1866.21 However, the Bozeman Trail had plentiful resources that were required for wagon trains, including fish, berries, antelope, deer, buffalo, and fowl.22 The Bozeman Trail was ultimately discontinued under the terms of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty.23 The man who blazed the Bozeman Trail, John Bozeman, was honored by the designation of Bozeman, Montana, with his namesake.24 The Bridger Trail was the more direct route into Montana and was not subject to Indian attacks,25 but it offered inadequate grazing and potable water necessary to sustain the animals needed to pull the wagons.26 Blazed by Jim Bridger,27 the Bridger Trail funneled approximately 25 percent of Virginia City...

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