BIOGRAPHY OF EARLY STAGE COACH DRIVER AND COWBOY IS PREPARED FOR ANNUAL REUNION OF TEEPLES CLAN
When members of the Teeples clan gather for the annual family reunion at Salt Lake City in June they'll be given a complete descriptive account of the life of one of their forebearers, George B. (Starkey) Teeples, early stagecoach driver, cowboy and rodeo bronc buster in Montana and Wyoming.
A biography of Teeples, who grew to boyhood at old Fort Bridger and was shouldering a man's load at 10 was written for this year's reunion by his daughter, Mrs. Jess Howe of Melville.
Mrs. Howe has had her account of her father's adventurous life put into a booklet form for presentation to family members at the Salt Lake City gathering. The Teeples family has been holding the annual reunion for more than a quarter century.
In writing her account, Mrs. Howe drew from her own recollections of incidents relayed by her father, facts and dates recalled by his friends and family members and material in a bulky scrapbook kept by Teeples over the years.
Prior to 1936, Mrs. Howe lived in Billings for 19 years. She and her husband operated a ranch in the Pryor Mountains. They sold the property in 1949 and purchased the Paul (Spike) Van Cleve III Ranch at Melville four years ago.
Her account of her father's life, as it apprears in the family reunion booklet, follows:
BORN AT FORT BRIDGER
My father was born in Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in 1854, and claimed to be the first white child born in the confines of the present state of Wyoming. Wyoming became a state July 10, 1890.
At the time, my grandfather, George Bentley Teeples, was a hunter and trapper at Fort Bridger and for some time conducted a trading post there. He also had a contract to put up hay for the government and the stage lines.
The settlement of Fort Bridger was founded by the famous frontiersman, Jim Bridger. It was a military post where soldiers were stationed to protect the stage lines and emigrant trainscon the Overland Trail.
Father saw Jim Bridger many times. Jim often visited Grandfather and Garndmother Teeples. The last time my father saw the old scout, Jim was working with the survey for the Union Pacific.
When he was 11 years old he was given a pass by Jack Gilmore of the stage line and he came to Helena to race horses for Wes Travis who kept a livery barn and sales station there. Father had often raced horses around Fort Bridger as an anateur jockey.
In those days there was real racing fever in Helena and neighboring mining camps. Large purses were put up on the races which were run in a haphazard fashion. Races were oftern arranged on the spur of the moment at any place where a half mile of clear road could be found.
DROVE STAGE COACH
At the age of 14, when other boys were getting their adventures from books, father started to drive stage. His first job was a two-horse jerky from Ogden to the Promontory, a distance of about 40 miles. His second job was driving stage from Green River, Wyoming to Wasatch, Utah. After that he drove stage on the Gilmore and Salsbury line from Salt Lake City to Pioche, Nevada-- a job he held for 10 years. He also drove in the White Pines and Salt Creek sections during the mining booms ther and along the route of the Southern Pacific during the rough days of construction camps.
The Overland Stage was started from St. Joseph, Montana, by Ren Holiday and ran to Salt Lake City. From there the Wells Fargo Express Co. carried onto San Francisco.
Alfred Slade was agent on the road in the early 60's, J. T. Gilmore took his place later on. Len Wines was superintendent from Salt Lake to San Francisco. The scheduled time was six miles per hour including stops. Gilmore and Salisbury had the north and south lines which were operated with six horese except the north road which used four. A jerky was used in the spring or in muddy weaher when it was impossible to keep the Concords or other heavy coaches from miring down.
There were 12 standing horses at each stage barn. Each driver had from 50 to 60 horses in his string.
At the home station, both drivers changed the baggage while the passengers were eating. The drivers drove day and night. At the swing station it took about three minutes to change horses. The horses were already harnessed and out on the floor when the stage drove up. The horses were cleaned like racing stock and the harness gone over every day. The horses usually weighed from 900 to 1,200 pounds.
Hay and grain were very high priced in those days. There was no grain raised between Omah and Salt Lake City. The stagecoach company had to pay 63 hundred for each 100 miles it was hauled and as most of it was hauled 500 miles the feed bill was no small item. At that time there were no moving machines and the hay was put up by hand.
In the summer, during the day, the stock was permitted to graze but on account of the Indians it was necessary to put all stock in the barns at night.
There were plenty of Indians about in those days. Many of them came to the fort to trade, and also to run horse and foot races, or to shoot at marks with me about the fort. The next day the same Indians were likely to slip away to rob an emigrant train.
Saw Indian Attack
When my father was 10 years old he saw an Indian attack on an emigrant train, a short distance east of Fort Bridger, on Sandy Creek. Father was out herding horses for the stage station a mile or so away, and got left on foot in his hurry to get the horses started back to the station. He hid behind some sage brush when he saw the Indians attack the train of 20 wagons which were camped on the creek.
One of the divisions of the Indiabns kept circling the wagon coraal, now and then making a bold dash and retreating, all the while pouring a continuous fire against the besieged emigrants.
Finally after the Indiana had driven off the emigrants' horses and had a good start, the others drew off, leaving emigrants stranded until horses were obtained to bring them into Fort Bridger.
The man who was herding the emigrants' horses, about a half mile away, was surrounded and killed. The Indians drove off these horses, passing a short distance from where father was concealed in the sage brush.
The Indians frequently attacked stage stations or isolated farmstreads, running off the stock, firing the buildings and occasionally killing the occupants. Usually the stage stations were guarded and a few men could stand off many Indianas who were seldom willing to fight it out to a finish. After a sudden dash the Indians were away by the time the heavily-equipped soldiers sent out to punish them were on their tracks. After spending several days in hopeless pursuit the soldiers would return without once coming near the maraunders.
Father was in numerous battles with Indians and when but a mere boy he was a member of a party of hunters and trappers who followed a band of Indians who had stolen a number of horses. The party followed night and day on the trail and finally ambused them on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, killing most of them and recovering the horses. Father, the youngest of the party, was holding the horses of the hunters behind a point of rocks, while the men hid themselves in the rocks beside the trail over which the Indians would pass.
Battled Indians
The Indians didn't think they would be overtaken and rode into the ambush without fear. They were shot down by the whites before they could make any resistance. The remnat of the band passed by father who was armed with a Henry rifle and two old-fashioned army pistols. He opened fire on them and believes he killed one or two of them, although they were carried away by their companions.
At another time the stage station where father was employed was attacked by a ban of Indians and he and another man stood them off for several hours until assistance arrived. They succeded in accounting for three or four of the band.
In those days, when a hostile savage was liable to be hidden by a sagebrush or rock, father said he was very lucky to never have lost any of the horses he was herding. He said when he was driving stage from Green River to Echo Canyon it was over a stretch of road noted for the many Indians who frequented it and where many families had been massacred in the days when thousands of people were going to California and Utah. SEveral drivers were killed while he was on the stage line and many of the station barns were burned.
After father's stagecoach career ended and after spending several years on cattle ranches, he drove a string of hearses up from Junction City to Yellowstone River in 1880 to where Pau l McCormick had his trading post and freighting business. Selling his horses to McCormick he rode the stage to Dilton where the Utah and Northern Railway was entering with its trucks. The depot had not yet been built. He then returned to Utah for three years.
He returned to Montana in 1883 and was employed for a couples of seasons breaking horses for J. G,, Greenwood who had a large horse outfit in the Lake Basin. After that he worked four years for Nelson Storey's Ox-Yoke outfit as cowhand and horse wrangler.
There were 20,000 head of cattle in this outfit up to the disatrous winte of 1886-87. The Ox-Yoke had its headquarters near Battle Butte in Lake Basin, but also ranged on the Crow Indian reservation south of Yellowstone River and in adjoining districts to the west. Ed Cardwell was then manager of the outfit and also had his own Bar Triangle ranch.
One time Story had about 5,000 head of cattle in a herd that was being held on Shane Creek. Among them were about 199 head belonging to Ed Cardwell, John Walk, Monroe Cremer and A. A. Ellis.
The cattle were bunched tightly during an electrical storm. Lightning struck in their midst and killed one head each, belonging to Cardwell, Walk, Cremer and Ellis but never knocked on of Story's 5,000 head.
Worked as Cowboy
Father said wages for the cowboys at that time was $40 per month and that the work lasted five months out of the year. He however, was receiving $60 per month the year around and got $10 head for each horse he broke.
The cowboys did nore work, considering the wages paid, then men following any other occupation. Father said there was one time when he and the other cowboys worked 20 hours per day for five weeks.
Father was on a roundup in 1863 which started at Heart Mountain south of Montana line near Cody, Wyoming and they worked down to the Shoshone River and up Sage Creek. The cowboys made five roundups a day, starting out at 8 o'clock in the morning and working until dark, then stood guard half of the night. By the time the roundup had reached the Clark's Fork, 8,000 head of cattle had been gathered. They were driven in three separate herds but were bedded together at night. It took several days to brand the calves from these 8,000 cattle before they crossed the Clark's Fork.
It was in June and the river was high. Story was moving his cattle to the north side of the Yellowstone, while John Tolman, Ed Carwell, Roland Potter and J. J. Walker were leving theirs on the south side. George Smith was drowned while the roundup was crossing the Yellowstone.
It was on the way to this roundup in 1888, with Al Fullingame, foreman of Cardwell, that father roped a selvertip bear near Red Lodge. While Fullingame was riding down a gulch he saw a she-bear nibbling in some bushes at the bottom of the gulch. He shot at her three or four times with a .44 revolver. It was then that the male bear suddenly emerged from the thicket and started toward him. He then discovered that he was out of cartriages. At this point father came to the rescue with rope. Father was holding the bear in good shape in spite of its clawing and scratching to free itself when two more bears appeared. Fullingame and father hastily retreated to a safe distance, The roped bear, after frenzied clawing, finally disentanled itself and ran down out of sight. The men returned a little later and found her dead within a 100 yards of where she had been roped. The skin was presented in Cardwell after it had been tanned by a Crow squaw and was kept at the Cardwell ranch house at Merrill for many years.
In the same neighborhood father saw Hairy Moccasin (who had been one of General Custer's scouts) rope a young grizzly and drag it to death.
While father was still in Lake Basin a fight with Pigeon Indians took place in which two Park City men were killed. Hearing of the fight, father rode over and met the party returning with the bodies of Ames and Tale and heard the story of the survivers. These Indians had stolen some horses from the Crows and also some from the white men at Park City. They were followed by five or six Park City men and also by some Crow Indians headed by Plenty Coups who took a Piegan scalp in the battle. The body of the Indian who was killed lay in the rocks the rest of the winter. Then some young men of Park City bought it in and it was used for dissection purposes by a Dr. Graham located there.
During the 80's there were several raids and minor Indian troubles.In 1886 a band of Piegans made a raid near the present site of Red Lodge and stole a bunch of horses belonging to Dutch Charley. They were trailed to the Musselshell where they were intercepted by cowboys and Crow Indians and killed. Plenty Coups was also in this battle.
Guarded Billings
Sword Bearer or Wraps Up His Tail, the Crow medicine man and fanatic, almost caused an uprising in 1887. Father was one of the men who did guard duty around Billings where there was great fear of an Indian attack. "Liver Eating" Johnson came in at the sound of the alarm to give the townspeople the benefit of his experience and prestige as an Indian fighter. The uprising ended with a little skirmish with troops at Crow Agency in which the medicine man was killed.
When father came through on the stage station a few miles above the present town of Columbus. He also had a toll gate there for years. When father first came to this part of Montana there were no bridges between Livingston and Miles City and the only passage was by ferry and this condition was maintained for a number of years.
During those early days father came to know many famous characters, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jim Bridger, Bill Hamilton, Liver Eating Johnson, Calamity Jane and many others. The last time father saw Calamity Jane was in Lake Basin in 1888. At that time she was wintering with a bunch of horse thieves on Canyon Creek.
Father was a member of a party that staged one of the last buffalo hunts in this part of Montana. It was in July 1888. He recalled that in the pary were Fred Walters, John Tolman, Charles Wright, Henry Steers and himself.They had located an old bull and figured it had drifted out of the park. John Tolman killed it near Cherry Springs.
When it was skinned out they found a round basketball imbedded in its back. Muskets had been out of use for 20 years. The bull was so thin they did not take the meat as they had plenty of beef in camp. Tolman had the head mounted.
Father had hunted buffalo many times in previous years and had secured many hides and heads. He was just a youngster when he got his first buffalo, riding into a hear on a captured Indian pony and roping a fat, young calf.
One of the incidents of my father's life as a cowboy in the open range days in Montana and which he always delighted to tell, was his riding of the Belgrade bull.
In the days before bronco busting became a commercialized art, cowboys enjoyed trying their prowess with some animal with a reputaion of never having been riden, while wagers were layed by friend or scoffer as to results.
The Belgrade bull was owned at that time (1886) by Press stable at Bozeman.
The bull had been bought with a view to gambling on its ability to unseat every cowboy who tried to ride it. The bull had a recored of piling more than 100 men during its career. Johnson had a standing bet of $50 that no one could ride it.
Father, who was then working for Nelson Story's Ox-Yoke outfit, heard of the merits of the bull and went to Bozeman to try his luck with the animal. The news that a new rider had appeared brought quite a crowd of cowmen and spectators to the corral where the ride was to be staged.
The bull's past performaces marked it as a favorite and bets of five and a half to six to one were made that the rider would not stay on the bull.
The bull this time, however, had met his match, for in spite of all his plunges and jolting dashes, father remained firmly in his seat and rode the bull to a standstill.
Johnson set up a claim then that the bull had been off his feet for several days and was not in trim for the contest.
The results of the contest were sent to Billings where Father was well-known. A proposal was sent Johnson signed by Walter Story, Al Penske, Charley Bair and other in which they proposed that if Johnson would bring the bull to Billings they would give him half of the gate receipt;s and that there was ample money to cover any bets that Father could ride the bull again. The offer was not accepted.
Father was known as one of the best cowboys of his day and he was expecially good at breaking horses. Whenever there was a particularly wild horse to be tamed he was called upon for that work. According to one of his former employee, he could come up to an untamed bronc, stroke its sides and flanks and gentle it where anyone else would have been kicked out of the corral.
I remember once when all of us attended a "Mormon Day" celebration one July in Cowley, Wyoming. Father did not intend to ride in the rodeo that day but after a little persuasion from some of the cowboys he consented to ride. He did not have his own saddle with him so he borrowed one. He tried out the saddle for stirrup length and they were too long. He told one of the men to take up the stirrup two holes. When he got on the bronc he dicovered the man had let the strings out tow holes instead. It was too late to do anything about it so he rode the hard ucking horse with one stirrup until the whistle blew. He admitted, however, that he got a pretty bad shaking up.
Fthaer took part in many rodeos. The lst time I saw him ride in a rodeo was at Lovell, Wyoming, at the age of 72.
Mr Father summing up his active life said, "I have always been with horses; I have ridden everything from a burro to an airplane, I have driven everything from a horse on a dump cart to a 20-mule team, and I have roped everything from a dogie calf to a grizzly bear."
He participated in many of the events that helped open up the great west to settlement. He was present when the golden spike was driven in Utah May 10, 1869--commenorating completion of the railroad, which helped to unify America.
Took Homestead
Father homesteaded on Gyp Creek near Lovell, Wyoming, in 1889. He built an adobe 3-room house. It had a sod roof and dirt floor. In 1895 he met one of mother's cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousin insisted that he go back to Joplin, Missouri, with him for a visit. While there he met mother, Hattie Morris. A year later mother packed all her belongings and bid farewell to Joplin and headed for the West. They were married in Billings May 8, 1896. Father had met her in Billings with a four-horse team and wagon so a year's supply of groceries could be taken back with them. Yegen's store (now Elliots) was the leading store in Billings then. It was close to 100 miles from the homestead to Billings and it took a good three days for the trip.
Mother had heard Father had one of the finest houses for miles around and was anxious to get settled in her new home. Her home in Joplin was a large white frame building with eight or ten rooms.
She said her heart was brolen when she saw the sod roof and dirt floor. She had brought with her large new carpets which she had woven on a loom, so after straw had been put over the dirt she put down her new carpet.
Father's furniture was all homemade but it was much better than many people had at that time. My brother has a diamond willow chair which father made before he was married and it is still a beautiful piece of work.
Mother had brought all kinds of dried fruit from Missouri and it was really a treat to her neighbors. The closest neighbot was about 10 miles.
They raised sheep and cattle and farmed the homestead. They also raised good gardens-- a rarity in those days. Father took first prize (we still have the gold medal) on alfalfa, he raised. The award was made at the St. Louis exposition in 1905. The prize-wiinning alfalfa was kept in the state house at Cheyenne for many years afterwards.
Four of the five children were born in the old adobe house. In 1907 the family built a large gyp-block house and we had the pleasure of living in it seven years before we sold out and bouth a cattle ranch on Blewater, 10 miles east of Bridger, Montana.
Mother was very active in school, church and social work. She usually had a large class of pupils, to which she gave oil painting lessons. She always moved to town in winter to send the children to school. Lovell was the nearest town in Wyoming. Bridger the nearest in Montana.
Father did not get to attend school very long as he was out on his own at the age of ten, but he could work arithmetic in his head faster than most people could on paper. His English was very good, penmanship beautiful and history excellent. He read the newspapers from beginning to end. He loved good books, especially history books pertaining to the opening of the West. He would not waste his time reading fiction, nor would he go to a Western movie. He enjoyed radio, especially the news.
He had cataracts removed from his eyes in 1930. The operation was not successful and he was totally blind the last seven years of his life.
Father died on Bluewater March 20, 1937. Mother died October 8, 1952, at the age of 82, at our home in Melville. Both are buried in the family cemetery on Bluewater near Bridger.
Five children survive them: Lee of Themopolis, Wyoming; Roy of Colton, Oregon; Mae Howe of Melville, Ray of Bridger and Loucilla Fay Stewart of Stanton, Michigan.
- Billings Gazette, (Billings, Montana), May 30, 1954
transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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AS IT WAS IN BILLINGS
. . . 45 and 35 YEARS AGO TODAY
(From the Gazette, February 13, 1894)
That little town on the Northern Pacific a few miles west of Bozeman, known as Belgrade, enjoys the reputation of owning the toughest proposition any cowboy ever tried to ride straight up with a clean saddle. Some time early in December, George B. Teeples, a horse breaker employed by Nelson Story made a record by staying with the bull, Johnson and Kenwa, owners of the unvanquished bovine terror are in corrspondence with Teeples concerning another exhibition. Teeples is willing to ride again for a stake of $200 and gate recepts if the exhibition can take place at the Billings fairgrounds. Of all the confident bronco busters that have thrown their leather over that Belgrade bull, he is the only one who has been able to stay.
-Billings Gazette, February 15, 1939, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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PIONEER DIES NEAR FROMBERG
George B. Teeples Grew Up With West.
Red Lodge, March 20--(Special)--George Bridger Teeples, 82, pioneer of the old west, died at his ranch home 12 miles east of Fromberg on Blue Creek at 2:15 a.m. Friday.
Teeples grew up with the west. He was born in old Fort Bridger, Wyoming and would have been 83 years old May 24.
A pioneer cattleman, Teeples roamed the plateaus and mountains of Wyoming and Montana.
Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Harrie J. Teeples and two daughters, Mrs. P. J. Moyes of Lander, Wyoming and Mrs. Gordon Stewart of River Falls, Wisconsin; three sons, Leo J. Teeples and Ray F. Teeples of the home ranch and Roy Teeples of Bowler.
-Billings Gazette, March 21, 1937, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
Daughter not listed below: Elvira Teeples Howe
When members of the Teeples clan gather for the annual family reunion at Salt Lake City in June they'll be given a complete descriptive account of the life of one of their forebearers, George B. (Starkey) Teeples, early stagecoach driver, cowboy and rodeo bronc buster in Montana and Wyoming.
A biography of Teeples, who grew to boyhood at old Fort Bridger and was shouldering a man's load at 10 was written for this year's reunion by his daughter, Mrs. Jess Howe of Melville.
Mrs. Howe has had her account of her father's adventurous life put into a booklet form for presentation to family members at the Salt Lake City gathering. The Teeples family has been holding the annual reunion for more than a quarter century.
In writing her account, Mrs. Howe drew from her own recollections of incidents relayed by her father, facts and dates recalled by his friends and family members and material in a bulky scrapbook kept by Teeples over the years.
Prior to 1936, Mrs. Howe lived in Billings for 19 years. She and her husband operated a ranch in the Pryor Mountains. They sold the property in 1949 and purchased the Paul (Spike) Van Cleve III Ranch at Melville four years ago.
Her account of her father's life, as it apprears in the family reunion booklet, follows:
BORN AT FORT BRIDGER
My father was born in Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in 1854, and claimed to be the first white child born in the confines of the present state of Wyoming. Wyoming became a state July 10, 1890.
At the time, my grandfather, George Bentley Teeples, was a hunter and trapper at Fort Bridger and for some time conducted a trading post there. He also had a contract to put up hay for the government and the stage lines.
The settlement of Fort Bridger was founded by the famous frontiersman, Jim Bridger. It was a military post where soldiers were stationed to protect the stage lines and emigrant trainscon the Overland Trail.
Father saw Jim Bridger many times. Jim often visited Grandfather and Garndmother Teeples. The last time my father saw the old scout, Jim was working with the survey for the Union Pacific.
When he was 11 years old he was given a pass by Jack Gilmore of the stage line and he came to Helena to race horses for Wes Travis who kept a livery barn and sales station there. Father had often raced horses around Fort Bridger as an anateur jockey.
In those days there was real racing fever in Helena and neighboring mining camps. Large purses were put up on the races which were run in a haphazard fashion. Races were oftern arranged on the spur of the moment at any place where a half mile of clear road could be found.
DROVE STAGE COACH
At the age of 14, when other boys were getting their adventures from books, father started to drive stage. His first job was a two-horse jerky from Ogden to the Promontory, a distance of about 40 miles. His second job was driving stage from Green River, Wyoming to Wasatch, Utah. After that he drove stage on the Gilmore and Salsbury line from Salt Lake City to Pioche, Nevada-- a job he held for 10 years. He also drove in the White Pines and Salt Creek sections during the mining booms ther and along the route of the Southern Pacific during the rough days of construction camps.
The Overland Stage was started from St. Joseph, Montana, by Ren Holiday and ran to Salt Lake City. From there the Wells Fargo Express Co. carried onto San Francisco.
Alfred Slade was agent on the road in the early 60's, J. T. Gilmore took his place later on. Len Wines was superintendent from Salt Lake to San Francisco. The scheduled time was six miles per hour including stops. Gilmore and Salisbury had the north and south lines which were operated with six horese except the north road which used four. A jerky was used in the spring or in muddy weaher when it was impossible to keep the Concords or other heavy coaches from miring down.
There were 12 standing horses at each stage barn. Each driver had from 50 to 60 horses in his string.
At the home station, both drivers changed the baggage while the passengers were eating. The drivers drove day and night. At the swing station it took about three minutes to change horses. The horses were already harnessed and out on the floor when the stage drove up. The horses were cleaned like racing stock and the harness gone over every day. The horses usually weighed from 900 to 1,200 pounds.
Hay and grain were very high priced in those days. There was no grain raised between Omah and Salt Lake City. The stagecoach company had to pay 63 hundred for each 100 miles it was hauled and as most of it was hauled 500 miles the feed bill was no small item. At that time there were no moving machines and the hay was put up by hand.
In the summer, during the day, the stock was permitted to graze but on account of the Indians it was necessary to put all stock in the barns at night.
There were plenty of Indians about in those days. Many of them came to the fort to trade, and also to run horse and foot races, or to shoot at marks with me about the fort. The next day the same Indians were likely to slip away to rob an emigrant train.
Saw Indian Attack
When my father was 10 years old he saw an Indian attack on an emigrant train, a short distance east of Fort Bridger, on Sandy Creek. Father was out herding horses for the stage station a mile or so away, and got left on foot in his hurry to get the horses started back to the station. He hid behind some sage brush when he saw the Indians attack the train of 20 wagons which were camped on the creek.
One of the divisions of the Indiabns kept circling the wagon coraal, now and then making a bold dash and retreating, all the while pouring a continuous fire against the besieged emigrants.
Finally after the Indiana had driven off the emigrants' horses and had a good start, the others drew off, leaving emigrants stranded until horses were obtained to bring them into Fort Bridger.
The man who was herding the emigrants' horses, about a half mile away, was surrounded and killed. The Indians drove off these horses, passing a short distance from where father was concealed in the sage brush.
The Indians frequently attacked stage stations or isolated farmstreads, running off the stock, firing the buildings and occasionally killing the occupants. Usually the stage stations were guarded and a few men could stand off many Indianas who were seldom willing to fight it out to a finish. After a sudden dash the Indians were away by the time the heavily-equipped soldiers sent out to punish them were on their tracks. After spending several days in hopeless pursuit the soldiers would return without once coming near the maraunders.
Father was in numerous battles with Indians and when but a mere boy he was a member of a party of hunters and trappers who followed a band of Indians who had stolen a number of horses. The party followed night and day on the trail and finally ambused them on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, killing most of them and recovering the horses. Father, the youngest of the party, was holding the horses of the hunters behind a point of rocks, while the men hid themselves in the rocks beside the trail over which the Indians would pass.
Battled Indians
The Indians didn't think they would be overtaken and rode into the ambush without fear. They were shot down by the whites before they could make any resistance. The remnat of the band passed by father who was armed with a Henry rifle and two old-fashioned army pistols. He opened fire on them and believes he killed one or two of them, although they were carried away by their companions.
At another time the stage station where father was employed was attacked by a ban of Indians and he and another man stood them off for several hours until assistance arrived. They succeded in accounting for three or four of the band.
In those days, when a hostile savage was liable to be hidden by a sagebrush or rock, father said he was very lucky to never have lost any of the horses he was herding. He said when he was driving stage from Green River to Echo Canyon it was over a stretch of road noted for the many Indians who frequented it and where many families had been massacred in the days when thousands of people were going to California and Utah. SEveral drivers were killed while he was on the stage line and many of the station barns were burned.
After father's stagecoach career ended and after spending several years on cattle ranches, he drove a string of hearses up from Junction City to Yellowstone River in 1880 to where Pau l McCormick had his trading post and freighting business. Selling his horses to McCormick he rode the stage to Dilton where the Utah and Northern Railway was entering with its trucks. The depot had not yet been built. He then returned to Utah for three years.
He returned to Montana in 1883 and was employed for a couples of seasons breaking horses for J. G,, Greenwood who had a large horse outfit in the Lake Basin. After that he worked four years for Nelson Storey's Ox-Yoke outfit as cowhand and horse wrangler.
There were 20,000 head of cattle in this outfit up to the disatrous winte of 1886-87. The Ox-Yoke had its headquarters near Battle Butte in Lake Basin, but also ranged on the Crow Indian reservation south of Yellowstone River and in adjoining districts to the west. Ed Cardwell was then manager of the outfit and also had his own Bar Triangle ranch.
One time Story had about 5,000 head of cattle in a herd that was being held on Shane Creek. Among them were about 199 head belonging to Ed Cardwell, John Walk, Monroe Cremer and A. A. Ellis.
The cattle were bunched tightly during an electrical storm. Lightning struck in their midst and killed one head each, belonging to Cardwell, Walk, Cremer and Ellis but never knocked on of Story's 5,000 head.
Worked as Cowboy
Father said wages for the cowboys at that time was $40 per month and that the work lasted five months out of the year. He however, was receiving $60 per month the year around and got $10 head for each horse he broke.
The cowboys did nore work, considering the wages paid, then men following any other occupation. Father said there was one time when he and the other cowboys worked 20 hours per day for five weeks.
Father was on a roundup in 1863 which started at Heart Mountain south of Montana line near Cody, Wyoming and they worked down to the Shoshone River and up Sage Creek. The cowboys made five roundups a day, starting out at 8 o'clock in the morning and working until dark, then stood guard half of the night. By the time the roundup had reached the Clark's Fork, 8,000 head of cattle had been gathered. They were driven in three separate herds but were bedded together at night. It took several days to brand the calves from these 8,000 cattle before they crossed the Clark's Fork.
It was in June and the river was high. Story was moving his cattle to the north side of the Yellowstone, while John Tolman, Ed Carwell, Roland Potter and J. J. Walker were leving theirs on the south side. George Smith was drowned while the roundup was crossing the Yellowstone.
It was on the way to this roundup in 1888, with Al Fullingame, foreman of Cardwell, that father roped a selvertip bear near Red Lodge. While Fullingame was riding down a gulch he saw a she-bear nibbling in some bushes at the bottom of the gulch. He shot at her three or four times with a .44 revolver. It was then that the male bear suddenly emerged from the thicket and started toward him. He then discovered that he was out of cartriages. At this point father came to the rescue with rope. Father was holding the bear in good shape in spite of its clawing and scratching to free itself when two more bears appeared. Fullingame and father hastily retreated to a safe distance, The roped bear, after frenzied clawing, finally disentanled itself and ran down out of sight. The men returned a little later and found her dead within a 100 yards of where she had been roped. The skin was presented in Cardwell after it had been tanned by a Crow squaw and was kept at the Cardwell ranch house at Merrill for many years.
In the same neighborhood father saw Hairy Moccasin (who had been one of General Custer's scouts) rope a young grizzly and drag it to death.
While father was still in Lake Basin a fight with Pigeon Indians took place in which two Park City men were killed. Hearing of the fight, father rode over and met the party returning with the bodies of Ames and Tale and heard the story of the survivers. These Indians had stolen some horses from the Crows and also some from the white men at Park City. They were followed by five or six Park City men and also by some Crow Indians headed by Plenty Coups who took a Piegan scalp in the battle. The body of the Indian who was killed lay in the rocks the rest of the winter. Then some young men of Park City bought it in and it was used for dissection purposes by a Dr. Graham located there.
During the 80's there were several raids and minor Indian troubles.In 1886 a band of Piegans made a raid near the present site of Red Lodge and stole a bunch of horses belonging to Dutch Charley. They were trailed to the Musselshell where they were intercepted by cowboys and Crow Indians and killed. Plenty Coups was also in this battle.
Guarded Billings
Sword Bearer or Wraps Up His Tail, the Crow medicine man and fanatic, almost caused an uprising in 1887. Father was one of the men who did guard duty around Billings where there was great fear of an Indian attack. "Liver Eating" Johnson came in at the sound of the alarm to give the townspeople the benefit of his experience and prestige as an Indian fighter. The uprising ended with a little skirmish with troops at Crow Agency in which the medicine man was killed.
When father came through on the stage station a few miles above the present town of Columbus. He also had a toll gate there for years. When father first came to this part of Montana there were no bridges between Livingston and Miles City and the only passage was by ferry and this condition was maintained for a number of years.
During those early days father came to know many famous characters, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jim Bridger, Bill Hamilton, Liver Eating Johnson, Calamity Jane and many others. The last time father saw Calamity Jane was in Lake Basin in 1888. At that time she was wintering with a bunch of horse thieves on Canyon Creek.
Father was a member of a party that staged one of the last buffalo hunts in this part of Montana. It was in July 1888. He recalled that in the pary were Fred Walters, John Tolman, Charles Wright, Henry Steers and himself.They had located an old bull and figured it had drifted out of the park. John Tolman killed it near Cherry Springs.
When it was skinned out they found a round basketball imbedded in its back. Muskets had been out of use for 20 years. The bull was so thin they did not take the meat as they had plenty of beef in camp. Tolman had the head mounted.
Father had hunted buffalo many times in previous years and had secured many hides and heads. He was just a youngster when he got his first buffalo, riding into a hear on a captured Indian pony and roping a fat, young calf.
One of the incidents of my father's life as a cowboy in the open range days in Montana and which he always delighted to tell, was his riding of the Belgrade bull.
In the days before bronco busting became a commercialized art, cowboys enjoyed trying their prowess with some animal with a reputaion of never having been riden, while wagers were layed by friend or scoffer as to results.
The Belgrade bull was owned at that time (1886) by Press stable at Bozeman.
The bull had been bought with a view to gambling on its ability to unseat every cowboy who tried to ride it. The bull had a recored of piling more than 100 men during its career. Johnson had a standing bet of $50 that no one could ride it.
Father, who was then working for Nelson Story's Ox-Yoke outfit, heard of the merits of the bull and went to Bozeman to try his luck with the animal. The news that a new rider had appeared brought quite a crowd of cowmen and spectators to the corral where the ride was to be staged.
The bull's past performaces marked it as a favorite and bets of five and a half to six to one were made that the rider would not stay on the bull.
The bull this time, however, had met his match, for in spite of all his plunges and jolting dashes, father remained firmly in his seat and rode the bull to a standstill.
Johnson set up a claim then that the bull had been off his feet for several days and was not in trim for the contest.
The results of the contest were sent to Billings where Father was well-known. A proposal was sent Johnson signed by Walter Story, Al Penske, Charley Bair and other in which they proposed that if Johnson would bring the bull to Billings they would give him half of the gate receipt;s and that there was ample money to cover any bets that Father could ride the bull again. The offer was not accepted.
Father was known as one of the best cowboys of his day and he was expecially good at breaking horses. Whenever there was a particularly wild horse to be tamed he was called upon for that work. According to one of his former employee, he could come up to an untamed bronc, stroke its sides and flanks and gentle it where anyone else would have been kicked out of the corral.
I remember once when all of us attended a "Mormon Day" celebration one July in Cowley, Wyoming. Father did not intend to ride in the rodeo that day but after a little persuasion from some of the cowboys he consented to ride. He did not have his own saddle with him so he borrowed one. He tried out the saddle for stirrup length and they were too long. He told one of the men to take up the stirrup two holes. When he got on the bronc he dicovered the man had let the strings out tow holes instead. It was too late to do anything about it so he rode the hard ucking horse with one stirrup until the whistle blew. He admitted, however, that he got a pretty bad shaking up.
Fthaer took part in many rodeos. The lst time I saw him ride in a rodeo was at Lovell, Wyoming, at the age of 72.
Mr Father summing up his active life said, "I have always been with horses; I have ridden everything from a burro to an airplane, I have driven everything from a horse on a dump cart to a 20-mule team, and I have roped everything from a dogie calf to a grizzly bear."
He participated in many of the events that helped open up the great west to settlement. He was present when the golden spike was driven in Utah May 10, 1869--commenorating completion of the railroad, which helped to unify America.
Took Homestead
Father homesteaded on Gyp Creek near Lovell, Wyoming, in 1889. He built an adobe 3-room house. It had a sod roof and dirt floor. In 1895 he met one of mother's cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousin insisted that he go back to Joplin, Missouri, with him for a visit. While there he met mother, Hattie Morris. A year later mother packed all her belongings and bid farewell to Joplin and headed for the West. They were married in Billings May 8, 1896. Father had met her in Billings with a four-horse team and wagon so a year's supply of groceries could be taken back with them. Yegen's store (now Elliots) was the leading store in Billings then. It was close to 100 miles from the homestead to Billings and it took a good three days for the trip.
Mother had heard Father had one of the finest houses for miles around and was anxious to get settled in her new home. Her home in Joplin was a large white frame building with eight or ten rooms.
She said her heart was brolen when she saw the sod roof and dirt floor. She had brought with her large new carpets which she had woven on a loom, so after straw had been put over the dirt she put down her new carpet.
Father's furniture was all homemade but it was much better than many people had at that time. My brother has a diamond willow chair which father made before he was married and it is still a beautiful piece of work.
Mother had brought all kinds of dried fruit from Missouri and it was really a treat to her neighbors. The closest neighbot was about 10 miles.
They raised sheep and cattle and farmed the homestead. They also raised good gardens-- a rarity in those days. Father took first prize (we still have the gold medal) on alfalfa, he raised. The award was made at the St. Louis exposition in 1905. The prize-wiinning alfalfa was kept in the state house at Cheyenne for many years afterwards.
Four of the five children were born in the old adobe house. In 1907 the family built a large gyp-block house and we had the pleasure of living in it seven years before we sold out and bouth a cattle ranch on Blewater, 10 miles east of Bridger, Montana.
Mother was very active in school, church and social work. She usually had a large class of pupils, to which she gave oil painting lessons. She always moved to town in winter to send the children to school. Lovell was the nearest town in Wyoming. Bridger the nearest in Montana.
Father did not get to attend school very long as he was out on his own at the age of ten, but he could work arithmetic in his head faster than most people could on paper. His English was very good, penmanship beautiful and history excellent. He read the newspapers from beginning to end. He loved good books, especially history books pertaining to the opening of the West. He would not waste his time reading fiction, nor would he go to a Western movie. He enjoyed radio, especially the news.
He had cataracts removed from his eyes in 1930. The operation was not successful and he was totally blind the last seven years of his life.
Father died on Bluewater March 20, 1937. Mother died October 8, 1952, at the age of 82, at our home in Melville. Both are buried in the family cemetery on Bluewater near Bridger.
Five children survive them: Lee of Themopolis, Wyoming; Roy of Colton, Oregon; Mae Howe of Melville, Ray of Bridger and Loucilla Fay Stewart of Stanton, Michigan.
- Billings Gazette, (Billings, Montana), May 30, 1954
transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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AS IT WAS IN BILLINGS
. . . 45 and 35 YEARS AGO TODAY
(From the Gazette, February 13, 1894)
That little town on the Northern Pacific a few miles west of Bozeman, known as Belgrade, enjoys the reputation of owning the toughest proposition any cowboy ever tried to ride straight up with a clean saddle. Some time early in December, George B. Teeples, a horse breaker employed by Nelson Story made a record by staying with the bull, Johnson and Kenwa, owners of the unvanquished bovine terror are in corrspondence with Teeples concerning another exhibition. Teeples is willing to ride again for a stake of $200 and gate recepts if the exhibition can take place at the Billings fairgrounds. Of all the confident bronco busters that have thrown their leather over that Belgrade bull, he is the only one who has been able to stay.
-Billings Gazette, February 15, 1939, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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PIONEER DIES NEAR FROMBERG
George B. Teeples Grew Up With West.
Red Lodge, March 20--(Special)--George Bridger Teeples, 82, pioneer of the old west, died at his ranch home 12 miles east of Fromberg on Blue Creek at 2:15 a.m. Friday.
Teeples grew up with the west. He was born in old Fort Bridger, Wyoming and would have been 83 years old May 24.
A pioneer cattleman, Teeples roamed the plateaus and mountains of Wyoming and Montana.
Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Harrie J. Teeples and two daughters, Mrs. P. J. Moyes of Lander, Wyoming and Mrs. Gordon Stewart of River Falls, Wisconsin; three sons, Leo J. Teeples and Ray F. Teeples of the home ranch and Roy Teeples of Bowler.
-Billings Gazette, March 21, 1937, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
Daughter not listed below: Elvira Teeples Howe
BIOGRAPHY OF EARLY STAGE COACH DRIVER AND COWBOY IS PREPARED FOR ANNUAL REUNION OF TEEPLES CLAN
When members of the Teeples clan gather for the annual family reunion at Salt Lake City in June they'll be given a complete descriptive account of the life of one of their forebearers, George B. (Starkey) Teeples, early stagecoach driver, cowboy and rodeo bronc buster in Montana and Wyoming.
A biography of Teeples, who grew to boyhood at old Fort Bridger and was shouldering a man's load at 10 was written for this year's reunion by his daughter, Mrs. Jess Howe of Melville.
Mrs. Howe has had her account of her father's adventurous life put into a booklet form for presentation to family members at the Salt Lake City gathering. The Teeples family has been holding the annual reunion for more than a quarter century.
In writing her account, Mrs. Howe drew from her own recollections of incidents relayed by her father, facts and dates recalled by his friends and family members and material in a bulky scrapbook kept by Teeples over the years.
Prior to 1936, Mrs. Howe lived in Billings for 19 years. She and her husband operated a ranch in the Pryor Mountains. They sold the property in 1949 and purchased the Paul (Spike) Van Cleve III Ranch at Melville four years ago.
Her account of her father's life, as it apprears in the family reunion booklet, follows:
BORN AT FORT BRIDGER
My father was born in Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in 1854, and claimed to be the first white child born in the confines of the present state of Wyoming. Wyoming became a state July 10, 1890.
At the time, my grandfather, George Bentley Teeples, was a hunter and trapper at Fort Bridger and for some time conducted a trading post there. He also had a contract to put up hay for the government and the stage lines.
The settlement of Fort Bridger was founded by the famous frontiersman, Jim Bridger. It was a military post where soldiers were stationed to protect the stage lines and emigrant trainscon the Overland Trail.
Father saw Jim Bridger many times. Jim often visited Grandfather and Garndmother Teeples. The last time my father saw the old scout, Jim was working with the survey for the Union Pacific.
When he was 11 years old he was given a pass by Jack Gilmore of the stage line and he came to Helena to race horses for Wes Travis who kept a livery barn and sales station there. Father had often raced horses around Fort Bridger as an anateur jockey.
In those days there was real racing fever in Helena and neighboring mining camps. Large purses were put up on the races which were run in a haphazard fashion. Races were oftern arranged on the spur of the moment at any place where a half mile of clear road could be found.
DROVE STAGE COACH
At the age of 14, when other boys were getting their adventures from books, father started to drive stage. His first job was a two-horse jerky from Ogden to the Promontory, a distance of about 40 miles. His second job was driving stage from Green River, Wyoming to Wasatch, Utah. After that he drove stage on the Gilmore and Salsbury line from Salt Lake City to Pioche, Nevada-- a job he held for 10 years. He also drove in the White Pines and Salt Creek sections during the mining booms ther and along the route of the Southern Pacific during the rough days of construction camps.
The Overland Stage was started from St. Joseph, Montana, by Ren Holiday and ran to Salt Lake City. From there the Wells Fargo Express Co. carried onto San Francisco.
Alfred Slade was agent on the road in the early 60's, J. T. Gilmore took his place later on. Len Wines was superintendent from Salt Lake to San Francisco. The scheduled time was six miles per hour including stops. Gilmore and Salisbury had the north and south lines which were operated with six horese except the north road which used four. A jerky was used in the spring or in muddy weaher when it was impossible to keep the Concords or other heavy coaches from miring down.
There were 12 standing horses at each stage barn. Each driver had from 50 to 60 horses in his string.
At the home station, both drivers changed the baggage while the passengers were eating. The drivers drove day and night. At the swing station it took about three minutes to change horses. The horses were already harnessed and out on the floor when the stage drove up. The horses were cleaned like racing stock and the harness gone over every day. The horses usually weighed from 900 to 1,200 pounds.
Hay and grain were very high priced in those days. There was no grain raised between Omah and Salt Lake City. The stagecoach company had to pay 63 hundred for each 100 miles it was hauled and as most of it was hauled 500 miles the feed bill was no small item. At that time there were no moving machines and the hay was put up by hand.
In the summer, during the day, the stock was permitted to graze but on account of the Indians it was necessary to put all stock in the barns at night.
There were plenty of Indians about in those days. Many of them came to the fort to trade, and also to run horse and foot races, or to shoot at marks with me about the fort. The next day the same Indians were likely to slip away to rob an emigrant train.
Saw Indian Attack
When my father was 10 years old he saw an Indian attack on an emigrant train, a short distance east of Fort Bridger, on Sandy Creek. Father was out herding horses for the stage station a mile or so away, and got left on foot in his hurry to get the horses started back to the station. He hid behind some sage brush when he saw the Indians attack the train of 20 wagons which were camped on the creek.
One of the divisions of the Indiabns kept circling the wagon coraal, now and then making a bold dash and retreating, all the while pouring a continuous fire against the besieged emigrants.
Finally after the Indiana had driven off the emigrants' horses and had a good start, the others drew off, leaving emigrants stranded until horses were obtained to bring them into Fort Bridger.
The man who was herding the emigrants' horses, about a half mile away, was surrounded and killed. The Indians drove off these horses, passing a short distance from where father was concealed in the sage brush.
The Indians frequently attacked stage stations or isolated farmstreads, running off the stock, firing the buildings and occasionally killing the occupants. Usually the stage stations were guarded and a few men could stand off many Indianas who were seldom willing to fight it out to a finish. After a sudden dash the Indians were away by the time the heavily-equipped soldiers sent out to punish them were on their tracks. After spending several days in hopeless pursuit the soldiers would return without once coming near the maraunders.
Father was in numerous battles with Indians and when but a mere boy he was a member of a party of hunters and trappers who followed a band of Indians who had stolen a number of horses. The party followed night and day on the trail and finally ambused them on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, killing most of them and recovering the horses. Father, the youngest of the party, was holding the horses of the hunters behind a point of rocks, while the men hid themselves in the rocks beside the trail over which the Indians would pass.
Battled Indians
The Indians didn't think they would be overtaken and rode into the ambush without fear. They were shot down by the whites before they could make any resistance. The remnat of the band passed by father who was armed with a Henry rifle and two old-fashioned army pistols. He opened fire on them and believes he killed one or two of them, although they were carried away by their companions.
At another time the stage station where father was employed was attacked by a ban of Indians and he and another man stood them off for several hours until assistance arrived. They succeded in accounting for three or four of the band.
In those days, when a hostile savage was liable to be hidden by a sagebrush or rock, father said he was very lucky to never have lost any of the horses he was herding. He said when he was driving stage from Green River to Echo Canyon it was over a stretch of road noted for the many Indians who frequented it and where many families had been massacred in the days when thousands of people were going to California and Utah. SEveral drivers were killed while he was on the stage line and many of the station barns were burned.
After father's stagecoach career ended and after spending several years on cattle ranches, he drove a string of hearses up from Junction City to Yellowstone River in 1880 to where Pau l McCormick had his trading post and freighting business. Selling his horses to McCormick he rode the stage to Dilton where the Utah and Northern Railway was entering with its trucks. The depot had not yet been built. He then returned to Utah for three years.
He returned to Montana in 1883 and was employed for a couples of seasons breaking horses for J. G,, Greenwood who had a large horse outfit in the Lake Basin. After that he worked four years for Nelson Storey's Ox-Yoke outfit as cowhand and horse wrangler.
There were 20,000 head of cattle in this outfit up to the disatrous winte of 1886-87. The Ox-Yoke had its headquarters near Battle Butte in Lake Basin, but also ranged on the Crow Indian reservation south of Yellowstone River and in adjoining districts to the west. Ed Cardwell was then manager of the outfit and also had his own Bar Triangle ranch.
One time Story had about 5,000 head of cattle in a herd that was being held on Shane Creek. Among them were about 199 head belonging to Ed Cardwell, John Walk, Monroe Cremer and A. A. Ellis.
The cattle were bunched tightly during an electrical storm. Lightning struck in their midst and killed one head each, belonging to Cardwell, Walk, Cremer and Ellis but never knocked on of Story's 5,000 head.
Worked as Cowboy
Father said wages for the cowboys at that time was $40 per month and that the work lasted five months out of the year. He however, was receiving $60 per month the year around and got $10 head for each horse he broke.
The cowboys did nore work, considering the wages paid, then men following any other occupation. Father said there was one time when he and the other cowboys worked 20 hours per day for five weeks.
Father was on a roundup in 1863 which started at Heart Mountain south of Montana line near Cody, Wyoming and they worked down to the Shoshone River and up Sage Creek. The cowboys made five roundups a day, starting out at 8 o'clock in the morning and working until dark, then stood guard half of the night. By the time the roundup had reached the Clark's Fork, 8,000 head of cattle had been gathered. They were driven in three separate herds but were bedded together at night. It took several days to brand the calves from these 8,000 cattle before they crossed the Clark's Fork.
It was in June and the river was high. Story was moving his cattle to the north side of the Yellowstone, while John Tolman, Ed Carwell, Roland Potter and J. J. Walker were leving theirs on the south side. George Smith was drowned while the roundup was crossing the Yellowstone.
It was on the way to this roundup in 1888, with Al Fullingame, foreman of Cardwell, that father roped a selvertip bear near Red Lodge. While Fullingame was riding down a gulch he saw a she-bear nibbling in some bushes at the bottom of the gulch. He shot at her three or four times with a .44 revolver. It was then that the male bear suddenly emerged from the thicket and started toward him. He then discovered that he was out of cartriages. At this point father came to the rescue with rope. Father was holding the bear in good shape in spite of its clawing and scratching to free itself when two more bears appeared. Fullingame and father hastily retreated to a safe distance, The roped bear, after frenzied clawing, finally disentanled itself and ran down out of sight. The men returned a little later and found her dead within a 100 yards of where she had been roped. The skin was presented in Cardwell after it had been tanned by a Crow squaw and was kept at the Cardwell ranch house at Merrill for many years.
In the same neighborhood father saw Hairy Moccasin (who had been one of General Custer's scouts) rope a young grizzly and drag it to death.
While father was still in Lake Basin a fight with Pigeon Indians took place in which two Park City men were killed. Hearing of the fight, father rode over and met the party returning with the bodies of Ames and Tale and heard the story of the survivers. These Indians had stolen some horses from the Crows and also some from the white men at Park City. They were followed by five or six Park City men and also by some Crow Indians headed by Plenty Coups who took a Piegan scalp in the battle. The body of the Indian who was killed lay in the rocks the rest of the winter. Then some young men of Park City bought it in and it was used for dissection purposes by a Dr. Graham located there.
During the 80's there were several raids and minor Indian troubles.In 1886 a band of Piegans made a raid near the present site of Red Lodge and stole a bunch of horses belonging to Dutch Charley. They were trailed to the Musselshell where they were intercepted by cowboys and Crow Indians and killed. Plenty Coups was also in this battle.
Guarded Billings
Sword Bearer or Wraps Up His Tail, the Crow medicine man and fanatic, almost caused an uprising in 1887. Father was one of the men who did guard duty around Billings where there was great fear of an Indian attack. "Liver Eating" Johnson came in at the sound of the alarm to give the townspeople the benefit of his experience and prestige as an Indian fighter. The uprising ended with a little skirmish with troops at Crow Agency in which the medicine man was killed.
When father came through on the stage station a few miles above the present town of Columbus. He also had a toll gate there for years. When father first came to this part of Montana there were no bridges between Livingston and Miles City and the only passage was by ferry and this condition was maintained for a number of years.
During those early days father came to know many famous characters, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jim Bridger, Bill Hamilton, Liver Eating Johnson, Calamity Jane and many others. The last time father saw Calamity Jane was in Lake Basin in 1888. At that time she was wintering with a bunch of horse thieves on Canyon Creek.
Father was a member of a party that staged one of the last buffalo hunts in this part of Montana. It was in July 1888. He recalled that in the pary were Fred Walters, John Tolman, Charles Wright, Henry Steers and himself.They had located an old bull and figured it had drifted out of the park. John Tolman killed it near Cherry Springs.
When it was skinned out they found a round basketball imbedded in its back. Muskets had been out of use for 20 years. The bull was so thin they did not take the meat as they had plenty of beef in camp. Tolman had the head mounted.
Father had hunted buffalo many times in previous years and had secured many hides and heads. He was just a youngster when he got his first buffalo, riding into a hear on a captured Indian pony and roping a fat, young calf.
One of the incidents of my father's life as a cowboy in the open range days in Montana and which he always delighted to tell, was his riding of the Belgrade bull.
In the days before bronco busting became a commercialized art, cowboys enjoyed trying their prowess with some animal with a reputaion of never having been riden, while wagers were layed by friend or scoffer as to results.
The Belgrade bull was owned at that time (1886) by Press stable at Bozeman.
The bull had been bought with a view to gambling on its ability to unseat every cowboy who tried to ride it. The bull had a recored of piling more than 100 men during its career. Johnson had a standing bet of $50 that no one could ride it.
Father, who was then working for Nelson Story's Ox-Yoke outfit, heard of the merits of the bull and went to Bozeman to try his luck with the animal. The news that a new rider had appeared brought quite a crowd of cowmen and spectators to the corral where the ride was to be staged.
The bull's past performaces marked it as a favorite and bets of five and a half to six to one were made that the rider would not stay on the bull.
The bull this time, however, had met his match, for in spite of all his plunges and jolting dashes, father remained firmly in his seat and rode the bull to a standstill.
Johnson set up a claim then that the bull had been off his feet for several days and was not in trim for the contest.
The results of the contest were sent to Billings where Father was well-known. A proposal was sent Johnson signed by Walter Story, Al Penske, Charley Bair and other in which they proposed that if Johnson would bring the bull to Billings they would give him half of the gate receipt;s and that there was ample money to cover any bets that Father could ride the bull again. The offer was not accepted.
Father was known as one of the best cowboys of his day and he was expecially good at breaking horses. Whenever there was a particularly wild horse to be tamed he was called upon for that work. According to one of his former employee, he could come up to an untamed bronc, stroke its sides and flanks and gentle it where anyone else would have been kicked out of the corral.
I remember once when all of us attended a "Mormon Day" celebration one July in Cowley, Wyoming. Father did not intend to ride in the rodeo that day but after a little persuasion from some of the cowboys he consented to ride. He did not have his own saddle with him so he borrowed one. He tried out the saddle for stirrup length and they were too long. He told one of the men to take up the stirrup two holes. When he got on the bronc he dicovered the man had let the strings out tow holes instead. It was too late to do anything about it so he rode the hard ucking horse with one stirrup until the whistle blew. He admitted, however, that he got a pretty bad shaking up.
Fthaer took part in many rodeos. The lst time I saw him ride in a rodeo was at Lovell, Wyoming, at the age of 72.
Mr Father summing up his active life said, "I have always been with horses; I have ridden everything from a burro to an airplane, I have driven everything from a horse on a dump cart to a 20-mule team, and I have roped everything from a dogie calf to a grizzly bear."
He participated in many of the events that helped open up the great west to settlement. He was present when the golden spike was driven in Utah May 10, 1869--commenorating completion of the railroad, which helped to unify America.
Took Homestead
Father homesteaded on Gyp Creek near Lovell, Wyoming, in 1889. He built an adobe 3-room house. It had a sod roof and dirt floor. In 1895 he met one of mother's cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousin insisted that he go back to Joplin, Missouri, with him for a visit. While there he met mother, Hattie Morris. A year later mother packed all her belongings and bid farewell to Joplin and headed for the West. They were married in Billings May 8, 1896. Father had met her in Billings with a four-horse team and wagon so a year's supply of groceries could be taken back with them. Yegen's store (now Elliots) was the leading store in Billings then. It was close to 100 miles from the homestead to Billings and it took a good three days for the trip.
Mother had heard Father had one of the finest houses for miles around and was anxious to get settled in her new home. Her home in Joplin was a large white frame building with eight or ten rooms.
She said her heart was brolen when she saw the sod roof and dirt floor. She had brought with her large new carpets which she had woven on a loom, so after straw had been put over the dirt she put down her new carpet.
Father's furniture was all homemade but it was much better than many people had at that time. My brother has a diamond willow chair which father made before he was married and it is still a beautiful piece of work.
Mother had brought all kinds of dried fruit from Missouri and it was really a treat to her neighbors. The closest neighbot was about 10 miles.
They raised sheep and cattle and farmed the homestead. They also raised good gardens-- a rarity in those days. Father took first prize (we still have the gold medal) on alfalfa, he raised. The award was made at the St. Louis exposition in 1905. The prize-wiinning alfalfa was kept in the state house at Cheyenne for many years afterwards.
Four of the five children were born in the old adobe house. In 1907 the family built a large gyp-block house and we had the pleasure of living in it seven years before we sold out and bouth a cattle ranch on Blewater, 10 miles east of Bridger, Montana.
Mother was very active in school, church and social work. She usually had a large class of pupils, to which she gave oil painting lessons. She always moved to town in winter to send the children to school. Lovell was the nearest town in Wyoming. Bridger the nearest in Montana.
Father did not get to attend school very long as he was out on his own at the age of ten, but he could work arithmetic in his head faster than most people could on paper. His English was very good, penmanship beautiful and history excellent. He read the newspapers from beginning to end. He loved good books, especially history books pertaining to the opening of the West. He would not waste his time reading fiction, nor would he go to a Western movie. He enjoyed radio, especially the news.
He had cataracts removed from his eyes in 1930. The operation was not successful and he was totally blind the last seven years of his life.
Father died on Bluewater March 20, 1937. Mother died October 8, 1952, at the age of 82, at our home in Melville. Both are buried in the family cemetery on Bluewater near Bridger.
Five children survive them: Lee of Themopolis, Wyoming; Roy of Colton, Oregon; Mae Howe of Melville, Ray of Bridger and Loucilla Fay Stewart of Stanton, Michigan.
- Billings Gazette, (Billings, Montana), May 30, 1954
transcribed by Rhonda Holton
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AS IT WAS IN BILLINGS
. . . 45 and 35 YEARS AGO TODAY
(From the Gazette, February 13, 1894)
That little town on the Northern Pacific a few miles west of Bozeman, known as Belgrade, enjoys the reputation of owning the toughest proposition any cowboy ever tried to ride straight up with a clean saddle. Some time early in December, George B. Teeples, a horse breaker employed by Nelson Story made a record by staying with the bull, Johnson and Kenwa, owners of the unvanquished bovine terror are in corrspondence with Teeples concerning another exhibition. Teeples is willing to ride again for a stake of $200 and gate recepts if the exhibition can take place at the Billings fairgrounds. Of all the confident bronco busters that have thrown their leather over that Belgrade bull, he is the only one who has been able to stay.
-Billings Gazette, February 15, 1939, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
--------------
PIONEER DIES NEAR FROMBERG
George B. Teeples Grew Up With West.
Red Lodge, March 20--(Special)--George Bridger Teeples, 82, pioneer of the old west, died at his ranch home 12 miles east of Fromberg on Blue Creek at 2:15 a.m. Friday.
Teeples grew up with the west. He was born in old Fort Bridger, Wyoming and would have been 83 years old May 24.
A pioneer cattleman, Teeples roamed the plateaus and mountains of Wyoming and Montana.
Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Harrie J. Teeples and two daughters, Mrs. P. J. Moyes of Lander, Wyoming and Mrs. Gordon Stewart of River Falls, Wisconsin; three sons, Leo J. Teeples and Ray F. Teeples of the home ranch and Roy Teeples of Bowler.
-Billings Gazette, March 21, 1937, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
Daughter not listed below: Elvira Teeples Howe
When members of the Teeples clan gather for the annual family reunion at Salt Lake City in June they'll be given a complete descriptive account of the life of one of their forebearers, George B. (Starkey) Teeples, early stagecoach driver, cowboy and rodeo bronc buster in Montana and Wyoming.
A biography of Teeples, who grew to boyhood at old Fort Bridger and was shouldering a man's load at 10 was written for this year's reunion by his daughter, Mrs. Jess Howe of Melville.
Mrs. Howe has had her account of her father's adventurous life put into a booklet form for presentation to family members at the Salt Lake City gathering. The Teeples family has been holding the annual reunion for more than a quarter century.
In writing her account, Mrs. Howe drew from her own recollections of incidents relayed by her father, facts and dates recalled by his friends and family members and material in a bulky scrapbook kept by Teeples over the years.
Prior to 1936, Mrs. Howe lived in Billings for 19 years. She and her husband operated a ranch in the Pryor Mountains. They sold the property in 1949 and purchased the Paul (Spike) Van Cleve III Ranch at Melville four years ago.
Her account of her father's life, as it apprears in the family reunion booklet, follows:
BORN AT FORT BRIDGER
My father was born in Fort Bridger, Wyoming, in 1854, and claimed to be the first white child born in the confines of the present state of Wyoming. Wyoming became a state July 10, 1890.
At the time, my grandfather, George Bentley Teeples, was a hunter and trapper at Fort Bridger and for some time conducted a trading post there. He also had a contract to put up hay for the government and the stage lines.
The settlement of Fort Bridger was founded by the famous frontiersman, Jim Bridger. It was a military post where soldiers were stationed to protect the stage lines and emigrant trainscon the Overland Trail.
Father saw Jim Bridger many times. Jim often visited Grandfather and Garndmother Teeples. The last time my father saw the old scout, Jim was working with the survey for the Union Pacific.
When he was 11 years old he was given a pass by Jack Gilmore of the stage line and he came to Helena to race horses for Wes Travis who kept a livery barn and sales station there. Father had often raced horses around Fort Bridger as an anateur jockey.
In those days there was real racing fever in Helena and neighboring mining camps. Large purses were put up on the races which were run in a haphazard fashion. Races were oftern arranged on the spur of the moment at any place where a half mile of clear road could be found.
DROVE STAGE COACH
At the age of 14, when other boys were getting their adventures from books, father started to drive stage. His first job was a two-horse jerky from Ogden to the Promontory, a distance of about 40 miles. His second job was driving stage from Green River, Wyoming to Wasatch, Utah. After that he drove stage on the Gilmore and Salsbury line from Salt Lake City to Pioche, Nevada-- a job he held for 10 years. He also drove in the White Pines and Salt Creek sections during the mining booms ther and along the route of the Southern Pacific during the rough days of construction camps.
The Overland Stage was started from St. Joseph, Montana, by Ren Holiday and ran to Salt Lake City. From there the Wells Fargo Express Co. carried onto San Francisco.
Alfred Slade was agent on the road in the early 60's, J. T. Gilmore took his place later on. Len Wines was superintendent from Salt Lake to San Francisco. The scheduled time was six miles per hour including stops. Gilmore and Salisbury had the north and south lines which were operated with six horese except the north road which used four. A jerky was used in the spring or in muddy weaher when it was impossible to keep the Concords or other heavy coaches from miring down.
There were 12 standing horses at each stage barn. Each driver had from 50 to 60 horses in his string.
At the home station, both drivers changed the baggage while the passengers were eating. The drivers drove day and night. At the swing station it took about three minutes to change horses. The horses were already harnessed and out on the floor when the stage drove up. The horses were cleaned like racing stock and the harness gone over every day. The horses usually weighed from 900 to 1,200 pounds.
Hay and grain were very high priced in those days. There was no grain raised between Omah and Salt Lake City. The stagecoach company had to pay 63 hundred for each 100 miles it was hauled and as most of it was hauled 500 miles the feed bill was no small item. At that time there were no moving machines and the hay was put up by hand.
In the summer, during the day, the stock was permitted to graze but on account of the Indians it was necessary to put all stock in the barns at night.
There were plenty of Indians about in those days. Many of them came to the fort to trade, and also to run horse and foot races, or to shoot at marks with me about the fort. The next day the same Indians were likely to slip away to rob an emigrant train.
Saw Indian Attack
When my father was 10 years old he saw an Indian attack on an emigrant train, a short distance east of Fort Bridger, on Sandy Creek. Father was out herding horses for the stage station a mile or so away, and got left on foot in his hurry to get the horses started back to the station. He hid behind some sage brush when he saw the Indians attack the train of 20 wagons which were camped on the creek.
One of the divisions of the Indiabns kept circling the wagon coraal, now and then making a bold dash and retreating, all the while pouring a continuous fire against the besieged emigrants.
Finally after the Indiana had driven off the emigrants' horses and had a good start, the others drew off, leaving emigrants stranded until horses were obtained to bring them into Fort Bridger.
The man who was herding the emigrants' horses, about a half mile away, was surrounded and killed. The Indians drove off these horses, passing a short distance from where father was concealed in the sage brush.
The Indians frequently attacked stage stations or isolated farmstreads, running off the stock, firing the buildings and occasionally killing the occupants. Usually the stage stations were guarded and a few men could stand off many Indianas who were seldom willing to fight it out to a finish. After a sudden dash the Indians were away by the time the heavily-equipped soldiers sent out to punish them were on their tracks. After spending several days in hopeless pursuit the soldiers would return without once coming near the maraunders.
Father was in numerous battles with Indians and when but a mere boy he was a member of a party of hunters and trappers who followed a band of Indians who had stolen a number of horses. The party followed night and day on the trail and finally ambused them on the Snake River in Jackson Hole, killing most of them and recovering the horses. Father, the youngest of the party, was holding the horses of the hunters behind a point of rocks, while the men hid themselves in the rocks beside the trail over which the Indians would pass.
Battled Indians
The Indians didn't think they would be overtaken and rode into the ambush without fear. They were shot down by the whites before they could make any resistance. The remnat of the band passed by father who was armed with a Henry rifle and two old-fashioned army pistols. He opened fire on them and believes he killed one or two of them, although they were carried away by their companions.
At another time the stage station where father was employed was attacked by a ban of Indians and he and another man stood them off for several hours until assistance arrived. They succeded in accounting for three or four of the band.
In those days, when a hostile savage was liable to be hidden by a sagebrush or rock, father said he was very lucky to never have lost any of the horses he was herding. He said when he was driving stage from Green River to Echo Canyon it was over a stretch of road noted for the many Indians who frequented it and where many families had been massacred in the days when thousands of people were going to California and Utah. SEveral drivers were killed while he was on the stage line and many of the station barns were burned.
After father's stagecoach career ended and after spending several years on cattle ranches, he drove a string of hearses up from Junction City to Yellowstone River in 1880 to where Pau l McCormick had his trading post and freighting business. Selling his horses to McCormick he rode the stage to Dilton where the Utah and Northern Railway was entering with its trucks. The depot had not yet been built. He then returned to Utah for three years.
He returned to Montana in 1883 and was employed for a couples of seasons breaking horses for J. G,, Greenwood who had a large horse outfit in the Lake Basin. After that he worked four years for Nelson Storey's Ox-Yoke outfit as cowhand and horse wrangler.
There were 20,000 head of cattle in this outfit up to the disatrous winte of 1886-87. The Ox-Yoke had its headquarters near Battle Butte in Lake Basin, but also ranged on the Crow Indian reservation south of Yellowstone River and in adjoining districts to the west. Ed Cardwell was then manager of the outfit and also had his own Bar Triangle ranch.
One time Story had about 5,000 head of cattle in a herd that was being held on Shane Creek. Among them were about 199 head belonging to Ed Cardwell, John Walk, Monroe Cremer and A. A. Ellis.
The cattle were bunched tightly during an electrical storm. Lightning struck in their midst and killed one head each, belonging to Cardwell, Walk, Cremer and Ellis but never knocked on of Story's 5,000 head.
Worked as Cowboy
Father said wages for the cowboys at that time was $40 per month and that the work lasted five months out of the year. He however, was receiving $60 per month the year around and got $10 head for each horse he broke.
The cowboys did nore work, considering the wages paid, then men following any other occupation. Father said there was one time when he and the other cowboys worked 20 hours per day for five weeks.
Father was on a roundup in 1863 which started at Heart Mountain south of Montana line near Cody, Wyoming and they worked down to the Shoshone River and up Sage Creek. The cowboys made five roundups a day, starting out at 8 o'clock in the morning and working until dark, then stood guard half of the night. By the time the roundup had reached the Clark's Fork, 8,000 head of cattle had been gathered. They were driven in three separate herds but were bedded together at night. It took several days to brand the calves from these 8,000 cattle before they crossed the Clark's Fork.
It was in June and the river was high. Story was moving his cattle to the north side of the Yellowstone, while John Tolman, Ed Carwell, Roland Potter and J. J. Walker were leving theirs on the south side. George Smith was drowned while the roundup was crossing the Yellowstone.
It was on the way to this roundup in 1888, with Al Fullingame, foreman of Cardwell, that father roped a selvertip bear near Red Lodge. While Fullingame was riding down a gulch he saw a she-bear nibbling in some bushes at the bottom of the gulch. He shot at her three or four times with a .44 revolver. It was then that the male bear suddenly emerged from the thicket and started toward him. He then discovered that he was out of cartriages. At this point father came to the rescue with rope. Father was holding the bear in good shape in spite of its clawing and scratching to free itself when two more bears appeared. Fullingame and father hastily retreated to a safe distance, The roped bear, after frenzied clawing, finally disentanled itself and ran down out of sight. The men returned a little later and found her dead within a 100 yards of where she had been roped. The skin was presented in Cardwell after it had been tanned by a Crow squaw and was kept at the Cardwell ranch house at Merrill for many years.
In the same neighborhood father saw Hairy Moccasin (who had been one of General Custer's scouts) rope a young grizzly and drag it to death.
While father was still in Lake Basin a fight with Pigeon Indians took place in which two Park City men were killed. Hearing of the fight, father rode over and met the party returning with the bodies of Ames and Tale and heard the story of the survivers. These Indians had stolen some horses from the Crows and also some from the white men at Park City. They were followed by five or six Park City men and also by some Crow Indians headed by Plenty Coups who took a Piegan scalp in the battle. The body of the Indian who was killed lay in the rocks the rest of the winter. Then some young men of Park City bought it in and it was used for dissection purposes by a Dr. Graham located there.
During the 80's there were several raids and minor Indian troubles.In 1886 a band of Piegans made a raid near the present site of Red Lodge and stole a bunch of horses belonging to Dutch Charley. They were trailed to the Musselshell where they were intercepted by cowboys and Crow Indians and killed. Plenty Coups was also in this battle.
Guarded Billings
Sword Bearer or Wraps Up His Tail, the Crow medicine man and fanatic, almost caused an uprising in 1887. Father was one of the men who did guard duty around Billings where there was great fear of an Indian attack. "Liver Eating" Johnson came in at the sound of the alarm to give the townspeople the benefit of his experience and prestige as an Indian fighter. The uprising ended with a little skirmish with troops at Crow Agency in which the medicine man was killed.
When father came through on the stage station a few miles above the present town of Columbus. He also had a toll gate there for years. When father first came to this part of Montana there were no bridges between Livingston and Miles City and the only passage was by ferry and this condition was maintained for a number of years.
During those early days father came to know many famous characters, including Buffalo Bill Cody, Jim Bridger, Bill Hamilton, Liver Eating Johnson, Calamity Jane and many others. The last time father saw Calamity Jane was in Lake Basin in 1888. At that time she was wintering with a bunch of horse thieves on Canyon Creek.
Father was a member of a party that staged one of the last buffalo hunts in this part of Montana. It was in July 1888. He recalled that in the pary were Fred Walters, John Tolman, Charles Wright, Henry Steers and himself.They had located an old bull and figured it had drifted out of the park. John Tolman killed it near Cherry Springs.
When it was skinned out they found a round basketball imbedded in its back. Muskets had been out of use for 20 years. The bull was so thin they did not take the meat as they had plenty of beef in camp. Tolman had the head mounted.
Father had hunted buffalo many times in previous years and had secured many hides and heads. He was just a youngster when he got his first buffalo, riding into a hear on a captured Indian pony and roping a fat, young calf.
One of the incidents of my father's life as a cowboy in the open range days in Montana and which he always delighted to tell, was his riding of the Belgrade bull.
In the days before bronco busting became a commercialized art, cowboys enjoyed trying their prowess with some animal with a reputaion of never having been riden, while wagers were layed by friend or scoffer as to results.
The Belgrade bull was owned at that time (1886) by Press stable at Bozeman.
The bull had been bought with a view to gambling on its ability to unseat every cowboy who tried to ride it. The bull had a recored of piling more than 100 men during its career. Johnson had a standing bet of $50 that no one could ride it.
Father, who was then working for Nelson Story's Ox-Yoke outfit, heard of the merits of the bull and went to Bozeman to try his luck with the animal. The news that a new rider had appeared brought quite a crowd of cowmen and spectators to the corral where the ride was to be staged.
The bull's past performaces marked it as a favorite and bets of five and a half to six to one were made that the rider would not stay on the bull.
The bull this time, however, had met his match, for in spite of all his plunges and jolting dashes, father remained firmly in his seat and rode the bull to a standstill.
Johnson set up a claim then that the bull had been off his feet for several days and was not in trim for the contest.
The results of the contest were sent to Billings where Father was well-known. A proposal was sent Johnson signed by Walter Story, Al Penske, Charley Bair and other in which they proposed that if Johnson would bring the bull to Billings they would give him half of the gate receipt;s and that there was ample money to cover any bets that Father could ride the bull again. The offer was not accepted.
Father was known as one of the best cowboys of his day and he was expecially good at breaking horses. Whenever there was a particularly wild horse to be tamed he was called upon for that work. According to one of his former employee, he could come up to an untamed bronc, stroke its sides and flanks and gentle it where anyone else would have been kicked out of the corral.
I remember once when all of us attended a "Mormon Day" celebration one July in Cowley, Wyoming. Father did not intend to ride in the rodeo that day but after a little persuasion from some of the cowboys he consented to ride. He did not have his own saddle with him so he borrowed one. He tried out the saddle for stirrup length and they were too long. He told one of the men to take up the stirrup two holes. When he got on the bronc he dicovered the man had let the strings out tow holes instead. It was too late to do anything about it so he rode the hard ucking horse with one stirrup until the whistle blew. He admitted, however, that he got a pretty bad shaking up.
Fthaer took part in many rodeos. The lst time I saw him ride in a rodeo was at Lovell, Wyoming, at the age of 72.
Mr Father summing up his active life said, "I have always been with horses; I have ridden everything from a burro to an airplane, I have driven everything from a horse on a dump cart to a 20-mule team, and I have roped everything from a dogie calf to a grizzly bear."
He participated in many of the events that helped open up the great west to settlement. He was present when the golden spike was driven in Utah May 10, 1869--commenorating completion of the railroad, which helped to unify America.
Took Homestead
Father homesteaded on Gyp Creek near Lovell, Wyoming, in 1889. He built an adobe 3-room house. It had a sod roof and dirt floor. In 1895 he met one of mother's cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousins who had homesteaded in Montana. The cousin insisted that he go back to Joplin, Missouri, with him for a visit. While there he met mother, Hattie Morris. A year later mother packed all her belongings and bid farewell to Joplin and headed for the West. They were married in Billings May 8, 1896. Father had met her in Billings with a four-horse team and wagon so a year's supply of groceries could be taken back with them. Yegen's store (now Elliots) was the leading store in Billings then. It was close to 100 miles from the homestead to Billings and it took a good three days for the trip.
Mother had heard Father had one of the finest houses for miles around and was anxious to get settled in her new home. Her home in Joplin was a large white frame building with eight or ten rooms.
She said her heart was brolen when she saw the sod roof and dirt floor. She had brought with her large new carpets which she had woven on a loom, so after straw had been put over the dirt she put down her new carpet.
Father's furniture was all homemade but it was much better than many people had at that time. My brother has a diamond willow chair which father made before he was married and it is still a beautiful piece of work.
Mother had brought all kinds of dried fruit from Missouri and it was really a treat to her neighbors. The closest neighbot was about 10 miles.
They raised sheep and cattle and farmed the homestead. They also raised good gardens-- a rarity in those days. Father took first prize (we still have the gold medal) on alfalfa, he raised. The award was made at the St. Louis exposition in 1905. The prize-wiinning alfalfa was kept in the state house at Cheyenne for many years afterwards.
Four of the five children were born in the old adobe house. In 1907 the family built a large gyp-block house and we had the pleasure of living in it seven years before we sold out and bouth a cattle ranch on Blewater, 10 miles east of Bridger, Montana.
Mother was very active in school, church and social work. She usually had a large class of pupils, to which she gave oil painting lessons. She always moved to town in winter to send the children to school. Lovell was the nearest town in Wyoming. Bridger the nearest in Montana.
Father did not get to attend school very long as he was out on his own at the age of ten, but he could work arithmetic in his head faster than most people could on paper. His English was very good, penmanship beautiful and history excellent. He read the newspapers from beginning to end. He loved good books, especially history books pertaining to the opening of the West. He would not waste his time reading fiction, nor would he go to a Western movie. He enjoyed radio, especially the news.
He had cataracts removed from his eyes in 1930. The operation was not successful and he was totally blind the last seven years of his life.
Father died on Bluewater March 20, 1937. Mother died October 8, 1952, at the age of 82, at our home in Melville. Both are buried in the family cemetery on Bluewater near Bridger.
Five children survive them: Lee of Themopolis, Wyoming; Roy of Colton, Oregon; Mae Howe of Melville, Ray of Bridger and Loucilla Fay Stewart of Stanton, Michigan.
- Billings Gazette, (Billings, Montana), May 30, 1954
transcribed by Rhonda Holton
--------
AS IT WAS IN BILLINGS
. . . 45 and 35 YEARS AGO TODAY
(From the Gazette, February 13, 1894)
That little town on the Northern Pacific a few miles west of Bozeman, known as Belgrade, enjoys the reputation of owning the toughest proposition any cowboy ever tried to ride straight up with a clean saddle. Some time early in December, George B. Teeples, a horse breaker employed by Nelson Story made a record by staying with the bull, Johnson and Kenwa, owners of the unvanquished bovine terror are in corrspondence with Teeples concerning another exhibition. Teeples is willing to ride again for a stake of $200 and gate recepts if the exhibition can take place at the Billings fairgrounds. Of all the confident bronco busters that have thrown their leather over that Belgrade bull, he is the only one who has been able to stay.
-Billings Gazette, February 15, 1939, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
--------------
PIONEER DIES NEAR FROMBERG
George B. Teeples Grew Up With West.
Red Lodge, March 20--(Special)--George Bridger Teeples, 82, pioneer of the old west, died at his ranch home 12 miles east of Fromberg on Blue Creek at 2:15 a.m. Friday.
Teeples grew up with the west. He was born in old Fort Bridger, Wyoming and would have been 83 years old May 24.
A pioneer cattleman, Teeples roamed the plateaus and mountains of Wyoming and Montana.
Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Harrie J. Teeples and two daughters, Mrs. P. J. Moyes of Lander, Wyoming and Mrs. Gordon Stewart of River Falls, Wisconsin; three sons, Leo J. Teeples and Ray F. Teeples of the home ranch and Roy Teeples of Bowler.
-Billings Gazette, March 21, 1937, transcribed by Rhonda Holton
Daughter not listed below: Elvira Teeples Howe
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