The Wolf Point Herald

THE WOLF POINT HERALD

Memories Of My Life
By Christian F. Blaich

(Continued from last week)

I worked in Cleveland quite a while and finally we went to Lafayette, Ind., where I got work at my old job. On the way I would look out of the windows at all stations and very often some one would yell, "Hello, Blaich, where you going?"

My wife said to me: "For God's sake, have you been in all these towns, it sure seems so." I worked in Lafayette about eight months when I got a notion to go to my old home, St. Louis. Here we lived about a year when one day a miller from Enterprise, Kansas, met my wife at the home of a friend of his. This man had a custom and wholesale mills on the Smoky River, Kansas, and he owned a hotel there. He wanted us to go out with him to run it for him. We finally agreed to this. When we got there we made arrangements to buy the hotel. The owner gave us our own terms. I gave him individual notes. About three years after this the court house at Abilene, Kans., was burned down. As this was the third time there had been a fire in this building the people got the notion to change the county seat. Enterprise entered the race and then it looked good for our city. The owner came in and wanted to know what I would take for my interest in the hotel. I told him I would let him know the next day. I told him what I would take and he went right to a justice of the peace and sued me for possession of the property. I consulted my attorney who said that the justice had no jurisdiction in the matter, as the amount involved was over $300. I informed the justice of this and he said he would try the case anyway, which he did and decided against me. So I saw my attorney again and told him to go and see the district judge and tell him the facts. After the judge heard all the facts he sent the sheriff to bring our city justice into court and then fined the justice of the peace $25.00, and put my case in district court without bond. When it came up in court I won. A short time after this we made an agreement that I run the hotel a year longer. The county seat remained at Abilene. Had Enterprise won, I would have had the best corner in town, worth about $10,000.

I lived in Enterprise about five years after which I went to Hope, Kans., where I lived one year. I then left and lived about two years in Kiowa, Kans. About this time the Cherokee strip was opened up for settlement. This land was opened on a run. All parties were held on the Kansas line until 12 o'clock noon, when a shot was fired and they all started. Whoever got to a claim first could hold it. I had often been on this land before the opening and looked it over. I had a little Indian pony that I rode in this race. One week before the opening, I took a ride on this pony every night around a section of land, as hard as the pony could run, as all I wanted were several parties that paid from $75 to $150 to make the run on a race horse. I beat all in my vicinity with my pony. I held the claim about a year and then sold my relinquishment for $600, and lived in Kiowa 18 months longer. I had two good horses and a spring wagon which I fixed up for camping out. One day we started east from Kiowa along the state line of Kansas, and we never slept in a house from May until Christmas. I weighed 108 pounds and my wife 116 pounds when we started, and when we came back I weighed 135 and my wife 136. If you want to build up use this trip. We left Kiowa in 1899 for Weatherford, Okla., where we lived until I came to Montana in 1914 and took a claim on the Fort Peck Indian reservation, which was opened in 1914 by a drawing. We are now living in the town of Wolf Point. The appraisement of the land was conducted by a commission of three appraisers. About one year after the opening of the lands the settlers saw that they could not pay for these lands. It is an uphill pull to prove up a claim on an Indian reservation. One day a meeting was called to organize a Fort Peck Settlers' Association. At this meeting I was elected president. The object of the association is to object to the high appraisement placed on the land and to try to get it appraised lower. The government gave extensions several times, but this did not bring the necessary relief. I have tried for 11 years to have this matter settled, and it is still pending. I have been to Washington as a delegate to see what could be done. In all departments they would promise to do all in their power to help us in the matter, but as soon as the delegates are gone they forget it.

I will now give you some of my ideas as I found them during my life of 83 years. I left home when 16 years of age. I have lived a very happy life and have many friends scattered over 36 states of our Union where I have lived. One of the best ways I found to make friends is to be honest and upright in all my dealings. Lead a clean life. Be industrious, for, as a German poet says, "Labor makes life sweet." Idleness creates misery.