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The Montana Standard,
Wednesday, April 28, 1954
Benjamin Lamb, Once Frontier Indian Fighter, Succumbs in Butte at 96
Benjamin F. Lamb, 96, who in his lifetime in the west was a buffalo hunter, cowpuncher, bronco buster, rancher, operator of a meat market and a school janitor, died Tuesday morning in a local hospital. Mr. Lamb, who made his home in the Leonard Hotel, had been ill just a short time.
A native of Big Prairie, Iowa, Mr. Lamb, who celebrated his 96th birthday here last June 29th, came to Montana in 1879. A kindly man,...
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The Montana Standard,
Wednesday, April 28, 1954
Benjamin Lamb, Once Frontier Indian Fighter, Succumbs in Butte at 96
Benjamin F. Lamb, 96, who in his lifetime in the west was a buffalo hunter, cowpuncher, bronco buster, rancher, operator of a meat market and a school janitor, died Tuesday morning in a local hospital. Mr. Lamb, who made his home in the Leonard Hotel, had been ill just a short time.
A native of Big Prairie, Iowa, Mr. Lamb, who celebrated his 96th birthday here last June 29th, came to Montana in 1879. A kindly man, who had a good word for everyone - even the Indians who caused him some trouble when he was a strapping 190-pounder on the Montana prairies-was a familiar figure on West Granite Street as he took his daily walk.
His wife, whom he married in 1886, died here about two years ago. Prior to coming to Butte in 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Lamb resided in Laurel where he was a high school janitor before his complete retirement.
Mr. Lamb's body is at Duggan's Merrill Mortuary, from where it will be forwarded to Big Timber Wednesday night. Funeral services will be held in the Catholic church in Big Timber on Thursday Morning at 10:30. Interment will be held in the family plot in the Big Timber cemetery.
On his 96th birthday, Mr. Lamb, noted for his retentive memory, told a story of his life which ranged from playing with the Indians in a pioneer settlement in Iowa to hunting buffalo in Eastern Montana.
The treasurer State pioneer was born June 29, 1857, in a small settlement near Stuart, Iowa. When he was in his late teens he worked his way through Minnesota and Canada in logging camps, on log drives and as a raft man on the Red River.
Later he drifted into Bismarck, Dakota Territory, and was hired as a guide for a group of wealthy men who wanted to explore Dakota Territory north and west of Bismarck.
In 1879 he came to Montana aboard a steamship which tied up at Fort Benton. The first winter in Montana he worked as a trapper. Then he joined with a buffalo-hunting party which headquartered at the head of Horse Creek some 25 or 30 miles north of the Rosebud River. During his days as a buffalo hunter, he once said, he killed as many as 40 buffalo in one day.
After his marriage in 1886, Mr. Lamb homesteaded for a time on what is now known at the American Fork Ranch near Billings. Later he as engaged in the hotel business, then became a meat market operator in Laurel.
Mr. Lamb was a member of the Montana Pioneers Society at Billings.
Surviving relatives include sons and daughters-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. B. E. Lamb, Butte; Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Lamb, Pendleton, Ore.; Mr. and Mrs. W. G. Lamb, Helena; a daughter-in-law Mrs. T. E. Lamb, Phoenix, Ariz.; brothers and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. J. I. Lamb and Mr. and Mrs. Charles P. Lamb, Stuart, Iowa; Mrs. Sarah Ellen Ortman, Burr Oak, Kan.; a brother-in-law and sister, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Wilson, Stuart, Iowa; sisters-in-law, Mrs. Annie Carr and Mrs. Margaret Gavin, Butte; nephews and nieces, Mr. and Mrs. Bruce DeLong and Mrs Clair LaFever, Butte; grandchildren, Lloyd E. Lamb, Frank E. Lamb, Darrel, Bennie and Delmar Lamb, Helena; John Henry Lamb, Japan; Mrs. John Hendricks, Santa Cruz, Calif.; Robert Lamb, Phoenix, Ariz.; the Rev. Brother Basil Roy Lamb, Oakland; Charles Lamb, Tempe, Ariz.; Mrs. D. J. Carroll, Phoenix, Ariz.; Mrs. Orin Stoker, Phoenix, Ariz. and Mrs. Jack Elliott,Los Angeles, nineteen great-grandchildren and many other nieces and nephews are also survivors of the colorful Montana pioneer.
Laurel Outlook
Laurel, Montana, Wednesday, April 27, 1954
Aged Former Laurel Resident Saw Slaughter of Last Big Buffalo Herd in 80's
Benjamin F. Lamb, one of the last real pioneers of Montana, died April 27 at 2:30 a.m. in St. James hospital, Butte. Had he lived until June 29th he would have been 97 years old. The greater part of his long life was spent in Montana, and during most of those years he lived in Laurel. Only a few years ago when the frailties of great age took possession, did he and Mrs. Lamb move to Butte to be near one of their sons.
Funeral services for Mr. Lamb will be conducted Thursday, April 29th , at 10:30 a. m. at St. Joseph church in Big Timber.
Mrs. Lamb, 93, died April 23, 1953, and was buried at Big Timber, which had been their home soon after the couple were married Sept. 27, 1886.
Surviving are three sones, Earl of Butte, Henry of Pendleton, Ore., and William of Helena. Another son, Edward, died recently in Phoenix, Ariz. where his family continues to reside.
Numerous other relatives of Mr. Lamb's live in Washington, Oregon, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and Kansas, including 14 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren.
Mr. Lamb was an eye witness of an important event, the slaughter of the last great buffalo herd, numbering many thousands, in eastern Montana Territory. His description of the event appeared in the June 23, 1943 issue of the Laurel Outlook and has since been incorporated in a book on Montana history.
He and Mrs. Lamb contributed two chapters to a book published a few years before his death by the late L. A. Nutting, another pioneer of eastern Montana, who also lived most of his life in Laurel and vicinity. The book "Raw Country" was privately printed and consisted of the early recollections of Mr. Nutting and his friends the Lambs when they came in different years to the west.
Big Timber, Sweet Grass County, Montana, Thursday, April 29, 1954
Benjamin Lamb Dies in Butte
Benjamin Lamb, 96, Montana and Sweet Grass county pioneer, died at St. James hospital in Butte early Tuesday morning. Death was attributed to infirmities of age.
Funeral services were conducted from St. Joseph's Catholic church in Big Timber this morning at 10 o'clock, Fr. John Gilhooley officiating. Burial was in Mountain View beside his wife who passed away a year ago. Rosary was recited in Butte Tuesday night.
Pallbearers were three sons, J. H. Lamb, B. E. Lamb and W. G. Lamb and three grandsons, Frank E. Lamb, Lloyd E. Lamb and Darrell Lamb.
Mr. Lamb was born in Big Prairie, Iowa, on June 29, 1857, and he came to Montana via Fort Benton by boat in 1879. During his early days in the territory he was a buffalo hunter and trapper. The Lambs were married in Hurst, Montana Sept. 27, 1886 and lived in the Melville area until 1896 when they moved to Big Timber. They left big Timber in 1907 to make their home in Laurel where they live until September 1951. They had resided in Butte since that time, making their home with a son, Earl Lamb. Mr. Lamb as a member of the Montana Pioneer Society at Billings.
Survivors include three sons, Earl of Butte, Henry of Pendleton, Ore., and William of Helena; two sisters-in-law Mrs. Annie Carr of Livingston and Mrs. Margaret Gavin of Butte; fourteen grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
Laurel Outlook
Laurel, Montana, Wednesday June 23, 1943
Passing of Buffalo Described by Eye Witness; Over 5,000,000 Were Killed 63 Years Ago in Montana
As an eye witness, B. F. Lamb of Laurel told a large meeting of Rotarians and guests Tuesday about an important event in the history of Montana and the west, the passing of the buffalo. He was present 63 years ago when the last great herd moved into eastern Montana and virtually exterminated by hunters who sought the hides and tongues. In a way it was comparable to a gold rush. Millions of the animals were slaughtered. Since then the buffalo has been more or less a curiosity, small groups being preserved in national parks and a few individuals in municipal zoos. With the passing of the buffalo went the organized resistance of Indian tribes of the plains and mountains, to whom the buffalo meant food, clothing and shelter - the very necessities of their mode of living.
Attending the meeting of the Rotary club were a number of old-timers , residents of this section of the Yellowstone valley who were special guests of L. A. Nutting, the arranger of the unusual program.
With President B. V. Friedman presiding, Program Chairman O. M. Wold conducted the introduction of William Ziegler, B. M. Harris, B L. Price, H. E. Marshall and Nutting. The later presented his special guests, all old-timers, who were Robert Leavens, I. D. O'Donnell, B. F. Lamb, E. L. Fenton, D. J. Foley, George Danford, Charles Chapple, William Taylor, T. L. Wilkins, Harold Rixon, George Herbert, Judge Ben Harwood, Roy Nutting, Dr. L. W. Allard, Bryant Nutting, A. L. Hewett and Adam Schreiner.
Amid applause Nutting introduced the speaker for the occasion, Benjamin F. Lamb who will be 86 on June 29th and who enjoys an unusual vigor of body and mind. The white haired speaker humorously remarked as he arose that "talking is out of my line" and that he would gladly trade places with anyone in the audience. He said:
"I have nothing to tell but what I saw and can remember, and it's a long time since I gave much thought to it.
"It is about the passing of the buffalo. It is as I saw it. It takes me back to the early '80s, and the scene is on the north side of the Yellowstone river, near Miles City. the area comprised quite a strip of country, commencing on the west at a creek called Froze-to-Death and extending north to the Bull mountains and Musselshell valley, and east (down to the Yellowstone) to where Glendive now is.
"At that time the country was not settled, and that year (1880) vast herds of buffalo drifted in to take the place of other kinds of game, such as antelope, deer, elk and some straggling bands of buffalo already there. I never saw stock cattle to anywhere near the equal of the buffalo that was on the range then. Anywhere from five to ten miles from the Yellowstone river you could look in any direction and see buffalo on every hill, ridge or valley as far as the eye could reach. You could see millions at one time.
"If one had not seen it, it would be almost unbelievable. But they were there, and were gone in the course of one year. The last clean-up of the herd was on the prairie south of Dickinson in North Dakota.
"In the late summer there were no hunters in that country, but by the first of November it was more thickly settled than I think it will ever be again. The hunters came and the slaughter of the buffalo commenced. Every day that was not too stormy you could hear the constant roar of the big guns.
"You can draw some idea of how many buffalo were killed by the number of hides that were shipped out by steamboat from as far west as Froze-to-Death to the Sunday creek bottom 12 miles east of Miles City. there were over 5,000,000 hides shipped by steamboat, by actual count.
"Buffalo hunters' camps were made in every conceivable place; some at the head of coulees; some on the banks of bluffs; a great many cribbed up with poles or built of rock and alkali mud, and a ridge pole covered with buffalo hides. (There was a surplus of old bulls whose hides were not good for anything else). The most common were tents put up Indian fashion, or just a pup tent made of green buffalo hides stretched over a pole and used to sleep in or store goods in.
"A camp outfit generally consisted of a team and wagon, and a saddle horse or two. Some of the larger outfits had more horses - some four head of work horses and three or four head of saddle horses.
"The camp cooking outfit consisted of a good-sized frying pan, a dutch oven, good-sized kettle, dish pan and smaller pans to put cooked food in to serve. Also included were knives, forks, tin plates and cups. It is quite an art to cook on an open fire and not black your vessels or burn them.
"A hunter's supplies consisted of a 50-pound sack of flour, 50 pounds of sugar, 50 pounds of coffee, side of bacon, beans, baking powder and 50 pounds of different kinds of dried fruit. The most essential item was the ammunition, consisting of 100 to 500 pounds of lead, 50 to 100 pounds of powder, primer caps, 500 shells, reloading outfit and one or two Sharps rifles. Some used 45-120 and a great many used 40-90 calibre rifles."
The speaker went to some length to explain the animal's habit of dividing into large family groups when grazing on the range. The hunters found it convenient to utilize that habit to prevent stampedes. The leaders had to be killed first. It was not well to shoot into a herd, for an injured animal would run and stampede the herd. The usual technique was to shoot the outermost ones, the leaders or guards, through the lungs. They appeared to become numb from the resulting internal hemorrhage and would hump up and lie down.
"There were two kinds of hunters", Lamb said. "One kind went out and began shooting when he got close enough. Maybe he would get one or two and sometimes three. Probably that would be all he could skin. The other kind was the man who wanted to get a stand on a bunch and kill anywhere from eight or ten to 30 or 40, and sometimes more. They would go out and stalk a band of buffalo. This was where a good hunter came in, for he generally had to shoot from 500 to 1,000 yards for the first ten or twelve shots. If he made good on them he could work his way sometimes to a position within 100 to 200 yards. The greatest difficulty was to guage the distance. A man to be a good hunter had to be a good judge of distance.
"Only the hides and tongues of the buffalo were saved. the rest was allowed to rot. Hides brought from$1.50 to $3.50 and the tongues were worth 25 cents a pound, dried.
"The hides had to be taken to the camp or somewhere near it and spread flat on the ground and stretched clear of wrinkles, and staked down so they would not shrink up - using 12 wooden pegs to the hide. When dry, the hides could be taken up and put in piles. They were doubled down the center (fur on the inside) and placed alternately to make a solid pile.
"The tongues were cleaned and put in curing vats. The brine was of Salt and Saltpeter (potassium nitrate). The vats were made by digging a square hole in the ground and lining it with old buffalo hides green and staked down around the top, and covered with dry skins and weighted down with anything convenient. When cured the tongues were taken out and hung on poles or placed on rocks to dry. Then they were tied in bundles.
"Next came the job of getting the stuff to market. There were trading posts along the river where there were always buyers or trading post operators who would buy from one to any number of hides, tongues or cured meat the hunters had to sell.
"Stormy weather and snow covering the grass did not bother the buffalo as long as the snow was not crusted. They would use their heads as brooms and sweep or brush the snow from the grass so they could get down to it. You could get on a vantage point and watch them for hours swinging their heads from side to side and moving as much snow as a man with a snow shovel. Buffalo always face and go against a storm, never with it.
"I had spent two years, previous to the time of this story, in the country along and north of the Missouri Missouri river and north of Miles City. At the time of this story I was located on the head of Horse creek, some 25 or 30 miles north of Rosebud. I was in a comp consisting of Sam McGuire, head hunter; Ernie McGuire, general man; John Fargo, teamster and Benjamin F. Lamb, skinner. During the four months we saved and marketed 3,800 buffalo, 1,800 antelope, and some 4,000 buffalo tongues. I have skinned as many as 60 buffalo a day."
The speaker concluded by saying that probably half of the buffalo killed were never touched, never skinned. they went to waste. "That was the last of the buffalo. What was left over of the once vast number went away when spring came and never returned. Elsewhere there was a final roundup, in 1881 and 1882, when 300,000 were slaughtered."
Lamb added that extermination of the buffalo had a taming effect on the Indians of the west. After the Custer battle the Sioux had gone north into northern Montana and in 1881 they got to the head of Fallon creek after crossing the Missouri. Soldiers from Fort Keogh went out and brought in 3,000 Sioux who were destitute and hungry and in a miserable way through the loss of the buffalo. They had resorted to killing their dogs and horses for food. The Indians were later shipped to Standing Rock.
Mr. Lamb was born June 29, 1857, in Jasper county, Iowa, the son of Alexander and Eleanor (Reynolds) Lamb. When he was three years old his parents moved to Guthrie county and the family lived near Stuart, the nearest town. Mr Lamb was in his early 20's when he came to Montana. For many years he has been a resident of Laurel.
The concluding speaker at Tuesday's meeting was Judge Ben Harwood, who remarked he had thoroughly enjoyed the occasion. O. M. Wold contributed a story concerning E. L. Fenton and a dutch oven he searched for when he was new in Montana.
Miles City, Montana - May 1997
Benjamin and Mary Lamb, early residents of Miles City, were inducted into the Range Riders Memorial Hall at the Range Riders Museum in Miles City, Mont. Ben, a rancher in the Dakota Territory, came to Montana in 1877. He hunted buffalo northeast of Miles City from 1877 until 1881. He took part in the last roundup of buffalo near Miles City in 1882. Beginning in 1882, worked at the slaughter-house at Fort Keogh. He married Mary Egan in 1888 and they resided in Miles City. A few years later, they purchased a ranch near the American Fork River south of Two Dot, Montana.
In addition, a sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Margaret and John Gavin, early ranchers in the Kinsey area northwest of Miles City, were also inducted. The Gavins, Kennards and other ranchers in the Kinsey area were instrumental in developing the Kinsey Irrigation Project which still provides water to the area. John Gavin was known as one of the best cowboys in Montana. Margaret was a well known teacher and nurse in Miles City and the surrounding area.
During the unveiling dinner at the Range Riders Museum, histories were read for the Lamb and Gavin families. Plaques and photographs of Ben and Mary Lamb, and John and Margaret Gavin were unveiled and will be on permanent display in the Pioneer Memorial Hall at the Range Riders Museum in Miles City, Mont..
Sponsors of these memorials were Tony and Therese Lamb great-grandchildren of Ben and Mary Lamb and great-nephew and niece of John and Margaret Gavin. |
