Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/853501
SignatureMT | 47 was too confining for the adventure- some young man. He headed for the gold fields out West in 1862 and ended up in Bannack and Virginia City. Choosing to make a living other than in placer mining, he and John S. Pemberton struck out into Blackfeet country that fall. Although dangerous because the Blackfeet hated white men, the two found a large camp, boldly rode in, and negotiated the sale of a large number of horses. Driving the horses south, they were struck by a blizzard. Continuing to push forward in the most adverse conditions, they lost many of the horses but finally ended up near Warm Springs Creek where they spent the remainder of the winter. In 1863, He and Pemberton, who later seled in the Deer Lodge Valley, laid out a town they called Coonwood, where Deer Lodge stands today. One winter day two fellows, Moore and Reeves, who had been exiled from Virginia City by the vigilantes, showed up and built a wickiup that provided almost no protection from the weather. Moore fell sick and would have died except that Broadwater took him in and nursed him back to health. In the fu- ture, that kindness was to be a life saver for Broadwater too. e next spring Broadwater bought up cale in the Deer Lodge valley and drove them to Bannack to sell. Geing ready to return to the Deer Lodge valley with close to $5000 worth of gold dust in his waist belt, Broadwater was stopped on the street by Moore, who had been allowed back into Bannack. He told Broadwater not to tell anyone when he was leaving town because road agents knew of the fortune he was carrying. "ey are planning on robbing and killing you," Moore said. Broadwater le town that evening and rode until early hours of the morning when he made camp and allowed his horse to rest. He fastened the rope tied to his horse to his wrist, laid down on the grass, and went to sleep. A pull on his wrist awakened him. Lying very still, he saw an Indian crawling on the ground toward him. Broadwater took aim with his rifle and shot the Indian. e Indian rose up from being wound- ed and ran into the brush. Later Broadwater rode into the Deer Lodge valley and was beginning to feel safe. Rounding a curve in the trail, he came onto the campfire of Cooper and Ives, known to be the toughest road agents in Montana. Since he knew them, they acted glad to see him and said they would ride to Deer Lodge with him. To his advan- tage, they were not saddled up and their horses were grazing afield. He told them that since his horse was tired, he would walk on, but they could catch up with him. As soon as he was out of sight, he spurred his horse into a run to a seler's cabin twenty miles away with the two of them racing behind him. His horse was so tired that it dropped when he arrived. By that time, the two road agents were only 150 yards behind. Again everyone acted as if they had had a friendly race. Ives volunteered to make flapjacks for breakfast, bragging that he was an expert. Broadwater went out with the seler to check the stock, and it was then that Broadwater was able to explain his dilemma. e seler sold his fastest horse to Broadwater and told him to leave right then. Ives and Cooper rode into Deer Lodge five hours aer Broadwater had safely arrived among friends. Broadwater had been saved by Moore's warning and Ives' pride in cooking flapjacks. Broadwater's next occupation was working for a freighting com- On May 29, 1892, over five thousand people gathered at the Broadwater Springs Hotel to attend Broadwater's funeral, one of the largest ever held in Montana. Photo provided by MHS Photograph Archives