Barrett's Ranch
*Adventurous Travel: roads not recommended for motor homes or vehicles towing trailers; usually passable from July to October*
Continuing south, General Howard reached Horse Prairie on August 15 and camped on a nearby ranch, “a grand farm, well fenced and well kept.” His hosts, the Barretts, were less than enthusiastic about the military invading their home.
“My husband … buried account books, etc. and came home, and cached household goods in the willows, and when Gen. Howard came through with his soldiers, he put a guard with the goods … one brave fellow took a Confederate bill out of my cabinet, also a switch of hair! Was his wife in need of it or did he think it would serve as a scalp-lock?”
– Alice Barret
Convinced the Nez Perce would head for the plains of central Montana, Howard scrapped his plan to assist the fortified community of Junction, Idaho, and stayed east of Bannock Pass.
“I moved forward, keeping far to the left of the Indians’ trail, and did not forget that the said buffalo country was still eastward.”
– General Oliver Otis Howard
General Howard followed the Corrine-Virginia City Wagon Road to Williams Junction in southern Montana, hoping to intercept the Nez Perce before they crossed the stage road and headed for Yellowstone Park. General Howard traveled south toward Dubois, Idaho, along a route closely paralleled today by Interstate 15.
“We made a drive for the Corrine and Deer Lodge stage- road, hoping almost against hope to catch the Indians as they emerged from the mountains, and attempted to cross this road.”
– General Oliver Otis Howard
