Nez Perce Jones

Nez pece Jones standing infront of the Bi-Metallic

Numerous articles and books have mentioned the killings at McKay Gulch in 1878. The incident happened when some of the Nez Perce Indians traveled through Granite County while attempting to return to their land in Idaho and Oregon. They had escaped to Canada during the surrender of Chief Joseph at the Bear Paw battlefield in 1877. During this return journey a number of young warriors became renegades and killed two miners in Bear Gulch before they came up Henderson Gulch to Upper Willow Creek. The group then traveled down to Rock Creek to Quartz Gulch and over the mountain to West Fork on July 11. They camped where the Amerine Ranch was later homesteaded. That evening the renegades traveled to Mc Kay Gulch and encountered John Hays. After killing him they stayed overnight at his cabin. Before sunrise the warriors knocked on the cabin door where Amos Elliot, Bill Jory and J.H. Jones lived. 

The entire conversation between the Indians and the men is contained in the New Northwest July 19, 1878; The Philipsburg Mail July 1,8,and 15, 1904 and March 3,10 and 17, 1916. The most recent account prior to Jones’ death was written in the Mail on December 22, 1922. 

Many accounts dispute “Nez Perce” Jones’ tale of escaping from the Indians after his prospector friends were killed. The mining partners who lost their lives that day: Amos Elliot age forty-five, William Jory age thirty-five and John Hayes age thirty-five are memorialized in the Philipsburg cemetery. In memory of the incident is a life sized memorial statuary outside the Philipsburg Library and City Hall at the corner of Broadway and Sansome of Jones sneaking away from two Indians. 

The story goes that after seeing one friend killed and being wounded himself, Jones took off for Mount Baldy (later named Mt. Amerine and now mistakenly spelled Emerine). It was about ten in the morning when Jones reached the summit and could see Indians driving horses up Ross’ Fork and the two who had chased him just leaving McKay Gulch. Traveling back down the mountain Jones traveled Beaver Creek, West Fork Butte’s to Brown’s Gulch, then Antelope Gulch through the divide between Rock Creek and Trout Creek and arrived at the Schuh Ranch about nine in the evening. “Mrs. Schuh gave me a horse… (and) it was about eleven when I reached town... Captain McLean organized a company to bring the dead bodies in. I couldn’t say whether Hays and Elliot were killed or not, but I told them where Jory was killed.” 

According to his obituary “Nez Perce” was driving his team daily on the streets of Philipsburg until a few days before his death. Twice a year he made the trip from Philipsburg to the Flathead Lake to visit his daughters, grandchildren and a brother that lived in that area. Arriving with the salutation  

Just dropped in to see how you are getting along', he usually stayed just long enough to make his presence felt. Never at ease with the confines of any enclosure it was always a mystery to him how anyone could live all penned up in a building. 'Couldn’t do it myself ' was the way he finally summed up his opinion on the matter and upon departing always promised to return later. Nez Perce Jones kept his promise as men of few words and good character always do.

 This account was written by Sandbar Jr. (James Brown after his father, the original Sandbar died.) J.H. Jones was born in Carthage, Missouri on January 31, 1844. He and Mrs. Jones raised six adopted children before coming west. They first lived in Colorado and then Helena, Montana. The Jones family finally arrived in the Philipsburg area sometime prior to 1878. After they moved to the west they adopted two more children: Mrs. A.R. Engle and Mrs. Alice Hebert. The family lived on the money Mr. Jones earned prospecting and his work as a freighter. Mrs. Jones died in 1919 and is buried in the Missoula Cemetery. “Nez Perce” was buried beside her when he died of pneumonia on April 5, 1926 according to his obituary. 

As a youngster, I heard the story told many times of Nez Perce Jones and it always ended with the assumption that all the miners had put their daily mined gold in tin cans and at the end of the day went off separately, to hide their treasure. The story teller would then discuss how many times they had looked in old logs and under the tree roots for the hidden caches. Concluding the story with a sigh and the comment, “I’m sure the gold has returned to its natural place again as the cans have to be rusted out by now.”