Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains and Life on the Frontier
by Frances Fuller Victor · English · Gutenberg #39465 · 1,066,841 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Eleven Years in the Rocky Mountains and Life on the Frontier
Author: Frances Fuller Victor
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Language: English
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[Illustration: ENGLISH TOURISTS' CAMP--DOUBTFUL FRIENDS.]
ELEVEN YEARS IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS
AND LIFE ON THE FRONTIER.
by
FRANCES F. VICTOR.
Also
A History of the Sioux War, and a Life of Gen. George A. Custer
with Full Account of His Last Battle.
Illustrated by Engravings and Maps.
Published by Subscription Only.
Columbian Book Company,
Hartford, Conn.
1877.
Copyright by
Columbian Book Company.
1877.
PART I.
MOUNTAIN ADVENTURES AND FRONTIER LIFE.
INTRODUCTION.
When the author of this book has been absorbed in the elegant narratives
of Washington Irving, reading and musing over _Astoria_ and
_Bonneville_, in the cozy quiet of a New York study, no prescient motion
of the mind ever gave prophetic indication of that personal acquaintance
which has since been formed with the scenes, and even with some of the
characters which figure in the works just referred to. Yet so have
events shaped themselves that to me Astoria is familiar ground; Forts
Vancouver and Walla-Walla pictured forever in my memory; while such
journeys as I have been enabled to make into the country east of the
last named fort, have given me a fair insight into the characteristic
features of its mountains and its plains.
To-day, a railroad traverses the level stretch between the Missouri
River and the Rocky Mountains, along which, thirty years ago, the
fur-traders had worn a trail by their annual excursions with men,
pack-horses, and sometimes wagons, destined to the Rocky Mountains.
Then, they had to guard against the attacks of the Savages; and in this
respect civilization is behind the railroad, for now, as then, it is not
safe to travel without a sufficient escort. To-day, also, we have new
Territories called by several names cut out of the identical
hunting-grounds of the fur-traders of thirty years ago; and steamboats
plying the rivers where the mountain-men came to set their traps for
beaver; or cities growing up like mushrooms from a soil made quick by
gold, where the hardy mountain-hunter pursued the buffalo herds in
search of his winter's supply of food.
The wonderful romance which once gave enchantment to stories of hardship
and of daring deeds, suffered and done in these then distant wilds, is
fast being dissipated by the rapid settlement of the new Territories,
and by the familiarity of the public mind with tales of stirring
adventure encountered in the search for glittering ores. It was, then,
not without an emotion of pleased surprise that I first encountered in
the fertile plains of Western Oregon the subject of this biography, a
man fifty-eight years of age, of fine appearance and buoyant temper,
full of anecdote, and with a memory well stored with personal
recollections of all the men of note who have formerly visited the old
Oregon Territory, when it comprised the whole country west of the Rocky
Mountains lying north of California and south of the forty-ninth
parallel. This man is _Joseph L. Meek_, to whose stories of
mountain-life I have listened for days together; and who, after having
figured conspicuously, and not without considerable fame, in the early
history of Oregon, still prides himself most of all on having been a
"mountain-man."
It has frequently been suggested to Mr. Meek, who has now come to be
known by the familiar title of "Uncle Joe" to all Oregon, that a history
of his varied adventures would make a readable book, and some of his
neighbors have even undertaken to become his historian, yet with so
little well-directed efforts that the task after all has fallen to a
comparative stranger. I confess to having taken hold of it with some
doubts as to my claims to the office; and the best recommendation I can
give my work is the interest I myself felt in the subject of it; and the
only apology I can offer for anything incredible in the narrative which
it may contain, is that I "tell the tale as 'twas told to me," and that
I have no occasion to doubt the truth of it.
Seeing that the incidents I had to record embraced a period of a score
and a half of years, and that they extended over those years most
interesting in Oregon history, as well as of the history of the Fur
Trade in the West, I have concluded to preface Mr. Meek's adventures
with a sketch of the latter, believing that the information thus
conveyed to the reader will give an additional degree of interest to
their narration. The impression made upon my own mind as I gained a
knowledge of the facts which I shall record in this book relating to the
early occupation of Oregon, was that they were not only profoundly
romantic, but decidedly unique.
Mr. Meek was born in Washington Co., Virginia, in 1810, one year before
the settlement of _Astoria_, and at a period when Congress was much
interested in the question of our Western possessions and their
boundary. "Manifest destiny" seemed to have raised him up, together with
many others, bold, hardy, and fearless men, to become sentinels on the
outposts of civilization, securing to the United States with comparative
ease a vast extent of territory, for which, without them, a long
struggle with England would have taken place, delaying the settlement of
the Pacific Coast for many years, if not losing it to us altogether. It
is not without a feeling of genuine self-congratulation, that I am able
to bear testimony to the services, hitherto hardly recognized, of the
"mountain-men" who have settled in Oregon. Whenever there shall arise a
studious and faithful historian, their names shall not be excluded from
honorable mention, nor least illustrious will appear that of Joseph L.
Meek, the Rocky Mountain Hunter and Trapper.
CONTENTS.
PREFATORY CHAPTER.
Astoria--Fort Vancouver--Its isolated Position--Precautions against
Indians--The Hudson's Bay Company--Its Policy and Intercourse with
the Indians--The Arrival of the "Brigade"--Other Yearly
Arrivals--Punishment of Indian Offenders--Indian Strategy--A
Hero--The American Fur Companies--Their Dealings with the
Indians--Ashley's Expeditions to Green River--Attack on Smith's
Party--Wyeth's Expeditions--Fort Hall--Decline of the Fur
Trade--Causes of the Indians' Hostility--Dangers attending the
Trapper's Life, 23
CHAPTER I.
Early Life of Meek--He leaves Home--Enlists in a Fur Company--On
the March--A Warning Voice--Frontier Sports--Last Vestige of
Civilization--On the Plains--A first Adventure--A firm Front--A
Parley--The Summer Rendezvous--An enchanting Picture--The Free
Trapper's Indian Wife--Wild Carousals--Routine of Camp Life--Smoked
Moccasins versus Green Ones--A "Trifling Fellow," 41
CHAPTER II.
The Camp in Motion--A Trapping Expedition--Opposition to the
Hudson's Bay Company--Beautiful Scenery--The Lost Leader
Found--Rejoicings in Camp--The "Luck" of the Trappers--Conference
of Leaders--The "Devil's Own"--Blackfoot Character--Account of the
Tribes, 57
CHAPTER III.
How Beaver are Taken--Beaver Dams--Formation of Meadows--Beaver
Lodges--"Bachelors"--Trapping in Winter--"Up to Trap"--Blackfeet on
the Trail--On Guard--The Trapper's Ruse--A disappointed Bear--A
Fight with Blackfeet--"Out of Luck"--Alone in the
Mountains--Splendid Views--A Miserable Night--The last Luxury of
Life--The Awfulness of Solitude--A Singular Discovery--A Hell on
Earth--A Joyful Recognition--Hard Times in Camp--The Negro's
Porcupine--Craig's Rabbit--Deep Snows--What the Scout saw--Bighorn
River--"Colter's Hell"--An Alarm--Arrival at Wind River--Christmas,
64
CHAPTER IV.
Removal to Powder River--A Trapper's Paradise--The Transformation
in the Wilderness--The Encampment by Night--Meek takes to
Study--On the Move--Loss of Horses and Traps--Robbed and Insulted
by a Bear--Crossing the Yellowstone--A Novel Ferriage--Annoyance
from Blackfeet--A Cache Opened--A Comrade Killed--Rude Burial
Service--Return to Rendezvous--Gay Times--The old Partners take
Leave, 82
CHAPTER V.
Grizzly Bears--An Adventure with a Grizzly--The Three "Bares"--The
Mountain-Man's Manners--Joking the Leaders--The Irishman and the
Booshway--How Sublette climbed a Tree and escaped a Bear--Rival
Trappers--Whisky as a Strong Card--Ogden's Indian Wife--Her Courage
and Escape--Winter Quarters--Crow Horse-Thieves--An Expedition on
Foot--Night Attack on the Indian Fort--Fitzpatrick
Missing--Destitution in Camp--A "Medicine-Man" consulted--"Making
Medicine"--A Vision Obtained--Fitzpatrick Found--Death of Smith--An
Expedition on Snow-Shoes, 90
CHAPTER VI
Annoying Competition--The Chief's Daughter--Sublette Wounded--Forty
Days of Isolation--Sublette and Meek captured by Snake Indians--A
Solemn Council--Sentence of Death--Hope Deferred--A Rescue--The
"Mountain Lamb"--An Obstinate Rival--Blackfeet
Marauders--Fitzpatrick's Adventures in the Mountains--"When the Pie
was opened the Birds began to Sing"--Rough Sports--A Man on
Fire--Brigades ready for the Start--Blackfeet Caravan--Peaceful
Overtures--The Half-Breed's Revenge--A
Battle--Reinforcements--Death of Sinclair--Sublette
Wounded--Greenhorns--A false Alarm--Indian Adroitness--A Deserted
Fort--Incident of the Blackfoot Woman--Murder of a Party by
Blackfeet, 103
CHAPTER VII.
The March to the Humboldt--Scarcity of Game--Terrible
Sufferings--The Horrors of Thirst and Famine--Eating Ants, Crickets
and Mules--Return to Snake River--A lucky Discovery--A Trout
Supper--The Country of the Diggers--Some Account of Them--Anecdote
of Wyeth and Meek--Comparison of Indian Tribes--The Blackfeet--The
Crows--The Coast Tribes and the Mountain Tribes--The Columbia River
Indians--Their Habits, Customs, and Dress--Indian Commerce--The
Indians of the Plains--Their Dress, Manners, and Wealth--The Horses
of the Plains--Language--The Indian's Moral Nature--Hungry and
Hospitable Savages--A Trap set for a Rival--An Ambush--Death of
Vanderburg--Skirmish with Blackfeet--The Woman Interpreter taken
Prisoner--Bravery of her Husband--Happy Finale--Meek Rescues the
"Mountain Lamb"--Intense Cold--Threatened by Famine--The Den of
Grizzlys--Second Daniels, 119
CHAPTER VIII.
A Visit from Blackfeet--The Green River Rendezvous--A "Powerful
Drunk"--Mad Wolf--A Friendly Warning--A Trip to the Salt Lake
Country--Meek Joins Jo. Walker's California Expedition--Instinct of
the Mule--On the Humboldt River--Massacre of Diggers at Mary's
River--Vain Explorations--Crossing the Sierra Nevadas--Hardships
and Sufferings--The Sacramento Valley--Delight of the
Trappers--Meeting with Spanish Soldiers--A Parley--Escorted to
Monterey--A Hospitable Reception--The Native Californians--Visit to
the Mohave Village--Meeting with Trapp and Jervais--Infamous
Conduct at the Moquis Village--The Return March, 141
CHAPTER IX.
In the Camanche Country--A Surprise and a Rapid Movement--The Mule
Fort--A Camanche Charge--Sure Aim--Another Charge--More Dead
Indians--Woman's Weapon, the Tongue--Fearful Heat and Sufferings
from Thirst--The Escape by Night--The South Park--Death of
Guthrie--Meeting with Bonneville--Indignant Reproaches, 154
CHAPTER X.
Gossip at Rendezvous--Adventures in the Crow Country--Fitzpatrick
Picked by the Crows and Flies from Them--Honor among
Thieves--Unfair Treatment of Wyeth--Bonneville Snubbed at
Walla-Walla--He Rejects good Counsel--Wyeth's Threat, and its
Fulfillment--Division of Territory, 160
CHAPTER XI.
In the Blackfoot Country--A Visit to Wyeth's Trappers--Sorry
Experiences--Condolence and its Effect--The Visitors become
Defenders--A Battle with Fire and Sword--Fighting for Life--The
Trappers' Victory--A Trapping Excursion--Meek Plays a Trick and has
one Played on Him--A Run to Camp--Taking up Traps--A Blackfoot
Ambush--A Running Fire--A lucky Escape--Winter Camp on the
Yellowstone--Interpretation of a Dream--A Buffalo Hunt and a
Blackfoot Surprise--Meek's Mule Story, 166
CHAPTER XII.
Setting up as a Family Man--First Love--Cut out by the
Booshway--Reward of Constancy--Beauty of Umentucken--Her Dress, Her
Horse and Equipments--Anecdotes of the Mountain Lamb--Her Quarrel
with The Trapper--Capture by Crows--Her Rescue--Meek Avenges an
Insult--A Row in Camp--The Female Element--Death of Umentucken,
175
CHAPTER XIII.
Visitors at Rendezvous--Advent of Missionaries--What Brought
Them--Bonneville's account of the Nez Perces and Flatheads--An
Enthusiastic View of Their Characters--Origin of some of Their
Religious Observances--An Indian's Idea of a God--Material Good
Desired--Mistake of the Missionaries--First Sermon in the Rocky
Mountains--Interrupted by Buffaloes--Precept and Example--Dr.
Whitman's Character--The Missionaries Separate--Dr. Whitman Returns
to the States, 181
CHAPTER XIV.
Meek Falls into the Hands of Crows--The Story as He tells It--He
Packs Moccasins, and Bears the Jeers of the Fair Sex--Bridger's
Camp Discovered and the Lie Found out--A Desperate
Situation--Signaling the Horse-Guard--A Parley with
Bridger--Successful Strategy--Capture of Little-Gun--Meek Set at
Liberty with a New Name--A Fort Besieged by Bears--A Lazy
Trapper--The Decoy of the Delawares--Winter Amusements--The
Ishmaelite of the Wilderness--March through the Crow
Country--Return to Green River--Punishment of the
Bannacks--Consolidation--An Excursion--Intercepted by Crows--A
Scattered Camp--The Escape, 189
CHAPTER XV.
An Express from Fitzpatrick--The Approach of Missionaries
Announced--The Caravan Welcomed by a Party of Trappers--Noisy
Demonstrations--Curiosity of the Indians--The Missionary
Ladies--Preparations in the Indian Villages--Reception of the
Missionaries by the Nez Perces and Flatheads--Kind Treatment from
the Hudson's Bay Company--The Missionaries' Land of Promise--Visit
to Fort Vancouver--Selection of Missionary Stations, 201
CHAPTER XVI.
The Den of Rattlesnakes--The Old Frenchman--How to Keep Snakes out
of Bed--The Prairie Dog's Tenants at Will--Fight with
Blackfeet--Policy of War--A Duel Averted--A Run-away Bear--Meek's
Best Bear Fight--Winter Quarters on Powder River--Robbing
Bonneville's Men, 214
CHAPTER XVII.
A Dissipated Camp--A Crow Carousal--Picked Crows--A Fight with
Blackfeet--Manhead Killed--Night Visit to the Blackfoot
Village--"Cooning a River"--Stanley the Indian Painter--Desperate
Fight with Blackfeet--"The Trapper's Last Shot"--War and Peace--In
the Wrong Camp--To Rendezvous on Wind River--Mr. Gray, and His
Adventures--Massacre of Indian Allies--Capt. Stuart Robbed by
Crows--Newell's Address to the Chiefs, 225
CHAPTER XVIII.
Decline of the Fur Trade--Wild Scenes at Rendezvous--A Missionary
Party--Entertained by a War Dance--Meek in Armor--Deserted by his
Indian Spouse--The Pursuit--Meek abuses a Missionary and Kidnaps
his Wife--Meek's Black Eyed Daughter--Singing for a
Biscuit--Trapping Again--A hot March, and Fearful Suffering from
Thirst--The Old Flathead Woman--Water at Last, 237
CHAPTER XIX.
A Chat about Buffalo Hunting--Buffalo Horses--The Start--The
Pursuit--The Charge--Tumbles--Horsemanship--The Glory of Mountain
Life--How a Nez Perce Village Hunts Buffalo--Kit Carson and the
Frenchman on a Run--Mountain Manners, 246
CHAPTER XX.
The Solitary Trapper--A Jest--Among the Nez Perces--Their Eagerness
to be Taught--Meek is Called upon to Preach--He modestly
Complies--Asks for a Wife--Polygamy Defended--Meek Gets a Wife--The
Preacher's Salary--Surprised by Blackfeet--Death of Allen--The Last
Rendezvous--Anecdote of Shawnee Jim--The new Wife Missing--Meeting
with Farnham--Cold and Famine--Succor and Food--Parties at Fort
Crockett--Setting up in Trade--How Al. Saved His Bacon--Bad
Times--War upon Horse Thieves--In Search of Adventures--Green River
Canyon--Running Antelope--Gambling--Vain Hunt for
Rendezvous--Reflections and Half-Resolves--The last Trapping
Expedition, 251
CHAPTER XXI.
A new Start in Life--Mountain-Men for Pioneers--Discovery of the
Columbia River--What Capt. Gray Did--What Vancouver Did--The United
States' Claim to Oregon--First Missionaries to the Wallamet--John
McLaughlin--Hospitalities of Fort Vancouver--The Mission
Reinforced--Other Settlers in the Wallamet Valley--How they
Regarded the Mission--The California Cattle Company--Distribution
of Settlers, 264
CHAPTER XXII.
Westward Ho!--Opening Wagon Roads--Republicanism--Fat Pork for
Preachers--Mission Work at Waiilatpu--Helen Mar--Off for the
Wallamet--Wagons Left at Walla-Walla--The Dalles Mission--Indian
Prayers--The Missionaries and the Mountain-Men--The Impious
Canadian--Doing Penance--Down the Columbia--Trouble with
Indians--Arrival at the Wallamet--Hunger, and Dependence on Fort
Vancouver--Meeting Old Comrades--Settling on the Tualatin Plains--A
disagreeable Winter--Taking Claims--Who furnished the Seed Wheat,
271
CHAPTER XXIII.
Scarcity of Employment--Wilkes' Exploring Expedition--Meek Employed
as Pilot--Interchange of Courtesies at Vancouver--"The
Peacock"--Unpleasant Reminder--Exploring the Cowelitz--Wilkes'
Chronometer--Land Expedition to California--Meek
Discharged--Gleaning Wheat--Fifty Miles for an Axe--Visit to the
New Mission--Praying for a Cow--Marriage Ceremony, 280
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Brooding of Events--Arrival of the Chenamus--Meek Celebrates
the Fourth of July--Dr. Whitman Goes to Washington--An Alarming
Feature--Mission Stations of the Upper Country--Discontent of the
Indians--The Missionaries Insulted and Threatened--Mrs. Whitman
Frightened Away from Waiilatpu, 285
CHAPTER XXV.
The Plot Thickens--The Wolf Association--Suspicions of the
Canadians--"Who's for a Divide?"--The Die Cast--A Shout for
Freedom--Meek Appointed Sheriff--The Provisional Government, 291
CHAPTER XXVI.
Arrival of the Immigration at the Dalles--Wagons
Abandoned--Pitiable Condition of the Women and Children--Aid from
the Hudson's Bay Company--Perils of the Columbia--Wreck of the
Boat--Wonderful Escape--Trials of the New Colonists--The Generous
Savage--The Barefoot Lawyer--Meek's Pumpkin--Privation of the
Settlers--Shopping under Difficulties--Attempt to Manufacture
Ardent Spirits--Dilemma of the People--An Appeal--The Sheriff
Destroys the Distillery--Anecdote of Dr. White and Madam
Cooper--Meek Levies on Her Whisky--First Official Act of the
Sheriff, 294
CHAPTER XXVII.
Excitement about Indians--Dr. White's Flogging Law--Indian
Revenge--Raid of the Klamaths--Massacre of Indians--Affray at the
Falls--Death of Cockstock--Death of LeBreton and Rogers--"You'd
Better Run"--Meek's Policy with the Indians--Meek and the
Agent--The Borrowed Horse--Solemn Audacity--Wonderful
Transformation--Temperance--Courts--Anecdote of Judge
Nesmith--Early Days of Portland--An Indian Carousal--Meek "Settles
the Indians"--The Immigration of 1845--The Cascade Mountain
Road-Hunters--Hunger and Peril--A Last Request--Succor at the Last
Moment--A Reason for Patriotism, 306
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Difficulty of Collecting Taxes--A Ponderous Currency--Dr.
McLaughlin's Ox--An Exciting Year--The Boundary
Question--"Fifty-four-forty or Fight"--War Vessels in the
Columbia--Loss of the Shark--Meek Receives a Salute--Schenck
Arrested--The Color-Stand of the Shark--"Sunset at the Mouth of the
Columbia," 320
CHAPTER XXIX.
"The Adventures of a Columbia River Salmon"--History of the
Immigration of 1846--Opening of Southern Route to the
Wallamet--Tragic Fate of the California Immigrants--Sufferings of
the Oregon Immigrants--Tardy Relief--Celebrating the Fourth of
July--Visit to the Ship Brutus--An Insult to the Mountain-Men--The
Indignity Resented with a Twelve-Pounder--Dr. McLaughlin
Interferes--Re-election of Meek--Large Immigration--Failure of the
Territorial Bill--Affray between Immigrants and Indians at the
Dalles--Meeting of the Legislature--Falling of the Thunderbolt,
325
CHAPTER XXX.
Trouble with the Up-Country Indians--Causes of their
Disquiet--Their Opinion of the Americans--"Humbugged and
Cheated"--Fear of Greater Frauds in the Future--Resolve not to
Submit--Their Feelings Toward Dr. Whitman--Acts of
Violence--Influence of the Catholic Missionaries--A Season of
Severe Sickness--What Provoked the Massacre--Joe Lewis the
Half-Breed--The Fatal Test--Sickness Among the Immigrants--Dr.
Whitman's Family--Persons at the Mission and Mill--Helen
Mar--Arrival of Mr. Whitman and his Daughter--A Night Visit to the
Umatilla--In the Lodge of Stickas, the Walla-Walla Chief--The
Warning of Stickas and His Family--The Death Song--"Beware of the
Cayuses at the Mission!"--Mr. Spaulding meets Brouillet, the
Catholic Bishop--News of the Massacre--Escape to the Woods--Night
Journeys to Lapwai, 334
CHAPTER XXXI.
The Tragedy at Waiilatpu--Dr. Whitman's Arrival at Home--Monday
Morning at the Mission--Commencement of the Massacre--The First
Victim--"Oh, the Indians!"--Horrors of the Attack--Shooting of Mrs.
Whitman--Treachery of Jo Lewis--Sufferings of the Children--Indian
Orgies--The Victims Tortured--The Two Compassionate Indians--A
Night of Horror--Remarkable Escape of Mr. Osborne and
Family--Escape and Fate of Mr. Hall--Cruel Treatment of
Fugitives--Kindness of Mr. Stanley--Inhospitable Reception at Fort
Walla-Walla--Touching Kindness of Stickas, 344
CHAPTER XXXII.
Horrors of the Waiilatpu Massacre--Exemption of the
Catholics--Charges of the Protestants--Natural Suspicions--Further
Particulars of the Massacre--Cruelty to the Children--Fate of the
Young Women--Miss Bulee and the Priests--Lapwai Mission--Arrival of
Mr. Camfield--An Indian Trait--Heroism of Mrs. Spalding--Appeal to
the Chiefs--Arrival of the News--Lapwai Plundered--Treachery of
Joseph--Arrival of Mr. Spalding--Detained as Hostages--Ransomed by
the H.B. Company--The "Blood of the Martyrs"--Country Abandoned to
the Indians--Subsequent Return of Mr. Spalding to the Nez Perces,
353
CHAPTER XXXIII.
The Call to Arms--Meetings and Speeches--Ways and Means of
Defence--The first Regiment of Oregon Riflemen--Messenger to the
Governor of California--Meek Chosen Messenger to the President of
the United States--He Proceeds to the Dalles--The Army Marches to
Waiilatpu--A Skirmish with the Des Chutes--Burial of the
Victims--Meek Escorted to the Blue Mountains, 362
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Meek's Party--Precautions against Indians--Meeting with
Bannacks--White Lies--Fort Hall--Deep Snows--Horses Abandoned--The
Mountain Spirit Returning--Meeting with Peg-Leg Smith--A Mountain
Revel--Meeting with An Old Leader--Reception at Fort
Laramie--Passing the Sioux Village--Courtesy of a French
Trader--Reflections on Nearing the Settlements--Resolve to Remain
Joe Meek--Reception at St. Joseph--"The Quickest Trip Yet"--Arrival
at St. Louis--Meek as Steamboat Runner--Interview with the Stage
Agent at Wheeling--Astonishing the Natives--The Puzzled
Conductor--Arrival at Washington, 368
CHAPTER XXXV.
Meek Dines at Coleman's--A Sensation--An Amusing Scene--Recognized
by Senator Underwood--Visit to the President--Cordial Reception by
the Family of Polk--Some Doubts of Himself--Rapid Recovery of
Self-Possession--Action of the Friends of Oregon--The Two Oregon
Representatives--The Oregon Bill in the Senate--Mr.
Thornton--Meek's Successful Debut in Society--Curiosity of
Ladies--Kit Carson and the "Contingent Fund"--Meek's Remarkable
Popularity--Invited to Baltimore by the City Council--Escorts the
President--Visit to Lowell--The Factory Girls--Some Natural
Regrets--Kindness of Mrs. Polk and Mrs. Walker--Commodore
Wilkes--Oregon Lies--Getting Franked--Champagne Suppers, 381
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Meek Appointed U.S. Marshal for Oregon--"Home Sweet Home"--Pay of
the Delegates--The Lion's Share--Meek's Interview with Gov.
Lane--Buying out a Peddler--The Escort of Riflemen--The Start from
St. Louis, and the Route--Meeting Price's Army--An Adventure and a
Pleasant Surprise--Leaving the Wagons--Desertion of
Soldiers--Drought--The Trick of the Yumas--Demoralization of the
Train--Rumors of Gold--Gen. Lane's Coffee--The Writer's
Reflection--The Party on Foot--Extreme Sufferings--Arrival at
William's Ranch--Speculation in Silks and Jack-Knives--Miners at
Los Angelos--Oregonians at San Francisco--Nat Lane and Meek Take
the Gold Fever--Meek's Investment--The Governor and Marshal
Quarrel--Pranks with a Jew--A Salute--Arrival in Oregon City,
394
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Lane's Course with the Cayuse Indians--Magnanimity of the
Savages--Rebuke to Their Captors--Their Statements to Meek--The
Puzzle of Indian Ethics--Incidents of the Trial and
Execution--State of the Upper Country for A Term of Years--How Meek
Was Received in Oregon--His Incurable Waggishness--Scene in a
Court-Room--Contempt of Court--Judge Nelson and the Carpenters--Two
Hundred Lies--An Excursion by the Oregon Court--Indians Tried for
Murder--Proceedings of a Jury--Sentence and Execution of the
Indians--The Chief's Wife--Cost of Proceedings--Lane's Career in
Oregon--Gov. Davis, 408
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Meek as U.S. Marshal--The Captain of the Melvin--The British
Smuggler--Returning a Compliment--"Barly Enough for the Officers of
the Court"--Misused Confidence--Indian Disturbances--The Indian War
of 1855-6--Gen. Wool and Gov. Curry--Officers of the War--How the
Volunteers Fared--Meek as a Volunteer--Feasting and Fun--"Marking
Time"--End of Meek's Public Career, 417
ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE.
ENGLISH TOURISTS' CAMP--DOUBTFUL FRIENDS.--_Frontispiece._
WINTER COURIERS OF THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY, 23
A STATION OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, 30
WATCHING FOR INDIAN HORSE-THIEVES, 38
MAP OF THE FUR COUNTRY, 40
THE ENLISTMENT, 42
THE SUMMER RENDEZVOUS, 48
BEAVERS AT WORK, 66
HUNTERS' WINTER CAMP, 81
THE THREE "BARES," 92
THE WRONG END OF THE TREE, 94
SCOUTS IN THE BLACKFOOT COUNTRY--"ELK OR INDIANS?", 132
BRANDING CATTLE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 150
A FIGHT WITH CAMANCHES--THE MULE FORT, 155
VIEW ON THE COLUMBIA, 165
THE FREE TRAPPER'S INDIAN WIFE, 177
"INDIANS, BY JOVE!" 200
DESCENDING THE BLUE MOUNTAINS, 211
THE BEAR IN CAMP, 219
SATISFIED WITH BEAR FIGHTING, 221
CACHE, 227
THE TRAPPER'S LAST SHOT, 230
THE SQUAW'S ESCAPE, 231
HORSE-TAIL FALLS, 245
A BUFFALO HUNT, 246
CASTLE ROCK, COLUMBIA RIVER, 263
WRECKED IN THE RAPIDS, 294
A WILD INDIAN IN TOWN, 307
THE CASCADE MOUNTAIN ROAD-HUNTERS, 317
MOUNT HOOD FROM THE DALLES, 343
MASSACRE OF THE WHITMAN FAMILY, 344
MEEK AS A STEAMBOAT RUNNER, 375
"TAKE CARE KNOX," 385
A MOUNTAIN-MAN IN CLOVER, 392
GOV. LANE AND MEEK ON THE COLORADO DESERT, 401
MEEK AS U.S. MARSHAL--SCENE IN A COURT-ROOM, 413
[Illustration: WINTER COURIERS OF THE NORTH-WEST FUR COMPANY.]
PREFATORY CHAPTER.
AN ACCOUNT OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S INTERCOURSE WITH THE
INDIANS OF THE NORTH-WEST COAST; WITH A SKETCH OF THE DIFFERENT
AMERICAN FUR COMPANIES, AND THEIR DEALINGS WITH THE TRIBES OF THE
ROCKY MOUNTAINS.
In the year 1818, Mr. Prevost, acting for the United States, received
Astoria back from the British, who had taken possession, as narrated by
Mr. Irving, four years previous. The restoration took place in
conformity with the treaty of Ghent, by which those places captured
during the war were restored to their original possessors. Mr. Astor
stood ready at that time to renew his enterprise on the Columbia River,
had Congress been disposed to grant him the necessary protection which
the undertaking required. Failing to secure this, when the United States
sloop of war Ontario sailed away from Astoria, after having taken formal
possession of that place for our Government, the country was left to the
occupancy, (scarcely a joint-occupancy, since there were then no
Americans here,) of the British traders. After the war, and while
negotiations were going on between Great Britain and the United States,
the fort at Astoria had remained in possession of the North-West
Company, as their principal establishment west of the mountains. It had
been considerably enlarged since it had come into their possession, and
was furnished with artillery enough to have frightened into friendship a
much more warlike people than the subjects of old king Comcomly; who, it
will be remembered, was not at first very well disposed towards the
"King George men," having learned to look upon the "Boston men" as his
friends in his earliest intercourse with the whites. At this time
Astoria, or _Fort George_, as the British traders called it, contained
sixty-five inmates, twenty-three of whom were whites, and the remainder
Canadian half-breeds and Sandwich Islanders. Besides this number of men,
there were a few women, the native wives of the men, and their
half-breed offspring. The situation of Astoria, however, was not
favorable, being near the sea coast, and not surrounded with good
farming lands such as were required for the furnishing of provisions to
the fort. Therefore, when in 1821 it was destroyed by fire, it was only
in part rebuilt, but a better and more convenient location for the
headquarters of the North-West Company was sought for in the interior.
About this time a quarrel of long standing between the Hudson's Bay and
North-West Companies culminated in a battle between their men in the
Red River country, resulting in a considerable loss of life and
property. This affair drew the attention of the Government at home; the
rights of the rival companies were examined into, the mediation of the
Ministry secured, and a compromise effected, by which the North-West
Company, which had succeeded in dispossessing the Pacific Fur Company
under Mr. Astor, was merged into the Hudson's Bay Company, whose name
and fame are so familiar to all the early settlers of Oregon.
At the same time, Parliament passed an act by which the hands of the
consolidated company were much strengthened, and the peace and security
of all persons greatly insured; but which became subsequently, in the
joint occupancy of the country, a cause of offence to the American
citizens, as we shall see hereafter. This act allowed the commissioning
of Justices of the Peace in all the territories not belonging to the
United States, nor already subject to grants. These justices were to
execute and enforce the laws and decisions of the courts of Upper
Canada; to take evidence, and commit and send to Canada for trial the
guilty; and even in some cases, to hold courts themselves for the trial
of criminal offences and misdemeanors not punishable with death, or of
civil causes in which the amount at issue should not exceed two hundred
pounds.
Thus in 1824, the North-West Company, whose perfidy had occasioned such
loss and mortification to the enterprising New York merchant, became
itself a thing of the past, and a new rule began in the region west of
the Rocky Mountains. The old fort at Astoria having been only so far
rebuilt as to answer the needs of the hour, after due consideration, a
site for head-quarters was selected about one hundred miles from the
sea, near the mouth of the Wallamet River, though opposite to it. Three
considerations went to make up the eligibility of the point selected.
First, it was desirable, even necessary, to settle upon good
agricultural lands, where the Company's provisions could be raised by
the Company's servants. Second, it was important that the spot chosen
should be upon waters navigable for the Company's vessels, or upon
tide-water. Lastly, and not leastly, the Company had an eye to the
boundary question between Great Britain and the United States; and
believing that the end of the controversy would probably be to make the
Columbia River the northern limit of the United States territory, a spot
on the northern bank of that river was considered a good point for their
fort, and possible future city.
The site chosen by the North-West Company in 1821, for their new fort,
combined all these advantages, and the further one of having been
already commenced and named. Fort Vancouver became at once on the
accession of the Hudson's Bay Company, the metropolis of the northwest
coast, the center of the fur trade, and the seat of government for that
immense territory, over which roamed the hunters and trappers in the
employ of that powerful corporation. This post was situated on the edge
of a beautiful sloping plain on the northern bank of the Columbia, about
six miles above the upper mouth of the Wallamet. At this point the
Columbia spreads to a great width, and is divided on the south side into
bayous by long sandy islands, covered with oak, ash, and cotton-wood
trees, making the noble river more attractive still by adding the charm
of curiosity concerning its actual breadth to its natural and ordinary
magnificence. Back of the fort the land rose gently, covered with
forests of fir; and away to the east swelled the foot-hills of the
Cascade range, then the mountains themselves, draped in filmy azure, and
over-topped five thousand feet by the snowy cone of Mt. Hood.
In this lonely situation grew up, with the dispatch which characterized
the acts of the Company, a fort in most respects similar to the original
one at Astoria. It was not, however, thought necessary to make so great
a display of artillery as had served to keep in order the subjects of
Comcomly. A stockade enclosed a space about eight hundred feet long by
five hundred broad, having a bastion at one corner, where were mounted
three guns, while two eighteen pounders and two swivels were planted in
front of the residence of the Governor and chief factors. These
commanded the main entrance to the fort, besides which there were two
other gates in front, and another in the rear. Military precision was
observed in the precautions taken against surprises, as well as in all
the rules of the place. The gates were opened and closed at certain
hours, and were always guarded. No large number of Indians were
permitted within the enclosure at the same time, and every employee at
the fort knew and performed his duty with punctuality.
The buildings within the stockade were the Governor's and chief factors'
residences, stores, offices, work-shops, magazines, warehouses, &c.
Year by year, up to 1835 or '40, improvements continued to go on in and
about the fort, the chief of which was the cultivation of the large farm
and garden outside the enclosure, and the erection of a hospital
building, large barns, servants' houses, and a boat-house, all outside
of the fort; so that at the period when the Columbia River was a romance
and a mystery to the people of the United States, quite a flourishing
and beautiful village adorned its northern shore, and that too erected
and sustained by the enemies of American enterprise on soil commonly
believed to belong to the United States: fair foes the author firmly
believes them to have been in those days, yet foes nevertheless.
The system on which the Hudson's Bay Company conducted its business was
the result of long experience, and was admirable for its method and its
justice also. When a young man entered its service as a clerk, his wages
were small for several years, increasing only as his ability and good
conduct entitled him to advancement. When his salary had reached one
hundred pounds sterling he became eligible to a chief-tradership as a
partner in the concern, from which position he was promoted to the rank
of a chief factor. No important business was ever intrusted to an
inexperienced person, a policy which almost certainly prevented any
serious errors. A regular tariff was established on the Company's goods,
comprising all the articles used in their trade with the Indians; nor
was the quality of their goods ever allowed to deteriorate. A price was
also fixed upon furs according to their market value, and an Indian
knowing this, knew exactly what he could purchase. No bartering was
allowed. When skins were offered for sale at the fort they were handed
to the clerk through a window like a post-office delivery-window, and
their value in the article desired, returned through the same aperture.
All these regulations were of the highest importance to the good order,
safety, and profit of the Company. The confidence of the Indians was
sure to be gained by the constancy and good faith always observed toward
them, and the Company obtained thereby numerous and powerful allies in
nearly all the tribes.
As soon as it was possible to make the change, the Indians were denied
the use of intoxicating drinks, the appetite for which had early been
introduced among them by coasting vessels, and even continued by the
Pacific Fur Company at Astoria. It would have been dangerous to have
suddenly deprived them of the coveted stimulus; therefore the practice
must be discontinued by many wise arts and devices. A public notice was
given that the sale of it would be stopped, and the reasons for this
prohibition explained to the Indians. Still, not to come into direct
conflict with their appetites, a little was sold to the chiefs, now and
then, by the clerks, who affected to be running the greatest risks in
violating the order of the company. The strictest secrecy was enjoined
on the lucky chief who, by the friendship of some under-clerk, was
enabled to smuggle off a bottle under his blanket. But the cunning clerk
had generally managed to get his "good friend" into a state so cleverly
between drunk and sober, before he entrusted him with the precious
bottle, that he was sure to betray himself. Leaving the shop with a mien
even more erect than usual, with a gait affected in its majesty, and his
blanket tightened around him to conceal his secret treasure, the
chuckling chief would start to cross the grounds within the fort. If he
was a new customer, he was once or twice permitted to play his little
game with the obliging clerk whose particular friend he was, and to
escape detection.
But by-and-by, when the officers had seen the offence repeated more than
once from their purposely contrived posts of observation, one of them
would skillfully chance to intercept the guilty chief at whose comical
endeavors to appear sober he was inwardly laughing, and charge him with
being intoxicated. Wresting away the tightened blanket, the bottle
appeared as evidence that could not be controverted, of the duplicity of
the Indian and the unfaithfulness of the clerk, whose name was instantly
demanded, that he might be properly punished. When the chief again
visited the fort, his particular friend met him with a sorrowful
countenance, reproaching him for having been the cause of his disgrace
and loss. This reproach was the surest means of preventing another
demand for rum, the Indian being too magnanimous, probably, to wish to
get his friend into trouble; while the clerk affected to fear the
consequences too much to be induced to take the risk another time. Thus
by kind and careful means the traffic in liquors was at length broken
up, which otherwise would have ruined both Indian and trader.
To the company's servants liquor was sold or allowed at certain times:
to those on the sea-board, one half-pint two or three times a year, to
be used as medicine,--not that it was always needed or used for this
purpose, but too strict inquiry into its use was wisely avoided,--and
for this the company demanded pay. To their servants in the interior no
liquor was sold, but they were furnished as a gratuity with one pint on
leaving rendezvous, and another on arriving at winter quarters. By this
management, it became impossible for them to dispose of drink to the
Indians; their small allowance being always immediately consumed in a
meeting or parting carouse.
The arrival of men from the interior at Fort Vancouver usually took
place in the month of June, when the Columbia was high, and a stirring
scene it was. The chief traders generally contrived their march through
the upper country, their camps, and their rendezvous, so as to meet the
Express which annually came to Vancouver from Canada and the Red River
settlements. They then descended the Columbia together, and arrived in
force at the Fort. This annual fleet went by the name of Brigade--a name
which suggested a military spirit in the crews that their appearance
failed to vindicate. Yet, though there was nothing warlike in the scene,
there was much that was exciting, picturesque, and even brilliant; for
these _couriers de bois_, or wood-rangers, and the _voyageurs_, or
boatmen, were the most foppish of mortals when they came to rendezvous.
Then, too, there was an exaltation of spirits on their safe arrival at
head-quarters, after their year's toil and danger in wildernesses, among
Indians and wild beasts, exposed to famine and accident, that almost
deprived them of what is called "common sense," and compelled them to
the most fantastic excesses.
Their well-understood peculiarities did not make them the less welcome
at Vancouver. When the cry was given--"the Brigade! the Brigade!"--there
was a general rush to the river's bank to witness the spectacle. In
advance came the chief-trader's barge, with the company's flag at the
bow, and the cross of St. George at the stern: the fleet as many abreast
as the turnings of the river allowed. With strong and skillful strokes
the boatmen governed their richly laden boats, keeping them in line, and
at the same time singing in chorus a loud and not unmusical hunting or
boating song. The gay ribbons and feathers with which the singers were
bedecked took nothing from the picturesqueness of their appearance. The
broad, full river, sparkling in the sunlight, gemmed with emerald
islands, and bordered with a rich growth of flowering shrubbery; the
smiling plain surrounding the Fort; the distant mountains, where
glittered the sentinel Mt. Hood, all came gracefully into the picture,
and seemed to furnish a fitting back-ground and middle distance for the
bright bit of coloring given by the moving life in the scene. As with a
skillful sweep the brigade touched the bank, and the traders and men
sprang on shore, the first cheer which had welcomed their appearance was
heartily repeated, while a gay clamor of questions and answers followed.
After the business immediately incident to their arrival had been
dispatched, then took place the regale of pork, flour, and spirits,
which was sure to end in a carouse, during which blackened eyes and
broken noses were not at all uncommon; but though blood was made to
flow, life was never put seriously in peril, and the belligerent parties
were the best of friends when the fracas was ended.
The business of exchange being completed in three or four weeks--the
rich stores of peltries consigned to their places in the warehouse, and
the boats reladen with goods for the next year's trade with the Indians
in the upper country, a parting carouse took place, and with another
parade of feathers, ribbons, and other finery, the brigade departed
with songs and cheers as it had come, but with probably heavier hearts.
It would be a stern morality indeed which could look upon the excesses
of this peculiar class as it would upon the same excesses committed by
men in the enjoyment of all the comforts and pleasures of civilized
life. For them, during most of the year, was only an out-door life of
toil, watchfulness, peril, and isolation. When they arrived at the
rendezvous, for the brief period of their stay they were allowed perfect
license because nothing else would content them. Although at
head-quarters they were still in the wilderness, thousands of miles from
civilization, with no chance of such recreations as men in the continual
enjoyment of life's sweetest pleasures would naturally seek. For them
there was only one method of seeking and finding temporary oblivion of
the accustomed hardship; and whatever may be the strict rendering of
man's duty as an immortal being, we cannot help being somewhat lenient
at times to his errors as a mortal.
After the departure of the boats, there was another arrival at the Fort,
of trappers from the Snake River country. Previous to 1832, such were
the dangers of the fur trade in this region, that only the most
experienced traders were suffered to conduct a party through it; and
even they were frequently attacked, and sometimes sustained serious
losses of men and animals. Subsequently, however, the Hudson's Bay
Company obtained such an influence over even these hostile tribes as to
make it safe for a party of no more than two of their men to travel
through this much dreaded region.
There was another important arrival at Fort Vancouver, usually in
midsummer. This was the Company's supply ship from London. In the
possible event of a vessel being lost, one cargo was always kept on
store at Vancouver; but for which wise regulation much trouble and
disaster might have resulted, especially in the early days of the
establishment. Occasionally a vessel foundered at sea or was lost on the
bar of the Columbia; but these losses did not interrupt the regular
transaction of business. The arrival of a ship from London was the
occasion of great bustle and excitement also. She brought not only goods
for the posts throughout the district of the Columbia, but letters,
papers, private parcels, and all that seemed of so much value to the
little isolated world at the Fort.
A company conducting its business with such method and regularity as has
been described, was certain of success. Yet some credit also must attach
to certain individuals in its service, whose faithfulness, zeal, and
ability in carrying out its designs, contributed largely to its welfare.
Such a man was at the head of the Hudson's Bay Company's affairs in the
large and important district west of the Rocky Mountains. The Company
never had in its service a more efficient man than Gov. John McLaughlin,
more commonly called Dr. McLaughlin.
To the discipline, at once severe and just, which Dr. McLaughlin
maintained in his district, was due the safety and prosperity of the
company he served, and the servants of that company generally; as well
as, at a later period, of the emigration which followed the hunter and
trapper into the wilds of Oregon. Careful as were all the officers of
the Hudson's Bay Company, they could not always avoid conflicts with the
Indians; nor was their kindness and justice always sufficiently
appreciated to prevent the outbreak of savage instincts. Fort Vancouver
had been threatened in an early day; a vessel or two had been lost in
which the Indians were suspected to have been implicated; at long
intervals a trader was murdered in the interior; or more frequently,
Indian insolence put to the test both the wisdom and courage of the
officers to prevent an outbreak.
When murders and robberies were committed, it was the custom at Fort
Vancouver to send a strong party to demand the offenders from their
tribe; Such was the well known power and influence of the Company, and
such the wholesome fear of the "King George men," that this demand was
never resisted, and if the murderer could be found he was given up to be
hung according to "King George" laws. They were almost equally impelled
to good conduct by the state of dependence on the company into which
they had been brought. Once they had subsisted and clothed themselves
from the spoils of the rivers and forest; since they had tasted of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil, they could no more return to skins
for raiment, nor to game alone for food. Blankets and flour, beads,
guns, and ammunition had become dear to their hearts: for all these
things they must love and obey the Hudson's Bay Company. Another fine
stroke of policy in the Company was to destroy the chieftain-ships in
the various tribes; thus weakening them by dividing them and preventing
dangerous coalitions of the leading spirits: for in savage as well as
civilized life, the many are governed by the few.
It may not be uninteresting in this place to give a few anecdotes of the
manner in which conflicts with the Indians were prevented, or offences
punished by the Hudson's Bay Company. In the year 1828 the ship _William
and Ann_ was cast away just inside the bar of the Columbia, under
circumstances which seemed to direct suspicion to the Indians in that
vicinity. Whether or not they had attacked the ship, not a soul was
saved from the wreck to tell how she was lost. On hearing that the ship
had gone to pieces, and that the Indians had appropriated a portion of
her cargo, Dr. McLaughlin sent a message to the chiefs, demanding
restitution of the stolen goods. Nothing was returned by the messenger
except one or two worthless articles. Immediately an armed force was
sent to the scene of the robbery with a fresh demand for the goods,
which the chiefs, in view of their spoils, thought proper to resist by
firing upon the reclaiming party. But they were not unprepared; and a
swivel was discharged to let the savages know what they might expect in
the way of firearms. The argument was conclusive, the Indians fleeing
into the woods. While making search for the goods, a portion of which
were found, a chief was observed skulking near, and cocking his gun; on
which motion one of the men fired, and he fell. This prompt action, the
justice of which the Indians well understood, and the intimidating power
of the swivel, put an end to the incipient war. Care was then taken to
impress upon their minds that they must not expect to profit by the
disasters of vessels, nor be tempted to murder white men for the sake of
plunder. The _William and Ann_ was supposed to have got aground, when
the savages seeing her situation, boarded her and murdered the crew for
the cargo which they knew her to contain. Yet as there were no positive
proofs, only such measures were taken as would deter them from a similar
attempt in future. That the lesson was not lost, was proven two years
later, when the _Isabella_, from London, struck on the bar, her crew
deserting her. In this instance no attempt was made to meddle with the
vessel's cargo; and as the crew made their way to Vancouver, the goods
were nearly all saved.
In a former voyage of the _William and Ann_ to the Columbia River, she
had been sent on an exploring expedition to the Gulf of Georgia to
discover the mouth of Frazier's River, having on board a crew of forty
men. Whenever the ship came to anchor, two sentries were kept constantly
on deck to guard against any surprise or misconduct on the part of the
Indians; so adroit, however, were they in the light-fingered art, that
every one of the eight cannon with which the ship was armed was robbed
of its ammunition, as was discovered on leaving the river! Such
incidents as these served to impress the minds of the Company's officers
and servants with the necessity of vigilance in their dealings with the
savages.
Not all their vigilance could at all times avail to prevent mischief.
When Sir George Simpson, Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, was on a
visit to Vancouver in 1829, he was made aware of this truism. The
Governor was on his return to Canada by way of the Red River Settlement,
and had reached the Dalles of the Columbia with his party. In making the
portage at this place, all the party except Dr. Tod gave their guns into
the charge of two men to prevent their being stolen by the Indians, who
crowded about, and whose well-known bad character made great care
needful. All went well, no attempt to seize either guns or other
property being made until at the end of the portage the boats had been
reloaded. As the party were about to re-embark, a simultaneous rush was
made by the Indians who had dogged their steps, to get possession of the
boats. Dr. Tod raised his gun immediately, aiming at the head chief,
who, not liking the prospect of so speedy dissolution, ordered his
followers to desist, and the party were suffered to escape. It was soon
after discovered that every gun belonging to the party in the boat had
been wet, excepting the one carried by Dr. Tod; and to the fact that the
Doctor did carry his gun, all the others owed their lives.
The great desire of the Indians for guns and ammunition led to many
stratagems which were dangerous to the possessors of the coveted
articles. Much more dangerous would it have been to have allowed them a
free supply of these things; nor could an Indian purchase from the
Company more than a stated supply, which was to be used, not for the
purposes of war, but to keep himself in game.
[Illustration: A STATION OF THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.]
Dr. McLaughlin was himself once quite near falling into a trap of the
Indians, so cunningly laid as to puzzle even him. This was a report
brought to him by a deputation of Columbia River Indians, stating the
startling fact that the fort at Nesqually had been attacked, and every
inmate slaughtered. To this horrible story, told with every appearance
of truth, the Doctor listened with incredulity mingled with apprehension.
The Indians were closely questioned and cross-questioned, but did not
conflict in their testimony. The matter assumed a very painful aspect.
Not to be deceived, the Doctor had the unwelcome messengers committed to
custody while he could bring other witnesses from their tribe. But they
were prepared for this, and the whole tribe were as positive as those
who brought the tale. Confounded by this cloud of witnesses, Dr.
McLaughlin had almost determined upon sending an armed force to
Nesqually to inquire into the matter, and if necessary, punish the
Indians, when a detachment of men arrived from that post, and the plot
was exposed! The design of the Indians had been simply to cause a
division of the force at Vancouver, after which they believed they might
succeed in capturing and plundering the fort. Had they truly been
successful in this undertaking, every other trading-post in the country
would have been destroyed. But so long as the head-quarters of the
Company remained secure and powerful, the other stations were
comparatively safe.
An incident which has been several times related, occurred at fort
Walla-Walla, and shows how narrow escapes the interior traders sometimes
made. The hero of this anecdote was Mr. McKinlay, one of the most
estimable of the Hudson's Bay Company's officers, in charge of the fort
just named. An Indian was one day lounging about the fort, and seeing
some timbers lying in a heap that had been squared for pack saddles,
helped himself to one and commenced cutting it down into a whip handle
for his own use. To this procedure Mr. McKinlay's clerk demurred, first
telling the Indian its use, and then ordering him to resign the piece of
timber. The Indian insolently replied that the timber was his, and he
should take it. At this the clerk, with more temper than prudence,
struck the offender, knocking him over, soon after which the savage left
the fort with sullen looks boding vengeance. The next day Mr. McKinlay,
not being informed of what had taken place, was in a room of the fort
with his clerk when a considerable party of Indians began dropping
quietly in until there were fifteen or twenty of them inside the
building. The first intimation of anything wrong McKinlay received was
when he observed the clerk pointed out in a particular manner by one of
the party. He instantly comprehended the purpose of his visitors, and
with that quickness of thought which is habitual to the student of
savage nature, he rushed into the store room and returned with a powder
keg, flint and steel. By this time the unlucky clerk was struggling for
his life with his vindictive foes. Putting down the powder in their
midst and knocking out the head of the keg with a blow, McKinlay stood
over it ready to strike fire with his flint and steel. The savages
paused aghast. They knew the nature of the "perilous stuff," and also
understood the trader's purpose. "Come," said he with a clear,
determined voice, "you are twenty braves against us two: now touch him
if you dare, and see who dies first." In a moment the fort was cleared,
and McKinlay was left to inquire the cause of what had so nearly been a
tragedy. It is hardly a subject of doubt whether or not his clerk got a
scolding. Soon after, such was the powerful influence exerted by these
gentlemen, the chief of the tribe flogged the pilfering Indian for the
offence, and McKinlay became a great brave, a "big heart" for his
courage.
It was indeed necessary to have courage, patience, and prudence in
dealing with the Indians. These the Hudson's Bay officers generally
possessed. Perhaps the most irascible of them all in the Columbia
District, was their chief, Dr. McLaughlin; but such was his goodness and
justice that even the savages recognized it, and he was _hyas tyee_, or
great chief, in all respects to them. Being on one occasion very much
annoyed by the pertinacity of an Indian who was continually demanding
pay for some stones with which the Doctor was having a vessel ballasted,
he seized one of some size, and thrusting it in the Indian's mouth,
cried out in a furious manner, "pay, pay! if the stones are yours, take
them and eat them, you rascal! Pay, pay! the devil! the devil!" upon
which explosion of wrath, the native owner of the soil thought it
prudent to withdraw his immediate claims.
There was more, however, in the Doctor's action than mere indulgence of
wrath. He understood perfectly that the savage values only what he can
eat and wear, and that as he could not put the stones to either of these
uses, his demand for pay was an impudent one.
Enough has been said to give the reader an insight into Indian
character, to prepare his mind for events which are to follow, to convey
an idea of the influence of the Hudson's Bay Company, and to show on
what it was founded. The American Fur Companies will now be sketched,
and their mode of dealing with the Indians contrasted with that of the
British Company. The comparison will not be favorable; but should any
unfairness be suspected, a reference to Mr. Irving's _Bonneville_, will
show that the worthy Captain was forced to witness against his own
countrymen in his narrative of his hunting and trading adventures in the
Rocky Mountains.
* * * * *
The dissolution of the Pacific Fur Company, the refusal of the United
States Government to protect Mr. Astor in a second attempt to carry on a
commerce with the Indians west of the Rocky Mountains, and the
occupation of that country by British traders, had the effect to deter
individual enterprise from again attempting to establish commerce on the
Pacific coast. The people waited for the Government to take some steps
toward the encouragement of a trans-continental trade; the Government
beholding the lion (British) in the way, waited for the expiration of
the convention of 1818, in the Micawber-like hope that something would
"turn up" to settle the question of territorial sovereignty. The war of
1812 had been begun on the part of Great Britain, to secure the great
western territories to herself for the profits of the fur trade, almost
solely. Failing in this, she had been compelled, by the treaty of Ghent,
to restore to the United States all the places and forts captured during
that war. Yet the forts and trading posts in the west remained
practically in the possession of Great Britain; for her traders and fur
companies still roamed the country, excluding American trade, and
inciting (so the frontiers-men believed), the Indians to acts of blood
and horror.
Congress being importuned by the people of the West, finally, in 1815,
passed an act expelling British traders from American territory east of
the Rocky Mountains. Following the passage of this act the hunters and
trappers of the old North American Company, at the head of which Mr.
Astor still remained, began to range the country about the head waters
of the Mississippi and the upper Missouri. Also a few American traders
had ventured into the northern provinces of Mexico, previous to the
overthrow of the Spanish Government; and after that event, a thriving
trade grew up between St. Louis and Santa Fe.
At length, in 1823, Mr. W.H. Ashley, of St. Louis, a merchant for a long
time engaged in the fur trade on the Missouri and its tributaries,
determined to push a trading party up to or beyond the Rocky Mountains.
Following up the Platte River, Mr. Ashley proceeded at the head of a
large party with horses and merchandise, as far as the northern branch
of the Platte, called the Sweetwater. This he explored to its source,
situated in that remarkable depression in the Rocky Mountains, known as
the South Pass--the same which Fremont _discovered_ twenty years later,
during which twenty years it was annually traveled by trading parties,
and just prior to Fremont's discovery, by missionaries and emigrants
destined to Oregon. To Mr. Ashley also belongs the credit of having
first explored the head-waters of the Colorado, called the Green River,
afterwards a favorite rendezvous of the American Fur Companies. The
country about the South Pass proved to be an entirely new hunting
ground, and very rich in furs, as here many rivers take their rise,
whose head-waters furnished abundant beaver. Here Mr. Ashley spent the
summer, returning to St. Louis in the fall with a valuable collection of
skins.
In 1824, Mr. Ashley repeated the expedition, extending it this time
beyond Green River as far as Great Salt Lake, near which to the south he
discovered another smaller lake, which he named Lake Ashley, after
himself. On the shores of this lake he built a fort for trading with the
Indians, and leaving in it about one hundred men, returned to St. Louis
the second time with a large amount of furs. During the time the fort
was occupied by Mr. Ashley's men, a period of three years, more than one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars worth of furs were collected and
sent to St. Louis. In 1827, the fort, and all Mr. Ashley's interest in
the business, was sold to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, at the head of
which were Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, and David Jackson, Sublette
being the leading spirit in the Company.
The custom of these enterprising traders, who had been in the mountains
since 1824, was to divide their force, each taking his command to a good
hunting ground, and returning at stated times to rendezvous, generally
appointed on the head-waters of Green River. Frequently the other fur
companies, (for there were other companies formed on the heels of
Ashley's enterprise,) learning of the place appointed for the yearly
rendezvous, brought their goods to the same resort, when an intense
rivalry was exhibited by the several traders as to which company should
soonest dispose of its goods, getting, of course, the largest amount of
furs from the trappers and Indians. So great was the competition in the
years between 1826 and 1829, when there were about six hundred American
trappers in and about the Rocky Mountains, besides those of the Hudson's
Bay Company, that it was death for a man of one company to dispose of
his furs to a rival association. Even a "free trapper"--that is, one not
indentured, but hunting upon certain terms of agreement concerning the
price of his furs and the cost of his outfit, only, dared not sell to
any other company than the one he had agreed with.
Jedediah Smith, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, during their first
year in the mountains, took a party of five trappers into Oregon, being
the first American, trader or other, to cross into that country since
the breaking up of Mr. Astor's establishment. He trapped on the
head-waters of the Snake River until autumn, when he fell in with a
party of Hudson's Bay trappers, and going with them to their post in the
Flathead country, wintered there.
Again, in 1826, Smith, Sublette, and Jackson, brought out a large number
of men to trap in the Snake River country, and entered into direct
competition with the Hudson's Bay Company, whom they opposed with hardly
a degree more of zeal than they competed with rival American traders:
this one extra degree being inspired by a "spirit of '76" toward
anything British.
After the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had extended its business by the
purchase of Mr. Ashley's interest, the partners determined to push their
enterprise to the Pacific coast, regardless of the opposition they were
likely to encounter from the Hudson's Bay traders. Accordingly, in the
spring of 1827, the Company was divided up into three parts, to be led
separately, by different routes, into the Indian Territory, nearer the
ocean.
Smith's route was from the Platte River, southwards to Santa Fe, thence
to the bay of San Francisco, and thence along the coast to the Columbia
River. His party were successful, and had arrived in the autumn of the
following year at the Umpqua River, about two hundred miles south of the
Columbia, in safety. Here one of those sudden reverses to which the
"mountain-man" is liable at any moment, overtook him. His party at this
time consisted of thirteen men, with their horses, and a collection of
furs valued at twenty thousand dollars. Arrived at the Umpqua, they
encamped for the night on its southern bank, unaware that the natives in
this vicinity (the Shastas) were more fierce and treacherous than the
indolent tribes of California, for whom, probably, they had a great
contempt. All went well until the following morning, the Indians hanging
about the camp, but apparently friendly. Smith had just breakfasted, and
was occupied in looking for a fording-place for the animals, being on a
raft, and having with him a little Englishman and one Indian. When they
were in the middle of the river the Indian snatched Smith's gun and
jumped into the water. At the same instant a yell from the camp, which
was in sight, proclaimed that it was attacked. Quick as thought Smith
snatched the Englishman's gun, and shot dead the Indian in the river.
To return to the camp was certain death. Already several of his men had
fallen; overpowered by numbers he could not hope that any would escape,
and nothing was left him but flight. He succeeded in getting to the
opposite shore with his raft before he could be intercepted, and fled
with his companion, on foot and with only one gun, and no provisions, to
the mountains that border the river. With great good fortune they were
enabled to pass through the remaining two hundred miles of their journey
without accident, though not without suffering, and reach Fort Vancouver
in a destitute condition, where they were kindly cared for.
Of the men left in camp, only two escaped. One man named Black defended
himself until he saw an opportunity for flight, when he escaped to the
cover of the woods, and finally to a friendly tribe farther north, near
the coast, who piloted him to Vancouver. The remaining man was one
Turner, of a very powerful frame, who was doing camp duty as cook on
this eventful morning. When the Indians rushed upon him he defended
himself with a huge firebrand, or half-burnt poplar stick, with which he
laid about him like Sampson, killing four red-skins before he saw a
chance of escape. Singularly, for one in his extremity, he did escape,
and also arrived at Vancouver that winter.
Dr. McLaughlin received the unlucky trader and his three surviving men
with every mark and expression of kindness, and entertained them through
the winter. Not only this, but he dispatched a strong, armed party to
the scene of the disaster to punish the Indians and recover the stolen
goods; all of which was done at his own expense, both as an act of
friendship toward his American rivals, and as necessary to the
discipline which they everywhere maintained among the Indians. Should
this offence go unpunished, the next attack might be upon one of his own
parties going annually down into California. Sir George Simpson, the
Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, chanced to be spending the winter
at Vancouver. He offered to send Smith to London the following summer,
in the Company's vessel, where he might dispose of his furs to
advantage; but Smith declined this offer, and finally sold his furs to
Dr. McLaughlin, and returned in the spring to the Rocky Mountains.
On Sublette's return from St. Louis, in the summer of 1829, with men and
merchandise for the year's trade, he became uneasy on account of Smith's
protracted absence. According to a previous plan, he took a large party
into the Snake River country to hunt. Among the recruits from St. Louis
was Joseph L. Meek, the subject of the narrative following this chapter.
Sublette not meeting with Smith's party on its way from the Columbia, as
he still hoped, at length detailed a party to look for him on the
head-waters of the Snake. Meek was one of the men sent to look for the
missing partner, whom he discovered at length in Pierre's Hole, a deep
valley in the mountains, from which issues the Snake River in many
living streams. Smith returned with the men to camp, where the tale of
his disasters was received after the manner of mountain-men, simply
declaring with a momentarily sobered countenance, that their comrade has
not been "in luck;" with which brief and equivocal expression of
sympathy the subject is dismissed. To dwell on the dangers incident to
their calling would be to half disarm themselves of their necessary
courage; and it is only when they are gathered about the fire in their
winter camp, that they indulge in tales of wild adventure and
"hair-breadth 'scapes," or make sorrowful reference to a comrade lost.
Influenced by the hospitable treatment which Smith had received at the
hands of the Hudson's Bay Company, the partners now determined to
withdraw from competition with them in the Snake country, and to trap
upon the waters of the Colorado, in the neighborhood of their fort. But
"luck," the mountain-man's Providence, seemed to have deserted Smith. In
crossing the Colorado River with a considerable collection of skins, he
was again attacked by Indians, and only escaped by losing all his
property. He then went to St. Louis for a supply of merchandise, and
fitted out a trading party for Santa Fe; but on his way to that place
was killed in an encounter with the savages.
Turner, the man who so valiantly wielded the firebrand on the Umpqua
River, several years later met with a similar adventure on the Rogue
River, in Southern Oregon, and was the means of saving the lives of his
party by his courage, strength, and alertness. He finally, when trapping
had become unprofitable, retired upon a farm in the Wallamet Valley, as
did many other mountain-men who survived the dangers of their perilous
trade.
After the death of Smith, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company continued its
operations under the command of Bridger, Fitzpatrick, and Milton
Sublette, brother of William. In the spring of 1830 they received about
two hundred recruits, and with little variation kept up their number of
three or four hundred men for a period of eight or ten years longer, or
until the beaver were hunted out of every nook and corner of the Rocky
Mountains.
Previous to 1835, there were in and about the Rocky Mountains, beside
the "American" and "Rocky Mountain" companies, the St. Louis Company,
and eight or ten "lone traders." Among these latter were William
Sublette, Robert Campbell, J.O. Pattie, Mr. Pilcher, Col. Charles Bent,
St. Vrain, William Bent, Mr. Gant, and Mr. Blackwell. All these
companies and traders more or less frequently penetrated into the
countries of New Mexico, Old Mexico, Sonora, and California; returning
sometimes through the mountain regions of the latter State, by the
Humboldt River to the head-waters of the Colorado. Seldom, in all their
journeys, did they intrude on that portion of the Indian Territory lying
within three hundred miles of Fort Vancouver, or which forms the area of
the present State of Oregon.
Up to 1832, the fur trade in the West had been chiefly conducted by
merchants from the frontier cities, especially by those of St. Louis.
The old "North American" was the only exception. But in the spring of
this year, Captain Bonneville, an United States officer on furlough, led
a company of a hundred men, with a train of wagons, horses and mules,
with merchandise, into the trapping grounds of the Rocky Mountains. His
wagons were the first that had ever crossed the summit of these
mountains, though William Sublette had, two or three years previous,
brought wagons as far as the valley of the Wind River, on the east side
of the range. Captain Bonneville remained nearly three years in the
hunting and trapping grounds, taking parties of men into the Colorado,
Humboldt, and Sacramento valleys; but he realized no profits from his
expedition, being opposed and competed with by both British and American
traders of larger experience.
But Captain Bonneville's venture was a fortunate one compared with that
of Mr. Nathaniel Wyeth of Massachusetts, who also crossed the continent
in 1832, with the view of establishing a trade on the Columbia River.
Mr. Wyeth brought with him a small party of men, all inexperienced in
frontier or mountain life, and destined for a salmon fishery on the
Columbia. He had reached Independence, Missouri, the last station before
plunging into the wilderness, and found himself somewhat at a loss how
to proceed, until, at this juncture, he was overtaken by the party of
William Sublette, from St. Louis to the Rocky Mountains, with whom he
travelled in company to the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole.
When Wyeth arrived at the Columbia River, after tarrying until he had
acquired some mountain experiences, he found that his vessel, which was
loaded with merchandise for the Columbia River trade, had not arrived.
He remained at Vancouver through the winter, the guest of the Hudson's
Bay Company, and either having learned or surmised that his vessel was
wrecked, returned to the United States in the following year. Not
discouraged, however, he made another venture in 1834, despatching the
ship _May Dacre_, Captain Lambert, for the Columbia River, with another
cargo of Indian goods, traveling himself overland with a party of two
hundred men, and a considerable quantity of merchandise which he
expected to sell to the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. In this expectation
he was defeated by William Sublette, who had also brought out a large
assortment of goods for the Indian trade, and had sold out, supplying
the market, before Mr. Wyeth arrived.
Wyeth then built a post, named Fort Hall, on Snake River, at the
junction of the Portneuf, where he stored his goods, and having detached
most of his men in trapping parties, proceeded to the Columbia River to
meet the _May Dacre_. He reached the Columbia about the same time with
his vessel, and proceeded at once to erect a salmon fishery. To forward
this purpose he built a post, called Fort William, on the lower end of
Wappatoo (now known as Sauvie's) Island, near where the Lower Wallamet
falls into the Columbia. But for various reasons he found the business
on which he had entered unprofitable. He had much trouble with the
Indians, his men were killed or drowned, so that by the time he had half
a cargo of fish, he was ready to abandon the effort to establish a
commerce with the Oregon Indians, and was satisfied that no enterprise
less stupendous and powerful than that of the Hudson's Bay Company could
be long sustained in that country.
Much complaint was subsequently made by Americans, chiefly Missionaries,
of the conduct of that company in not allowing Mr. Wyeth to purchase
beaver skins of the Indians, but Mr. Wyeth himself made no such
complaint. Personally, he was treated with unvarying kindness, courtesy,
and hospitality. As a trader, they would not permit him to undersell
them. In truth, they no doubt wished him away; because competition would
soon ruin the business of either, and they liked not to have the Indians
taught to expect more than their furs were worth, nor to have the
Indians' confidence in themselves destroyed or tampered with.
The Hudson's Bay Company were hardly so unfriendly to him as the
American companies; since to the former he was enabled to sell his goods
and fort on the Snake River, before he returned to the United States,
which he did in 1835.
The sale of Fort Hall to the Hudson's Bay Company was a finishing blow
at the American fur trade in the Rocky Mountains, which after two or
three years of constantly declining profits, was entirely abandoned.
Something of the dangers incident to the life of the hunter and trapper
may be gathered from the following statements, made by various parties
who have been engaged in it. In 1808, a Missouri Company engaged in fur
hunting on the three forks of the river Missouri, were attacked by
Blackfeet, losing twenty-seven men, and being compelled to abandon the
country. In 1823, Mr. Ashley was attacked on the same river by the
Arickaras, and had twenty-six men killed. About the same time the
Missouri company lost seven men, and fifteen thousand dollars' worth of
merchandise on the Yellowstone River. A few years previous, Major Henry
lost, on the Missouri River, six men and fifty horses. In the sketch
given of Smith's trading adventures is shown how uncertain were life and
property at a later period. Of the two hundred men whom Wyeth led into
the Indian country, only about forty were alive at the end of three
years. There was, indeed, a constant state of warfare between the
Indians and the whites, wherever the American Companies hunted, in which
great numbers of both lost their lives. Add to this cause of decimation
the perils from wild beasts, famine, cold, and all manner of accidents,
and the trapper's chance of life was about one in three.
Of the causes which have produced the enmity of the Indians, there are
about as many. It was found to be the case almost universally, that on
the first visit of the whites the natives were friendly, after their
natural fears had been allayed. But by degrees their cupidity was
excited to possess themselves of the much coveted dress, arms, and goods
of their visitors. As they had little or nothing to offer in exchange,
which the white man considered an equivalent, they took the only method
remaining of gratifying their desire of possession, and _stole_ the
coveted articles which they could not purchase. When they learned that
the white men punished theft, they murdered to prevent the punishment.
Often, also, they had wrongs of their own to avenge. White men did not
always regard their property-rights. They were guilty of infamous
conduct toward Indian women. What one party of whites told them was
true, another plainly contradicted, leaving the lie between them. They
were overbearing toward the Indians on their own soil, exciting to
irrepressible hostility the natural jealousy of the inferior toward the
superior race, where both are free, which characterizes all people. In
short, the Indians were not without their grievances; and from barbarous
ignorance and wrong on one side, and intelligent wrong-doing on the
other, together with the misunderstandings likely to arise between two
entirely distinct races, grew constantly a thousand abuses, which
resulted in a deadly enmity between the two.
For several reasons this evil existed to a greater degree among the
American traders and trappers than among the British. The American
trapper was not, like the Hudson's Bay employees, bred to the business.
Oftener than any other way he was some wild youth who, after an
_escapade_ in the society of his native place, sought safety from
reproach or punishment in the wilderness. Or he was some disappointed
man who, with feelings embittered towards his fellows, preferred the
seclusion of the forest and mountain. Many were of a class disreputable
everywhere, who gladly embraced a life not subject to social laws. A few
were brave, independent, and hardy spirits, who delighted in the
hardships and wild adventures their calling made necessary. All these
men, the best with the worst, were subject to no will but their own; and
all experience goes to prove that a life of perfect liberty is apt to
degenerate into a life of license. Even their own lives, and those of
their companions, when it depended upon their own prudence, were but
lightly considered. The constant presence of danger made them reckless.
It is easy to conceive how, under these circumstances, the natives and
the foreigners grew to hate each other, in the Indian country;
especially after the Americans came to the determination to "shoot an
Indian at sight," unless he belonged to some tribe with whom they had
intermarried, after the manner of the trappers.
[Illustration: WATCHING FOR INDIAN HORSE-THIEVES.]
On the other hand, the employees of the Hudson's Bay Company were many
of them half-breeds or full-blooded Indians of the Iroquois nation,
towards whom nearly all the tribes were kindly disposed. Even the
Frenchmen who trapped for this company were well liked by the Indians on
account of their suavity of manner, and the ease with which they adapted
themselves to savage life. Besides most of them had native wives and
half-breed children, and were regarded as relatives. They were trained
to the life of a trapper, were subject to the will of the Company, and
were generally just and equitable in their dealings with the Indians,
according to that company's will, and the dictates of prudence. Here was
a wide difference.
Notwithstanding this, there were many dangers to be encountered. The
hostility of some of the tribes could never be overcome; nor has it ever
abated. Such were the Crows, the Blackfeet, the Cheyennes, the Apaches,
the Camanches. Only a superior force could compel the friendly offices
of these tribes for any white man, and then their treachery was as
dangerous as their open hostility.
It happened, therefore, that although the Hudson's Bay Company lost
comparatively few men by the hands of the Indians, they sometimes found
them implacable foes in common with the American trappers; and
frequently one party was very glad of the others' assistance.
Altogether, as has before been stated, the loss of life was immense in
proportion to the number employed.
Very few of those who had spent years in the Rocky Mountains ever
returned to the United States. With their Indian wives and half-breed
children, they scattered themselves throughout Oregon, until when, a
number of years after the abandonment of the fur trade, Congress donated
large tracts of land to actual settlers, they laid claim, each to his
selected portion, and became active citizens of their adopted state.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE FUR COUNTRY.]
A TRAPPER AND PIONEER'S LIFE.
CHAPTER I.
As has been stated in the Introduction, Joseph L. Meek was a native of
Washington Co., Va. Born in the early part of the present century, and
brought up on a plantation where the utmost liberty was accorded to the
"young massa;" preferring out-door sports with the youthful bondsmen of
his father, to study with the bald-headed schoolmaster who furnished him
the alphabet on a paddle; possessing an exhaustless fund of waggish
humor, united to a spirit of adventure and remarkable personal strength,
he unwittingly furnished in himself the very material of which the
heroes of the wilderness were made. Virginia, "the mother of
Presidents," has furnished many such men, who, in the early days of the
now populous Western States, became the hardy frontiers-men, or the
fearless Indian fighters who were the bone and sinew of the land.
When young Joe was about eighteen years of age, he wearied of the
monotony of plantation life, and jumping into the wagon of a neighbor
who was going to Louisville, Ky., started out in life for himself. He
"reckoned they did not grieve for him at home;" at which conclusion
others besides Joe naturally arrive on hearing of his heedless
disposition, and utter contempt for the ordinary and useful employments
to which other men apply themselves.
Joe probably believed that should his father grieve for him, his
step-mother would be able to console him; this step-mother, though a
pious and good woman, not being one of the lad's favorites, as might
easily be conjectured. It was such thoughts as these that kept up his
resolution to seek the far west. In the autumn of 1828 he arrived in St.
Louis, and the following spring he fell in with Mr. Wm. Sublette, of the
Rocky Mountain Fur Company, who was making his annual visit to that
frontier town to purchase merchandise for the Indian country, and pick
up recruits for the fur-hunting service. To this experienced leader he
offered himself.
[Illustration: THE ENLISTMENT.]
"How old are you?" asked Sublette.
"A little past eighteen."
"And you want to go to the Rocky Mountains?"
"Yes."
"You don't know what you are talking about, boy. You'll be killed before
you get half way there."
"If I do, I reckon I can die!" said Joe, with a flash of his fall dark
eyes, and throwing back his shoulders to show their breadth.
"Come," exclaimed the trader, eyeing the youthful candidate with
admiration, and perhaps a touch of pity also; "that is the game spirit.
I think you'll do, after all. Only be prudent, and keep your wits about
you."
"Where else should they be?" laughed Joe, as he marched off, feeling an
inch or two taller than before.
Then commenced the business of preparing for the journey--making
acquaintance with the other recruits--enjoying the novelty of owning an
outfit, being initiated into the mysteries of camp duty by the few old
hunters who were to accompany the expedition, and learning something of
their swagger and disregard of civilized observances.
On the 17th of March, 1829, the company, numbering about sixty men, left
St. Louis, and proceeded on horses and mules, with pack-horses for the
goods, up through the state of Missouri. Camp-life commenced at the
start; and this being the season of the year when the weather is most
disagreeable, its romance rapidly melted away with the snow and sleet
which varied the sharp spring wind and the frequent cold rains. The
recruits went through all the little mishaps incident to the business
and to their inexperience, such as involuntary somersaults over the
heads of their mules, bloody noses, bruises, dusty faces, bad colds,
accidents in fording streams,--yet withal no very serious hurts or
hindrances. Rough weather and severe exercise gave them wolfish
appetites, which sweetened the coarse camp-fare and amateur cooking.
Getting up at four o'clock of a March morning to kindle fires and
attend to the animals was not the most delectable duty that our
labor-despising young recruit could have chosen; but if he repented of
the venture he had made nobody was the wiser. Sleeping of stormy nights
in corn-cribs or under sheds, could not be by any stretch of imagination
converted into a highly romantic or heroic mode of lodging one's self.
The squalid manner of living of the few inhabitants of Missouri at this
period, gave a forlorn aspect to the country which is lacking in the
wilderness itself;--a thought which sometimes occurred to Joe like a
hope for the future. Mountain-fare he began to think must be better than
the boiled corn and pork of the Missourians. Antelope and buffalo meat
were more suitable viands for a hunter than coon and opossum. Thus those
very duties which seemed undignified, and those hardships without danger
or glory, which marked the beginning of his career made him ambitious of
a more free and hazardous life on the plains and in the mountains.
Among the recruits was a young man not far from Joe's own age, named
Robert Newell, from Ohio. One morning, when the company was encamped
near Boonville, the two young men were out looking for their mules, when
they encountered an elderly woman returning from the milking yard with a
gourd of milk. Newell made some remark on the style of vessel she
carried, when she broke out in a sharp voice,--
"Young chap, I'll bet you run off from your mother! Who'll mend them
holes in the elbow of your coat? You're a purty looking chap to go to
the mountains, among them Injuns! They'll _kill_ you. You'd better go
back home!"
Considering that these frontier people knew what Indian fighting was,
this was no doubt sound and disinterested advice, notwithstanding it
was given somewhat sharply. And so the young men felt it to be; but it
was not in the nature of either of them to turn back from a course
because there was danger in it. The thought of home, and somebody to
mend their coats, was, however, for the time strongly presented. But the
company moved on, with undiminished numbers, stared at by the few
inhabitants, and having their own little adventures, until they came to
Independence, the last station before committing themselves to the
wilderness.
At this place, which contained a dwelling-house, cotton-gin, and
grocery, the camp tarried for a few days to adjust the packs, and
prepare for a final start across the plains. On Sunday the settlers got
together for a shooting-match, in which some of the travelers joined,
without winning many laurels. Coon-skins, deer-skins, and bees-wax
changed hands freely among the settlers, whose skill with the rifle was
greater than their hoard of silver dollars. This was the last vestige of
civilization which the company could hope to behold for years; and rude
as it was, yet won from them many a parting look as they finally took
their way across the plains toward the Arkansas River.
Often on this part of the march a dead silence fell upon the party,
which remained unbroken for miles of the way. Many no doubt were
regretting homes by them abandoned, or wondering dreamily how many and
whom of that company would ever see the Missouri country again. Many
indeed went the way the woman of the gourd had prophesied; but not the
hero of this story, nor his comrade Newell.
The route of Captain Sublette led across the country from near the mouth
of the Kansas River to the River Arkansas; thence to the South Fork of
the Platte; thence on to the North Fork of that River, to where Ft.
Laramie now stands; thence up the North Fork to the Sweetwater, and
thence across in a still northwesterly direction to the head of Wind
River.
The manner of camp-travel is now so well known through the writings of
Irving, and still more from the great numbers which have crossed the
plains since _Astoria_ and _Bonneville_ were written, that it would be
superfluous here to enter upon a particular description of a train on
that journey. A strict half-military discipline had to be maintained,
regular duties assigned to each person, precautions taken against the
loss of animals either by straying or Indian stampeding, etc. Some of
the men were appointed as camp-keepers, who had all these things to look
after, besides standing guard. A few were selected as hunters, and these
were free to come and go, as their calling required. None but the most
experienced were chosen for hunters, on a march; therefore our recruit
could not aspire to that dignity yet.
The first adventure the company met with worthy of mention after leaving
Independence, was in crossing the country between the Arkansas and the
Platte. Here the camp was surprised one morning by a band of Indians a
thousand strong, that came sweeping down upon them in such warlike style
that even Captain Sublette was fain to believe it his last battle. Upon
the open prairie there is no such thing as flight, nor any cover under
which to conceal a party even for a few moments. It is always fight or
die, if the assailants are in the humor for war.
Happily on this occasion the band proved to be more peaceably disposed
than their appearance indicated, being the warriors of several
tribes--the Sioux, Arapahoes, Kiowas, and Cheyennes, who had been
holding a council to consider probably what mischief they could do to
some other tribes. The spectacle they presented as they came at full
speed on horseback, armed, painted, brandishing their weapons, and
yelling in first-rate Indian style, was one which might well strike with
a palsy the stoutest heart and arm. What were a band of sixty men
against a thousand armed warriors in full fighting trim, with spears,
shields, bows, battle-axes, and not a few guns?
But it is the rule of the mountain-men to _fight_--and that there is a
chance for life until the breath is out of the body; therefore Captain
Sublette had his little force drawn up in line of battle. On came the
savages, whooping and swinging their weapons above their heads. Sublette
turned to his men. "When you hear my shot, then fire." Still they came
on, until within about fifty paces of the line of waiting men. Sublette
turned his head, and saw his command with their guns all up to their
faces ready to fire, then raised his own gun. Just at this moment the
principal chief sprang off his horse and laid his weapon on the ground,
making signs of peace. Then followed a talk, and after the giving of a
considerable present, Sublette was allowed to depart. This he did with
all dispatch, the company putting as much distance as possible between
themselves and their visitors before making their next camp. Considering
the warlike character of these tribes and their superior numbers, it was
as narrow an escape on the part of the company as it was an exceptional
freak of generosity on the part of the savages to allow it. But Indians
have all a great respect for a man who shows no fear; and it was most
probably the warlike movement of Captain Sublette and his party which
inspired a willingness on the part of the chief to accept a present,
when he had the power to have taken the whole train. Besides, according
to Indian logic, the present cost him nothing, and it might cost him
many warriors to capture the train. Had there been the least wavering
on Sublette's part, or fear in the countenances of his men, the end of
the affair would have been different. This adventure was a grand
initiation of the raw recruits, giving them both an insight into savage
modes of attack, and an opportunity to test their own nerve.
The company proceeded without accident, and arrived, about the first of
July, at the rendezvous, which was appointed for this year on the Popo
Agie, one of the streams which form the head-waters of Bighorn River.
Now, indeed, young Joe had an opportunity of seeing something of the
life upon which he had entered. As customary, when the traveling partner
arrived at rendezvous with the year's merchandise, there was a meeting
of all the partners, if they were within reach of the appointed place.
On this occasion Smith was absent on his tour through California and
Western Oregon, as has been related in the prefatory chapter. Jackson,
the resident partner, and commander for the previous year, was not yet
in; and Sublette had just arrived with the goods from St. Louis.
All the different hunting and trapping parties and Indian allies were
gathered together, so that the camp contained several hundred men, with
their riding and pack-horses. Nor were Indian women and children wanting
to give variety and an appearance of domesticity to the scene.
[Illustration: _THE SUMMER RENDEZVOUS._]
The Summer rendezvous was always chosen in some valley where there was
grass for the animals, and game for the camp. The plains along the Popo
Agie, besides furnishing these necessary bounties, were bordered by
picturesque mountain ranges, whose naked bluffs of red sandstone glowed
in the morning and evening sun with a mellowness of coloring charming to
the eye of the Virginia recruit. The waving grass of the plain,
variegated with wild flowers; the clear summer heavens flecked with
white clouds that threw soft shadows in passing; the grazing animals
scattered about the meadows; the lodges of the _Booshways_,[A] around
which clustered the camp in motley garb and brilliant coloring; gay
laughter, and the murmur of soft Indian voices, all made up a most
spirited and enchanting picture, in which the eye of an artist could not
fail to delight.
[A] Leaders or chiefs--corrupted from the French of Bourgeois, and
borrowed from the Canadians.
But as the goods were opened the scene grew livelier. All were eager to
purchase, most of the trappers to the full amount of their year's wages;
and some of them, generally free trappers, went in debt to the company
to a very considerable amount, after spending the value of a year's
labor, privation, and danger, at the rate of several hundred dollars in
a single day.
The difference between a hired and a free trapper was greatly in favor
of the latter. The hired trapper was regularly indentured, and bound not
only to hunt and trap for his employers, but also to perform any duty
required of him in camp. The Booshway, or the trader, or the partisan,
(leader of the detachment,) had him under his command, to make him take
charge of, load and unload the horses, stand guard, cook, hunt fuel, or,
in short, do any and every duty. In return for this toilsome service he
received an outfit of traps, arms and ammunition, horses, and whatever
his service required. Besides his outfit, he received no more than three
or four hundred dollars a year as wages.
There was also a class of free trappers, who were furnished with their
outfit by the company they trapped for, and who were obliged to agree to
a certain stipulated price for their furs before the hunt commenced.
But the genuine free trapper regarded himself as greatly the superior of
either of the foregoing classes. He had his own horses and
accoutrements, arms and ammunition. He took what route he thought fit,
hunted and trapped when and where he chose; traded with the Indians;
sold his furs to whoever offered highest for them; dressed flauntingly,
and generally had an Indian wife and half-breed children. They prided
themselves on their hardihood and courage; even on their recklessness
and profligacy. Each claimed to own the best horse; to have had the
wildest adventures; to have made the most narrow escapes; to have killed
the greatest number of bears and Indians; to be the greatest favorite
with the Indian belles, the greatest consumer of alcohol, and to have
the most money to spend, _i. e._ the largest credit on the books of the
company. If his hearers did not believe him, he was ready to run a race
with him, to beat him at "old sledge," or to fight, if fighting was
preferred,--ready to prove what he affirmed in any manner the company
pleased.
If the free trapper had a wife, she moved with the camp to which he
attached himself, being furnished with a fine horse, caparisoned in the
gayest and costliest manner. Her dress was of the finest goods the
market afforded, and was suitably ornamented with beads, ribbons,
fringes, and feathers. Her rank, too, as a free trapper's wife, gave her
consequence not only in her own eyes, but in those of her tribe, and
protected her from that slavish drudgery to which as the wife of an
Indian hunter or warrior she would have been subject. The only authority
which the free trapper acknowledged was that of his Indian spouse, who
generally ruled in the lodge, however her lord blustered outside.
One of the free trapper's special delights was to take in hand the raw
recruits, to gorge their wonder with his boastful tales, and to amuse
himself with shocking his pupil's civilized notions of propriety. Joe
Meek did not escape this sort of "breaking in;" and if it should appear
in the course of this narrative that he proved an apt scholar, it will
but illustrate a truth--that high spirits and fine talents tempt the
tempter to win them over to his ranks. But Joe was not won over all at
once. He beheld the beautiful spectacle of the encampment as it has been
described, giving life and enchantment to the summer landscape, changed
into a scene of the wildest carousal, going from bad to worse, until
from harmless noise and bluster it came to fighting and loss of life. At
this first rendezvous he was shocked to behold the revolting exhibition
of four trappers playing at a game of cards with the dead body of a
comrade for a card-table! Such was the indifference to all the natural
and ordinary emotions which these veterans of the wilderness cultivated
in themselves, and inculcated in those who came under their influence.
Scenes like this at first had the effect to bring feelings of
home-sickness, while it inspired by contrast a sort of penitential and
religious feeling also. According to Meek's account of those early days
in the mountains, he said some secret prayers, and shed some secret
tears. But this did not last long. The force of example, and especially
the force of ridicule, is very potent with the young; nor are we quite
free from their influence later in life.
If the gambling, swearing, drinking, and fighting at first astonished
and alarmed the unsophisticated Joe, he found at the same time something
to admire, and that he felt to be congenial with his own disposition, in
the fearlessness, the contempt of sordid gain, the hearty merriment and
frolicsome abandon of the better portion of the men about him. A spirit
of emulation arose in him to become as brave as the bravest, as hardy as
the hardiest, and as gay as the gayest, even while his feelings still
revolted at many things which his heroic models were openly guilty of.
If at any time in the future course of this narrative, Joe is discovered
to have taken leave of his early scruples, the reader will considerately
remember the associations by which he was surrounded for years, until
the memory of the pious teachings of his childhood was nearly, if not
quite, obliterated. To "nothing extenuate, nor set down aught in
malice," should be the frame of mind in which both the writer and reader
of Joe's adventures should strive to maintain himself.
Before our hero is ushered upon the active scenes of a trapper's life,
it may be well to present to the reader a sort of _guide to camp life_,
in order that he may be able to understand some of its technicalities,
as they may be casually mentioned hereafter.
When the large camp is on the march, it has a leader, generally one of
the Booshways, who rides in advance, or at the head of the column.
Near him is a led mule, chosen for its qualities of speed and
trustworthiness, on which are packed two small trunks that balance each
other like panniers, and which contain the company's books, papers, and
articles of agreement with the men. Then follow the pack animals, each
one bearing three packs--one on each side, and one on top--so nicely
adjusted as not to slip in traveling. These are in charge of certain men
called camp-keepers, who have each three of these to look after. The
trappers and hunters have two horses, or mules, one to ride, and one to
pack their traps. If there are women and children in the train, all are
mounted. Where the country is safe, the caravan moves in single file,
often stretching out for half or three-quarters of a mile. At the end
of the column rides the second man, or "little Booshway," as the men
call him; usually a hired officer, whose business it is to look after
the order and condition of the whole camp.
[Illustration: MULE PACKING.]
On arriving at a suitable spot to make the night camp, the leader stops,
dismounts in the particular space which is to be devoted to himself in
its midst. The others, as they come up, form a circle; the "second man"
bringing up the rear, to be sure all are there. He then proceeds to
appoint every man a place in the circle, and to examine the horses'
backs to see if any are sore. The horses are then turned out, under a
guard, to graze; but before darkness comes on are placed inside the
ring, and picketed by a stake driven in the earth, or with two feet so
tied together as to prevent easy or free locomotion. The men are divided
into messes: so many trappers and so many camp-keepers to a mess. The
business of eating is not a very elaborate one, where the sole article
of diet is meat, either dried or roasted. By a certain hour all is quiet
in camp, and only the guard is awake. At times during the night, the
leader, or the officer of the guard, gives the guard a challenge--"all's
well!" which is answered by "all's well!"
In the morning at daylight, or sometimes not till sunrise, according to
the safe or dangerous locality, the second man comes forth from his
lodge and cries in French, "_leve, leve, leve, leve, leve!_" fifteen or
twenty times, which is the command to rise. In about five minutes more
he cries out again, in French, "_leche lego, leche lego!_" or turn out,
turn out; at which command all come out from the lodges, and the horses
are turned loose to feed; but not before a horseman has galloped all
round the camp at some distance, and discovered every thing to be safe
in the neighborhood. Again, when the horses have been sufficiently fed,
under the eye of a guard, they are driven up, the packs replaced, the
train mounted, and once more it moves off, in the order before
mentioned.
In a settled camp, as in winter, there are other regulations. The leader
and the second man occupy the same relative positions; but other minor
regulations are observed. The duty of a trapper, for instance, in the
trapping season, is only to trap, and take care of his own horses. When
he comes in at night, he takes his beaver to the clerk, and the number
is counted off, and placed to his credit. Not he, but the camp-keepers,
take off the skins and dry them. In the winter camp there are six
persons to a lodge: four trappers and two camp-keepers; therefore the
trappers are well waited upon, their only duty being to hunt, in turns,
for the camp. When a piece of game is brought in,--a deer, an antelope,
or buffalo meat,--it is thrown down on the heap which accumulates in
front of the Booshway's lodge; and the second man stands by and cuts it
up, or has it cut up for him. The first man who chances to come along,
is ordered to stand still and turn his back to the pile of game, while
the "little Booshway" lays hold of a piece that has been cut off, and
asks in a loud voice--"who will have this?"--and the man answering for
him, says, "the Booshway," or perhaps "number six," or "number
twenty"--meaning certain messes; and the number is called to come and
take their meat. In this blind way the meat is portioned off; strongly
reminding one of the game of "button, button, who has the button?" In
this chance game of the meat, the Booshway fares no better than his men;
unless, in rare instances, the little Booshway should indicate to the
man who calls off, that a certain choice piece is designed for the mess
of the leader or the second man.
A gun is never allowed to be fired in camp under any provocation, short
of an Indian raid; but the guns are frequently inspected, to see if they
are in order; and woe to the careless camp-keeper who neglects this or
any other duty. When the second man comes around, and finds a piece of
work imperfectly done, whether it be cleaning the firearms, making a
hair rope, or a skin lodge, or washing a horse's back, he does not
threaten the offender with personal chastisement, but calls up another
man and asks him, "Can _you_ do this properly?"
"Yes, sir."
"I will give you ten dollars to do it;" and the ten dollars is set down
to the account of the inefficient camp-keeper. But he does not risk
forfeiting another ten dollars in the same manner.
In the spring, when the camp breaks up, the skins which have been used
all winter for lodges are cut up to make moccasins: because from their
having been thoroughly smoked by the lodge fires they do not shrink in
wetting, like raw skins. This is an important quality in a moccasin, as
a trapper is almost constantly in the water, and should not his
moccasins be smoked they will close upon his feet, in drying, like a
vice. Sometimes after trapping all day, the tired and soaked trapper
lies down in his blankets at night, still wet. But by-and-by he is
wakened by the pinching of his moccasins, and is obliged to rise and
seek the water again to relieve himself of the pain. For the same
reason, when spring comes, the trapper is forced to cut off the lower
half of his buckskin breeches, and piece them down with blanket leggins,
which he wears all through the trapping season.
Such were a few of the peculiarities, and the hardships also, of a life
in the Rocky Mountains. If the camp discipline, and the dangers and
hardships to which a raw recruit was exposed, failed to harden him to
the service in one year, he was rejected as a "trifling fellow," and
sent back to the settlement the next year. It was not probable,
therefore, that the mountain-man often was detected in complaining at
his lot. If he was miserable, he was laughed at; and he soon learned to
laugh at his own miseries, as well as to laugh back at his comrades.
CHAPTER II.
The business of the rendezvous occupied about a month. In this period
the men, Indian allies, and other Indian parties who usually visited the
camp at this time, were all supplied with goods. The remaining
merchandise was adjusted for the convenience of the different traders
who should be sent out through all the country traversed by the company.
Sublette then decided upon their routes, dividing up his forces into
camps, which took each its appointed course, detaching as it proceeded
small parties of trappers to all the hunting grounds in the
neighborhood. These smaller camps were ordered to meet at certain times
and places, to report progress, collect and cache their furs, and "count
noses." If certain parties failed to arrive, others were sent out in
search for them.
This year, in the absence of Smith and Jackson, a considerable party was
dispatched, under Milton Sublette, brother of the Captain, and two other
free trappers and traders, Frapp and Jervais, to traverse the country
down along the Bighorn River. Captain Sublette took a large party, among
whom was Joe Meek, across the mountains to trap on the Snake River, in
opposition to the Hudson's Bay Company. The Rocky Mountain Fur Company
had hitherto avoided this country, except when Smith had once crossed to
the head-waters of the Snake with a small party of five trappers. But
Smith and Sublette had determined to oppose themselves to the British
traders who occupied so large an extent of territory presumed to be
American; and it had been agreed between them to meet this year on Snake
River on Sublette's return from St. Louis, and Smith's from his
California tour. What befel Smith's party before reaching the Columbia,
has already been related; also his reception by the Hudson's Bay
Company, and his departure from Vancouver.
Sublette led his company up the valley of the Wind River, across the
mountains, and on to the very head-waters of the Lewis or Snake River.
Here he fell in with Jackson, in the valley of Lewis Lake, called
Jackson's Hole, and remained on the borders of this lake for some time,
waiting for Smith, whose non-appearance began to create a good deal of
uneasiness. At length runners were dispatched in all directions looking
for the lost Booshway.
The detachment to which Meek was assigned had the pleasure and honor of
discovering the hiding place of the missing partner, which was in
Pierre's Hole, a mountain valley about thirty miles long and of half
that width, which subsequently was much frequented by the camps of the
various fur companies. He was found trapping and exploring, in company
with four men only, one of whom was Black, who with him escaped from the
Umpqua Indians, as before related.
Notwithstanding the excitement and elation attendant upon the success of
his party, Meek found time to admire the magnificent scenery of the
valley, which is bounded on two sides by broken and picturesque ranges,
and overlooked by that magnificent group of mountains, called the Three
Tetons, towering to a height of fourteen thousand feet. This emerald cup
set in its rim of amethystine mountains, was so pleasant a sight to the
mountain-men that camp was moved to it without delay, where it remained
until some time in September, recruiting its animals and preparing for
the fall hunt.
Here again the trappers indulged in their noisy sports and rejoicing,
ostensibly on account of the return of the long-absent Booshway. There
was little said of the men who had perished in that unfortunate
expedition. "Poor fellow! out of luck;" was the usual burial rite which
the memory of a dead comrade received. So much and no more. They could
indulge in noisy rejoicings over a lost comrade restored; but the dead
one was not mentioned. Nor was this apparently heartless and heedless
manner so irrational or unfeeling as it seemed. Everybody understood one
thing in the mountains--that he must keep his life by his own courage
and valor, or at the least by his own prudence. Unseen dangers always
lay in wait for him. The arrow or tomahawk of the Indian, the blow of
the grizzly bear, the mis-step on the dizzy or slippery height, the rush
of boiling and foaming floods, freezing cold, famine--these were the
most common forms of peril, yet did not embrace even then all the forms
in which Death sought his victims in the wilderness. The avoidance of
painful reminders, such as the loss of a party of men, was a natural
instinct, involving also a principle of self defence--since to have weak
hearts would be the surest road to defeat in the next dangerous
encounter. To keep their hearts "big," they must be gay, they must not
remember the miserable fate of many of their one-time comrades. Think of
that, stern moralist and martinet in propriety! Your fur collar hangs in
the gas-lighted hall. In your luxurious dressing gown and slippers, by
the warmth of a glowing grate, you muse upon the depravity of your
fellow men. But imagine yourself, if you can, in the heart of an
interminable wilderness. Let the snow be three or four feet deep, game
scarce, Indians on your track: escaped from these dangers, once more
beside a camp fire, with a roast of buffalo meat on a stick before it,
and several of your companions similarly escaped, and destined for the
same chances to-morrow, around you. Do you fancy you should give much
time to lamenting the less lucky fellows who were left behind frozen,
starved, or scalped? Not you. You would be fortifying yourself against
to-morrow, when the same terrors might lay in wait for you. Jedediah
Smith was a pious man; one of the few that ever resided in the Rocky
Mountains, and led a band of reckless trappers; but he did not turn back
to his camp when he saw it attacked on the Umpqua, nor stop to lament
his murdered men. The law of self-preservation is strong in the
wilderness. "Keep up your heart to-day, for to-morrow you may die," is
the motto of the trapper.
In the conference which took place between Smith and Sublette, the
former insisted that on account of the kind services of the Hudson's Bay
Company toward himself and the three other survivors of his party, they
should withdraw their trappers and traders from the western side of the
mountains for the present, so as not to have them come in conflict with
those of that company. To this proposition Sublette reluctantly
consented, and orders were issued for moving once more to the east,
before going into winter camp, which was appointed for the Wind River
Valley.
In the meantime Joe Meek was sent out with a party to take his first
hunt for beaver as a hired trapper. The detachment to which he belonged
traveled down Pierre's fork, the stream which watered the valley of
Pierre's Hole, to its junction with Lewis' and Henry's forks where they
unite to form the great Snake River. While trapping in this locality the
party became aware of the vicinity of a roving band of Blackfeet, and in
consequence, redoubled their usual precautions while on the march.
The Blackfeet were the tribe most dreaded in the Rocky Mountains, and
went by the name of "Bugs Boys," which rendered into good English, meant
"the devil's own." They are now so well known that to mention their
characteristics seems like repeating a "twice-told tale;" but as they
will appear so often in this narrative, Irving's account of them as he
had it from Bonneville when he was fresh from the mountains, will, after
all, not be out of place. "These savages," he says, "are the most
dangerous banditti of the mountains, and the inveterate foe of the
trapper. They are Ishmaelites of the first order, always with weapon in
hand, ready for action. The young braves of the tribe, who are destitute
of property, go to war for booty; to gain horses, and acquire the means
of setting up a lodge, supporting a family, and entitling themselves to
a seat in the public councils. The veteran warriors fight merely for the
love of the thing, and the consequence which success gives them among
their people. They are capital horsemen, and are generally well mounted
on short, stout horses, similar to the prairie ponies, to be met with in
St. Louis. When on a war party, however, they go on foot, to enable them
to skulk through the country with greater secrecy; to keep in thickets
and ravines, and use more adroit subterfuges and stratagems. Their mode
of warfare is entirely by ambush, surprise, and sudden assaults in the
night time. If they succeed in causing a panic, they dash forward with
headlong fury; if the enemy is on the alert, and shows no signs of fear,
they become wary and deliberate in their movements.
"Some of them are armed in the primitive style, with bows and arrows;
the greater part have American fusees, made after the fashion of those
of the Hudson's Bay Company. These they procure at the trading post of
the American Fur Company, on Maria's River, where they traffic their
peltries for arms, ammunition, clothing, and trinkets. They are
extremely fond of spirituous liquors and tobacco, for which nuisances
they are ready to exchange, not merely their guns and horses, but even
their wives and daughters. As they are a treacherous race, and have
cherished a lurking hostility to the whites, ever since one of their
tribe was killed by Mr. Lewis, the associate of General Clarke, in his
exploring expedition across the Rocky Mountains, the American Fur
Company is obliged constantly to keep at their post a garrison of sixty
or seventy men."
"Under the general name of Blackfeet are comprehended several tribes,
such as the Surcies, the Peagans, the Blood Indians, and the Gros
Ventres of the Prairies, who roam about the Southern branches of the
Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, together with some other tribes further
north. The bands infesting the Wind River Mountains, and the country
adjacent, at the time of which we are treating, were Gros Ventres _of
the Prairies_, which are not to be confounded with the Gros Ventres _of
the Missouri_, who keep about the _lower_ part of that river, and are
friendly to the white men."
"This hostile band keeps about the head-waters of the Missouri, and
numbers about nine hundred fighting men. Once in the course of two or
three years they abandon their usual abodes and make a visit to the
Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their route lies either through the Crow
country, and the Black Hills, or through the lands of the Nez Perces,
Flatheads, Bannacks, and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state
of hostility with all these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be
conducted in the most lawless and predatory style; nor do they hesitate
to extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet with,
following their trail, hovering about their camps, waylaying and
dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary
trapper. The consequences are frequent and desperate fights between them
and the mountaineers, in the wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains." Such were the Blackfeet at the period of which we are
writing; nor has their character changed at this day, as many of the
Montana miners know to their cost.
CHAPTER III.
1830. Sublette's camp commenced moving back to the east side of the
Rocky Mountains in October. Its course was up Henry's fork of the Snake
River, through the North Pass to Missouri Lake, in which rises the
Madison fork of the Missouri River. The beaver were very plenty on
Henry's fork, and our young trapper had great success in making up his
packs; having learned the art of setting his traps very readily. The
manner in which the trapper takes his game is as follows:--
He has an ordinary steel trap weighing five pounds, attached to a chain
five feet long, with a swivel and ring at the end, which plays round
what is called the _float_, a dry stick of wood, about six feet long.
The trapper wades out into the stream, which is shallow, and cuts with
his knife a bed for the trap, five or six inches under water. He then
takes the float out the whole length of the chain in the direction of
the centre of the stream, and drives it into the mud, so fast that the
beaver cannot draw it out; at the same time tying the other end by a
thong to the bank. A small stick or twig, dipped in musk or castor,
serves for bait, and is placed so as to hang directly above the trap,
which is now set. The trapper then throws water plentifully over the
adjacent bank to conceal any foot prints or scent by which the beaver
would be alarmed, and going to some distance wades out of the stream.
In setting a trap, several things are to be observed with care:--first,
that the trap is firmly fixed, and the proper distance from the
bank--for if the beaver can get on shore with the trap, he will cut off
his foot to escape: secondly, that the float is of dry wood, for should
it not be, the little animal will cut it off at a stroke, and swimming
with the trap to the middle of the dam, be drowned by its weight. In the
latter case, when the hunter visits his traps in the morning, he is
under the necessity of plunging into the water and swimming out to dive
for the missing trap, and his game. Should the morning be frosty and
chill, as it very frequently is in the mountains, diving for traps is
not the pleasantest exercise. In placing the bait, care must be taken to
fix it just where the beaver in reaching it will spring the trap. If the
bait-stick be placed high, the hind foot of the beaver will be caught:
if low, his fore foot.
The manner in which the beavers make their dam, and construct their
lodge, has long been reckoned among the wonders of the animal creation;
and while some observers have claimed for the little creature more
sagacity than it really possesses, its instinct is still sufficiently
wonderful. It is certainly true that it knows how to keep the water of a
stream to a certain level, by means of an obstruction; and that it cuts
down trees for the purpose of backing up the water by a dam. It is not
true, however, that it can always fell a tree in the direction required
for this purpose. The timber about a beaver dam is felled in all
directions; but as trees that grow near the water, generally lean
towards it, the tree, when cut, takes the proper direction by
gravitation alone. The beaver then proceeds to cut up the fallen timber
into lengths of about three feet, and to convey them to the spot where
the dam is to be situated, securing them in their places by means of mud
and stones. The work is commenced when the water is low, and carried on
as it rises, until it has attained the desired height. And not only is
it made of the requisite height and strength, but its shape is suited
exactly to the nature of the stream in which it is built. If the water
is sluggish the dam is straight; if rapid and turbulent, the barrier is
constructed of a convex form, the better to resist the action of the
water.
[Illustration: BEAVER-DAM.]
When the beavers have once commenced a dam, its extent and thickness are
continually augmented, not only by their labors, but by accidental
accumulations; thus accommodating itself to the size of the growing
community. At length, after a lapse of many years, the water being
spread over a considerable tract, and filled up by yearly accumulations
of drift-wood and earth, seeds take root in the new made ground, and the
old beaver-dams become green meadows, or thickets of cotton-wood and
willow.
The food on which the beaver subsists, is the bark of the young trees in
its neighborhood; and when laying up a winter store, the whole community
join in the labor of selecting, cutting up, and carrying the strips to
their store-houses under water. They do not, as some writers have
affirmed, when cutting wood for a dam strip off the bark and store it in
their lodges for winter consumption; but only carry under water the
stick with the bark on.
"The beaver has two incisors and eight molars in each jaw; and
empty hollows where the canine teeth might be. The upper pair of
cutting teeth extend far into the jaw, with a curve of rather more
than a semicircle; and the lower pair of incisors form rather less
than a semicircle. Sometimes, one of these teeth gets broken and
then the opposite tooth continues growing until it forms a nearly
complete circle. The chewing muscle of the beaver is strengthened
by tendons in such a way as to give it great power. But more is
needed to enable the beaver to eat wood. The insalivation of the
dry food is provided for by the extraordinary size of the salivary
glands.
"Now, every part of these instruments is of vital importance to the
beavers. The loss of an incisor involves the formation of an
obstructive circular tooth; deficiency of saliva renders the food
indigestible; and when old age comes and the enamel is worn down
faster than it is renewed, the beaver is not longer able to cut
branches for its support. Old, feeble and poor, unable to borrow,
and ashamed to beg, he steals cuttings, and subjects himself to the
penalty assigned to theft. Aged beavers are often found dead with
gashes in their bodies, showing that they have been killed by their
mates. In the fall of 1864, a very aged beaver was caught in one of
the dams of the Esconawba River, and this was the reflection of a
great authority on the occasion, one Ah-she-goes, an Ojibwa
trapper: 'Had he escaped the trap he would have been killed before
the winter was over, by other beavers, for stealing cuttings.'
"When the beavers are about two or three years old, their teeth are
in their best condition for cutting. On the Upper Missouri, they
cut the cotton tree and the willow bush; around Hudson's Bay and
Lake Superior, in addition to the willow they cut the poplar and
maple, hemlock, spruce and pine. The cutting is round and round,
and deepest upon the side on which they wish the tree to fall.
Indians and trappers have seen beavers cutting trees. The felling
of a tree is a family affair. No more than a single pair with two
or three young ones are engaged at a time. The adults take the
cutting in turns, one gnawing and the other watching; and
occasionally a youngster trying his incisors. The beaver whilst
gnawing sits on his plantigrade hind legs, which keep him
conveniently upright. When the tree begins to crackle the beavers
work cautiously, and when it crashes down they plunge into the
pond, fearful lest the noise should attract an enemy to the spot.
After the tree-fall, comes the lopping of the branches. A single
tree may be winter provision for a family. Branches five or six
inches thick have to be cut into proper lengths for transport, and
are then taken home."
The lodge of a beaver is generally about six feet in diameter, on the
inside, and about half as high. They are rounded or dome-shaped on the
outside, with very thick walls, and communicate with the land by
subterranean passages, below the depth at which the water freezes in
winter. Each lodge is made to accommodate several inmates, who have
their beds ranged round the walls, much as the Indian does in his tent.
They are very cleanly, too, and after eating, carry out the sticks that
have been stripped, and either use them in repairing their dam, or throw
them into the stream below.
During the summer months the beavers abandon their lodges, and disport
themselves about the streams, sometimes going on long journeys; or if
any remain at home, they are the mothers of young families. About the
last of August the community returns to its home, and begins
preparations for the domestic cares of the long winter months.
An exception to this rule is that of certain individuals, who have no
families, make no dam, and never live in lodges, but burrow in
subterranean tunnels. They are always found to be males, whom the French
trappers call "les parasseux," or idlers; and the American trappers,
"bachelors." Several of them are sometimes found in one abode, which the
trappers facetiously denominate "bachelor's hall." Being taken with less
difficulty than the more domestic beaver, the trapper is always glad to
come upon their habitations.
The trapping season is usually in the spring and autumn. But should the
hunters find it necessary to continue their work in winter, they capture
the beaver by sounding on the ice until an aperture is discovered, when
the ice is cut away and the opening closed up. Returning to the bank,
they search for the subterranean passage, tracing its connection with
the lodge; and by patient watching succeed in catching the beaver on
some of its journeys between the water and the land. This, however, is
not often resorted to when the hunt in the fall has been successful; or
when not urged by famine to take the beaver for food.
"Occasionally it happens," says Captain Bonneville, "that several
members of a beaver family are trapped in succession. The survivors then
become extremely shy, and can scarcely be "brought to medicine," to use
the trappers' phrase for "taking the bait." In such case, the trapper
gives up the use of the bait, and conceals his traps in the usual paths
and crossing places of the household. The beaver being now completely
"up to trap," approaches them cautiously, and springs them, ingeniously,
with a stick. At other times, he turns the traps bottom upwards, by the
same means, and occasionally even drags them to the barrier, and
conceals them in the mud. The trapper now gives up the contest of
ingenuity, and shouldering his traps, marches off, admitting that he is
not yet "up to beaver."
Before the camp moved from the forks of the Snake River, the haunting
Blackfeet made their appearance openly. It was here that Meek had his
first battle with that nation, with whom he subsequently had many a
savage contest. They attacked the camp early in the morning, just as the
call to turn out had sounded. But they had miscalculated their
opportunity: the design having evidently been to stampede the horses and
mules, at the hour and moment of their being turned loose to graze. They
had been too hasty by a few minutes, so that when they charged on the
camp pell-mell, firing a hundred guns at once, to frighten both horses
and men, it happened that only a few of the animals had been turned out,
and they had not yet got far off. The noise of the charge only turned
them back to camp.
In an instant's time, Fitzpatrick was mounted, and commanding the men to
follow, he galloped at headlong speed round and round the camp, to drive
back such of the horses as were straying, or had been frightened from
their pickets. In this race, two horses were shot under him; but he
escaped, and the camp-horses were saved. The battle now was to punish
the thieves. They took their position, as usual with Indian fighters, in
a narrow ravine; from whence the camp was forced to dislodge them, at a
great disadvantage. This they did do, at last, after six hours of hard
fighting, in which a few men were wounded, but none killed. The thieves
skulked off, through the canyon, when they found themselves defeated,
and were seen no more until the camp came to the woods which cover the
western slope of the Rocky Mountains.
But as the camp moved eastward, or rather in a northeasterly direction,
through the pine forests between Pierre's Hole and the head-waters of
the Missouri, it was continually harrassed by Blackfeet, and required a
strong guard at night, when these marauders delighted to make an attack.
The weather by this time was very cold in the mountains, and chilled the
marrow of our young Virginian. The travel was hard, too, and the
recruits pretty well worn out.
One cold night, Meek was put on guard on the further side of the camp,
with a veteran named Reese. But neither the veteran nor the youngster
could resist the approaches of "tired Nature's sweet restorer," and went
to sleep at their post of duty. When, during the night, Sublette came
out of his tent and gave the challenge--"All's well!" there was no
reply. To quote Meek's own language, "Sublette came round the horse-pen
swearing and snorting. He was powerful mad. Before he got to where Reese
was, he made so much noise that he waked him; and Reese, in a loud
whisper, called to him, 'Down, Billy! Indians!' Sublette got down on his
belly mighty quick. 'Whar? whar?' he asked.
"'They were right there when you hollered so,' said Reese.
"'Where is Meek?' whispered Sublette.
"'He is trying to shoot one,' answered Reese, still in a whisper.
"Reese then crawled over to whar I war, and told me what had been said,
and informed me what to do. In a few minutes I crept cautiously over to
Reese's post, when Sublette asked me how many Indians had been thar, and
I told him I couldn't make out their number. In the morning a pair of
Indian moccasins war found whar Reese _saw the Indians_, which I had
_taken care to leave there_; and thus confirmed, our story got us the
credit of vigilance, instead of our receiving our just dues for neglect
of duty."
It was sometime during the fall hunt in the Pine Woods, on the west side
of the Rocky Mountains, that Meek had one of his earliest adventures
with a bear. Two comrades, Craig and Nelson, and himself, while out
trapping, left their horses, and traveled up a creek on foot, in search
of beaver. They had not proceeded any great distance, before they came
suddenly face to face with a red bear; so suddenly, indeed, that the men
made a spring for the nearest trees. Craig and Meek ascended a large
pine, which chanced to be nearest, and having many limbs, was easy to
climb. Nelson happened to take to one of two small trees that grew close
together; and the bear, fixing upon him for a victim, undertook to climb
after him. With his back against one of these small trees, and his feet
against the other, his bearship succeeded in reaching a point not far
below Nelson's perch, when the trees opened with his weight, and down
he went, with a shock that fairly shook the ground. But this bad luck
only seemed to infuriate the beast, and up he went again, with the same
result, each time almost reaching his enemy. With the second tumble he
was not the least discouraged; but started up the third time, only to be
dashed once more to the ground when he had attained a certain height. At
the third fall, however, he became thoroughly disgusted with his want of
success, and turned and ran at full speed into the woods.
"Then," says Meek, "Craig began to sing, and I began to laugh; but
Nelson took to swearing. 'O yes, you can laugh and sing now,' says
Nelson; 'but you war quiet enough when the bear was around.' 'Why,
Nelson,' I answered, 'you wouldn't have us noisy before that
distinguished guest of yours?' But Nelson damned the wild beast; and
Craig and I laughed, and said he didn't seem wild a bit. That's the way
we hector each other in the mountains. If a man gets into trouble he is
only laughed at: 'let him keep out; let him have better luck,' is what
we say."
The country traversed by Sublette in the fall of 1829, was unknown at
that period, even to the fur companies, they having kept either farther
to the south or to the north. Few, if any, white men had passed through
it since Lewis and Clarke discovered the head-waters of the Missouri and
the Snake Rivers, which flow from the opposite sides of the same
mountain peaks. Even the toils and hardships of passing over mountains
at this season of the year, did not deprive the trapper of the enjoyment
of the magnificent scenery the region afforded. Splendid views, however,
could not long beguile men who had little to eat, and who had yet a long
journey to accomplish in cold, and surrounded by dangers, before
reaching the wintering ground.
In November the camp left Missouri Lake on the east side of the
mountains, and crossed over, still northeasterly, on to the Gallatin
fork of the Missouri River, passing over a very rough and broken
country. They were, in fact, still in the midst of mountains, being
spurs of the great Rocky range, and equally high and rugged. A
particularly high mountain lay between them and the main Yellowstone
River. This they had just crossed, with great fatigue and difficulty,
and were resting the camp and horses for a few days on the river's bank,
when the Blackfeet once more attacked them in considerable numbers. Two
men were killed in this fight, and the camp thrown into confusion by the
suddenness of the alarm. Capt. Sublette, however, got off, with most of
his men, still pursued by the Indians.
Not so our Joe, who this time was not in luck, but was cut off from
camp, alone, and had to flee to the high mountains overlooking the
Yellowstone. Here was a situation for a nineteen-year-old raw recruit!
Knowing that the Blackfeet were on the trail of the camp, it was death
to proceed in that direction. Some other route must be taken to come up
with them; the country was entirely unknown to him; the cold severe; his
mule, blanket, and gun, his only earthly possessions. On the latter he
depended for food, but game was scarce; and besides, he thought the
sound of his gun would frighten himself, so alone in the wilderness,
swarming with stealthy foes.
Hiding his mule in a thicket, he ascended to the mountain top to take a
view of the country, and decide upon his course. And what a scene was
that for the miserable boy, whose chance of meeting with his comrades
again was small indeed! At his feet rolled the Yellowstone River,
coursing away through the great plain to the eastward. To the north his
eye follows the windings of the Missouri, as upon a map, but playing at
hide-and-seek in amongst the mountains. Looking back, he saw the River
Snake stretching its serpentine length through lava plains, far away, to
its junction with the Columbia. To the north, and to the south, one
white mountain rose above another as far as the eye could reach. What a
mighty and magnificent world it seemed, to be alone in! Poor Joe
succumbed to the influence of the thought, and wept.
Having indulged in this sole remaining luxury of life, Joe picked up his
resolution, and decided upon his course. To the southeast lay the Crow
country, a land of plenty,--as the mountain-man regards plenty,--and
there he could at least live; provided the Crows permitted him to do so.
Besides, he had some hopes of falling in with one of the camps, by
taking that course.
Descending the mountain to the hiding-place of his mule, by which time
it was dark night, hungry and freezing, Joe still could not light a
fire, for fear of revealing his whereabouts to the Indians; nor could he
remain to perish with cold. Travel he must, and travel he did, going he
scarcely knew whither. Looking back upon the terrors and discomforts of
that night, the veteran mountaineer yet regards it as about the most
miserable one of his life. When day at length broke, he had made, as
well as he could estimate the distance, about thirty miles. Traveling on
toward the southeast, he had crossed the Yellowstone River, and still
among the mountains, was obliged to abandon his mule and accoutrements,
retaining only one blanket and his gun. Neither the mule nor himself had
broken fast in the last two days. Keeping a southerly course for twenty
miles more, over a rough and elevated country, he came, on the evening
of the third day, upon a band of mountain sheep. With what eagerness did
he hasten to kill, cook, and eat! Three days of fasting was, for a
novice, quite sufficient to provide him with an appetite.
Having eaten voraciously, and being quite overcome with fatigue, Joe
fell asleep in his blanket, and slumbered quite deeply until morning.
With the morning came biting blasts from the north, that made motion
necessary if not pleasant. Refreshed by sleep and food, our traveler
hastened on upon his solitary way, taking with him what sheep-meat he
could carry, traversing the same rough and mountainous country as
before. No incidents nor alarms varied the horrible and monotonous
solitude of the wilderness. The very absence of anything to alarm was
awful; for the bravest man is wretchedly nervous in the solitary
presence of sublime Nature. Even the veteran hunter of the mountains can
never entirely divest himself of this feeling of awe, when his single
soul comes face to face with God's wonderful and beautiful handiwork.
At the close of the fourth day, Joe made his lonely camp in a deep
defile of the mountains, where a little fire and some roasted mutton
again comforted his inner and outer man, and another night's sleep still
farther refreshed his wearied frame. On the following morning, a very
bleak and windy one, having breakfasted on his remaining piece of
mutton, being desirous to learn something of the progress he had made,
he ascended a low mountain in the neighborhood of his camp--and behold!
the whole country beyond was smoking with the vapor from boiling
springs, and burning with gasses, issuing from small craters, each of
which was emitting a sharp whistling sound.
When the first surprise of this astonishing scene had passed, Joe began
to admire its effect in an artistic point of view. The morning being
clear, with a sharp frost, he thought himself reminded of the city of
Pittsburg, as he had beheld it on a winter morning, a couple of years
before. This, however, related only to the rising smoke and vapor; for
the extent of the volcanic region was immense, reaching far out of
sight. The general face of the country was smooth and rolling, being a
level plain, dotted with cone-shaped mounds. On the summits of these
mounds were small craters from four to eight feet in diameter.
Interspersed among these, on the level plain, were larger craters, some
of them from four to six miles across. Out of these craters issued blue
flames and molten brimstone.
For some minutes Joe gazed and wondered. Curious thoughts came into his
head, about hell and the day of doom. With that natural tendency to
reckless gayety and humorous absurdities which some temperaments are
sensible of in times of great excitement, he began to soliloquize. Said
he, to himself, "I have been told the sun would be blown out, and the
earth burnt up. If this infernal wind keeps up, I shouldn't be surprised
if the sun war blown out. If the earth is _not_ burning up over thar,
then it is that place the old Methodist preacher used to threaten me
with. Any way it suits me to go and see what it's like."
On descending to the plain described, the earth was found to have a
hollow sound, and seemed threatening to break through. But Joe found the
warmth of the place most delightful, after the freezing cold of the
mountains, and remarked to himself again, that "if it war hell, it war a
more agreeable climate than he had been in for some time."
He had thought the country entirely desolate, as not a living creature
had been seen in the vicinity; but while he stood gazing about him in
curious amazement, he was startled by the report of two guns, followed
by the Indian yell. While making rapid preparations for defence and
flight, if either or both should be necessary, a familiar voice greeted
him with the exclamation, "It _is_ old Joe!" When the adjective "old" is
applied to one of Meek's age at that time, it is generally understood to
be a term of endearment. "My feelings you may imagine," says the "old
Uncle Joe" of the present time, in recalling the adventure.
Being joined by these two associates, who had been looking for him, our
traveler, no longer simply a raw recruit, but a hero of wonderful
adventures, as well as the rest of the men, proceeded with them to camp,
which they overtook the third day, attempting to cross the high
mountains between the Yellowstone and the Bighorn Rivers. If Meek had
seen hard times in the mountains alone, he did not find them much
improved in camp. The snow was so deep that the men had to keep in
advance, and break the road for the animals; and to make their condition
still more trying, there were no provisions in camp, nor any prospect of
plenty, for men or animals, until they should reach the buffalo country
beyond the mountains.
During this scarcity of provisions, some of those amusing incidents took
place with which the mountaineer will contrive to lighten his own and
his comrades' spirits, even in periods of the greatest suffering. One
which we have permission to relate, has reference to what Joe Meek calls
the "meanest act of his life."
While the men were starving, a negro boy, belonging to Jedediah Smith,
by some means was so fortunate as to have caught a porcupine, which he
was roasting before the fire. Happening to turn his back for a moment,
to observe something in camp, Meek and Reese snatched the tempting
viand and made off with it, before the darkey discovered his loss. But
when it was discovered, what a wail went up for the embezzled porcupine!
Suspicion fixed upon the guilty parties, but as no one would 'peach on
white men to save a "nigger's" rights, the poor, disappointed boy could
do nothing but lament in vain, to the great amusement of the men, who
upon the principle that "misery loves company," rather chuckled over
than condemned Meek's "mean act."
There was a sequel, however, to this little story. So much did the negro
dwell upon the event, and the heartlessness of the men towards him, that
in the following summer, when Smith was in St. Louis, he gave the boy
his freedom and two hundred dollars, and left him in that city; so that
it became a saying in the mountains, that "the nigger got his freedom
for a porcupine."
During this same march, a similar joke was played upon one of the men
named Craig. He had caught a rabbit and put it up to roast before the
fire--a tempting looking morsel to starving mountaineers. Some of his
associates determined to see how it tasted, and Craig was told that the
Booshways wished to speak with him at their lodge. While he obeyed this
supposed command, the rabbit was spirited away, never more to be seen by
mortal man. When Craig returned to the camp-fire, and beheld the place
vacant where a rabbit so late was nicely roasting, his passion knew no
bounds, and he declared his intention of cutting it out of the stomach
that contained it. But as finding the identical stomach which contained
it involved the cutting open of many that probably did not, in the
search, he was fain to relinquish that mode of vengeance, together with
his hopes of a supper. As Craig is still living, and is tormented by the
belief that he knows the man who stole his rabbit, Mr. Meek takes this
opportunity of assuring him, upon the word of a gentleman, that _he_ is
not the man.
While on the march over these mountains, owing to the depth of the snow,
the company lost a hundred head of horses and mules, which sank in the
yet unfrozen drifts, and could not be extricated. In despair at their
situation, Jedediah Smith one day sent a man named Harris to the top of
a high peak to take a view of the country, and ascertain their position.
After a toilsome scramble the scout returned.
"Well, what did you see, Harris?" asked Smith anxiously.
"I saw the city of St. Louis, and one fellow taking a drink!" replied
Harris; prefacing the assertion with a shocking oath.
Smith asked no more questions. He understood by the man's answer that he
had made no pleasing discoveries; and knew that they had still a weary
way before them to reach the plains below. Besides, Smith was a
religious man, and the coarse profanity of the mountaineers was very
distasteful to him. "A very mild man, and a christian; and there were
very few of them in the mountains," is the account given of him by the
mountaineers themselves.
The camp finally arrived without loss of life, except to the animals, on
the plains of the Bighorn River, and came upon the waters of the
Stinking Fork, a branch of this river, which derives its unfortunate
appellation from the fact that it flows through a volcanic tract similar
to the one discovered by Meek on the Yellowstone plains. This place
afforded as much food for wonder to the whole camp, as the former one
had to Joe; and the men unanimously pronounced it the "back door to that
country which divines preach about." As this volcanic district had
previously been seen by one of Lewis and Clarke's men, named Colter,
while on a solitary hunt, and by him also denominated "hell," there must
certainly have been something very suggestive in its appearance.
If the mountains had proven barren, and inhospitably cold, this hot and
sulphurous country offered no greater hospitality. In fact, the fumes
which pervaded the air rendered it exceedingly noxious to every living
thing, and the camp was fain to push on to the main stream of the
Bighorn River. Here signs of trappers became apparent, and spies having
been sent out discovered a camp of about forty men, under Milton
Sublette, brother of Captain William Sublette, the same that had been
detached the previous summer to hunt in that country. Smith and Sublette
then cached their furs, and moving up the river joined the camp of M.
Sublette.
The manner of caching furs is this: A pit is dug to a depth of five or
six feet in which to stand. The men then drift from this under a bank of
solid earth, and excavate a room of considerable dimensions, in which
the furs are deposited, and the apartment closed up. The pit is then
filled up with earth, and the traces of digging obliterated or
concealed. These caches are the only storehouses of the wilderness.
While the men were recruiting themselves in the joint camp, the alarm of
"Indians!" was given, and hurried cries of "shoot! shoot!" were uttered
on the instant. Captain Sublette, however, checked this precipitation,
and ordering the men to hold, allowed the Indians to approach, making
signs of peace. They proved to be a war party of Crows, who after
smoking the pipe of peace with the Captain, received from him a present
of some tobacco, and departed.
As soon as the camp was sufficiently recruited for traveling, the united
companies set out again toward the south, and crossed the Horn mountains
once more into Wind River Valley; having had altogether, a successful
fall hunt, and made some important explorations, notwithstanding the
severity of the weather and the difficulty of mountain traveling. It was
about Christmas when the camp arrived on Wind River, and the cold
intense. While the men celebrated Christmas, as best they might under
the circumstances, Capt. Sublette started to St. Louis with one man,
Harris, called among mountain-men Black Harris, on snowshoes, with a
train of pack-dogs. Such was the indomitable energy and courage of this
famous leader!
CHAPTER IV.
1830. The furs collected by Jackson's company were cached on the Wind
River; and the cold still being very severe, and game scarce, the two
remaining leaders, Smith and Jackson, set out on the first of January
with the whole camp, for the buffalo country, on the Powder River, a
distance of about one hundred and fifty miles. "Times were hard in
camp," when mountains had to be crossed in the depth of winter.
The animals had to be subsisted on the bark of the sweet cotton-wood,
which grows along the streams and in the valleys on the east side of the
Rocky Mountains, but is nowhere to be found west of that range. This way
of providing for his horses and mules involved no trifling amount of
labor, when each man had to furnish food for several of them. To collect
this bark, the men carried the smooth limbs of the cotton-wood to camp,
where, beside the camp-fire, they shaved off the sweet, green bark with
a hunting-knife transformed into a drawing-knife by fastening a piece of
wood to its point; or, in case the cotton-wood was not convenient, the
bark was peeled off, and carried to camp in a blanket. So nutritious is
it, that animals fatten upon it quite as well as upon oats.
[Illustration: HUNTER'S WINTER CAMP.]
In the large cotton-wood bottoms on the Yellowstone River, it sometimes
became necessary to station a double guard to keep the buffalo out of
camp, so numerous were they, when the severity of the cold drove them
from the prairies to these cotton-wood thickets for subsistence. It
was, therefore, of double importance to make the winter camp where the
cotton-wood was plenty; since not only did it furnish the animals of the
camp with food, but by attracting buffalo, made game plenty for the men.
To such a hunter's paradise on Powder River, the camp was now traveling,
and arrived, after a hard, cold march, about the middle of January, when
the whole encampment went into winter quarters, to remain until the
opening of spring.
This was the occasion when the mountain-man "lived fat" and enjoyed
life: a season of plenty, of relaxation, of amusement, of
acquaintanceship with all the company, of gayety, and of "busy
idleness." Through the day, hunting parties were coming and going, men
were cooking, drying meat, making moccasins, cleaning their arms,
wrestling, playing games, and, in short, everything that an isolated
community of hardy men could resort to for occupation, was resorted to
by these mountaineers. Nor was there wanting, in the appearance of the
camp, the variety, and that picturesque air imparted by a mingling of
the native element; for what with their Indian allies, their native
wives, and numerous children, the mountaineers' camp was a motley
assemblage; and the trappers themselves, with their affectation of
Indian coxcombry, not the least picturesque individuals.
The change wrought in a wilderness landscape by the arrival of the grand
camp was wonderful indeed. Instead of Nature's superb silence and
majestic loneliness, there was the sound of men's voices in boisterous
laughter, or the busy hum of conversation; the loud-resounding stroke of
the axe; the sharp report of the rifle; the neighing of horses, and
braying of mules; the Indian whoop and yell; and all that not unpleasing
confusion of sound which accompanies the movements of the creature man.
Over the plain, only dotted until now with shadows of clouds, or the
transitory passage of the deer, the antelope, or the bear, were
scattered hundreds of lodges and immense herds of grazing animals. Even
the atmosphere itself seemed changed from its original purity, and
became clouded with the smoke from many camp-fires. And all this change
might go as quickly as it came. The tent struck and the march resumed,
solitude reigned once more, and only the cloud dotted the silent
landscape.
If the day was busy and gleesome, the night had its charms as well.
Gathered about the shining fires, groups of men in fantastic costumes
told tales of marvelous adventures, or sung some old-remembered song, or
were absorbed in games of chance. Some of the better educated men, who
had once known and loved books, but whom some mishap in life had
banished to the wilderness, recalled their favorite authors, and recited
passages once treasured, now growing unfamiliar; or whispered to some
chosen confrere the saddened history of his earlier years, and charged
him thus and thus, should ever-ready death surprise himself in the next
spring's hunt.
It will not be thought discreditable to our young trapper, Joe, that he
learned to read by the light of the camp-fire. Becoming sensible, even
in the wilderness, of the deficiencies of his early education, he found
a teacher in a comrade, named Green, and soon acquired sufficient
knowledge to enjoy an old copy of Shakspeare; which, with a Bible, was
carried about with the property of the camp.
In this life of careless gayety and plenty, the whole company was
allowed to remain without interruption, until the first of April, when
it was divided, and once more started on the march. Jackson, or "Davey,"
as he was called by the men, with about half the company, left for the
Snake country. The remainder, among whom was Meek, started north, with
Smith for commander, and James Bridger as pilot.
Crossing the mountains, ranges of which divide the tributary streams of
the Yellowstone from each other, the first halt was made on Tongue
River. From thence the camp proceeded to the Bighorn River. Through all
this country game was in abundance,--buffalo, elk, and bear, and beaver
also plenty. In mountain phrase, "times were good on this hunt:" beaver
packs increased in number, and both men and animals were in excellent
condition.
A large party usually hunted out the beaver and frightened away the game
in a few weeks, or days, from any one locality. When this happened the
camp moved on; or, should not game be plenty, it kept constantly on the
move, the hunters and trappers seldom remaining out more than a day or
two. Should the country be considered dangerous on account of Indians,
it was the habit of the men to return every night to the encampment.
It was the design of Smith to take his command into the Blackfoot
country, a region abounding in the riches which he sought, could they
only be secured without coming into too frequent conflict with the
natives: always a doubtful question concerning these savages. He had
proceeded in this direction as far as Bovey's Fork of the Bighorn, when
the camp was overtaken by a heavy fall of snow, which made traveling
extremely difficult, and which, when melted, caused a sudden great rise
in the mountain streams. In attempting to cross Bovey's Fork during the
high water, he had thirty horses swept away, with three hundred traps: a
serious loss in the business of hunting beaver.
In the manner described, pushing on through an unknown country, hunting
and trapping as they moved, the company proceeded, passing another low
chain of mountains, through a pass called Pryor's Gap, to Clark's Fork
of the Yellowstone, thence to Rose-Bud River, and finally to the main
Yellowstone River, where it makes a great bend to the east, enclosing a
large plain covered with grass, and having also extensive cotton-wood
bottoms, which subsequently became a favorite wintering ground of the
fur companies.
It was while trapping up in this country, on the Rose-Bud River, that an
amusing adventure befel our trapper Joe. Being out with two other
trappers, at some distance from the great camp, they had killed and
supped off a fat buffalo cow. The night was snowy, and their camp was
made in a grove of young aspens. Having feasted themselves, the
remaining store of choice pieces was divided between, and placed, hunter
fashion, under the heads of the party, on their betaking themselves to
their blanket couches for the night. Neither Indian nor wild beast
disturbed their repose, as they slept, with their guns beside them,
filled with comfort and plenty. But who ever dreams of the presence of a
foe under such circumstances? Certainly not our young trapper, who was
only awakened about day-break by something very large and heavy walking
over him, and snuffing about him with a most insulting freedom. It did
not need Yankee powers of guessing to make out who the intruder in camp
might be: in truth, it was only too disagreeably certain that it was a
full sized grizzly bear, whose keenness of smell had revealed to him the
presence of fat cow-meat in that neighborhood.
"You may be sure," says Joe, "that I kept very quiet, while that bar
helped himself to some of my buffalo meat, and went a little way off to
eat it. But Mark Head, one of the men, raised up, and back came the
bar. Down went our heads under the blankets, and I kept mine covered
pretty snug, while the beast took another walk over the bed, but finally
went off again to a little distance. Mitchel then wanted to shoot; but I
said, 'no, no; hold on, or the brute will kill us, sure.' When the bar
heard our voices, back he run again, and jumped on the bed as before.
I'd have been happy to have felt myself sinking ten feet under ground,
while that bar promenaded over and around us! However, he couldn't quite
make out our style, and finally took fright, and ran off down the
mountain. Wanting to be revenged for his impudence, I went after him,
and seeing a good chance, shot him dead. Then I took my turn at running
over him awhile!"
Such are the not infrequent incidents of the trapper's life, which
furnish him with material, needing little embellishment to convert it
into those wild tales with which the nights are whiled away around the
winter camp-fire.
Arrived at the Yellowstone with his company, Smith found it necessary,
on account of the high water, to construct Bull-boats for the crossing.
These are made by stitching together buffalo hides, stretching them over
light frames, and paying the seams with elk tallow and ashes. In these
light wherries the goods and people were ferried over, while the horses
and mules were crossed by swimming.
The mode usually adopted in crossing large rivers, was to spread the
lodges on the ground, throwing on them the light articles, saddles, etc.
A rope was then run through the pin-holes around the edge of each, when
it could be drawn up like a reticule. It was then filled with the
heavier camp goods, and being tightly drawn up, formed a perfect ball. A
rope being tied to it, it was launched on the water, the children of the
camp on top, and the women swimming after and clinging to it, while a
man, who had the rope in his hand, swam ahead holding on to his horse's
mane. In this way, dancing like a cork on the waves, the lodge was
piloted across; and passengers as well as freight consigned, undamaged,
to the opposite shore. A large camp of three hundred men, and one
hundred women and children were frequently thus crossed in one hour's
time.
The camp was now in the excellent but inhospitable country of the
Blackfeet, and the commander redoubled his precautions, moving on all
the while to the Mussel Shell, and thence to the Judith River. Beaver
were plenty and game abundant; but the vicinity of the large village of
the Blackfeet made trapping impracticable. Their war upon the trappers
was ceaseless; their thefts of traps and horses ever recurring: and
Smith, finding that to remain was to be involved in incessant warfare,
without hope of victory or gain, at length gave the command to turn
back, which was cheerfully obeyed: for the trappers had been very
successful on the spring hunt, and thinking discretion some part at
least of valor, were glad to get safe out of the Blackfoot country with
their rich harvest of beaver skins.
The return march was by the way of Pryor's Gap, and up the Bighorn, to
Wind River, where the cache was made in the previous December. The furs
were now taken out and pressed, ready for transportation across the
plains. A party was also dispatched, under Mr. Tullock, to raise the
cache on the Bighorn River. Among this party was Meek, and a Frenchman
named Ponto. While digging to come at the fur, the bank above caved in,
falling upon Meek and Ponto, killing the latter almost instantly. Meek,
though severely hurt, was taken out alive: while poor Ponto was "rolled
in a blanket, and pitched into the river." So rude were the burial
services of the trapper of the Rocky Mountains.
Meek was packed back to camp, along with the furs, where he soon
recovered. Sublette arrived from St. Louis with fourteen wagons loaded
with merchandise, and two hundred additional men for the service.
Jackson also arrived from the Snake country with plenty of beaver, and
the business of the yearly rendezvous began. Then the scenes previously
described were re-enacted. Beaver, the currency of the mountains, was
plenty that year, and goods were high accordingly. A thousand dollars a
day was not too much for some of the most reckless to spend on their
squaws, horses, alcohol, and themselves. For "alcohol" was the beverage
of the mountaineers. Liquors could not be furnished to the men in that
country. Pure alcohol was what they "got tight on;" and a desperate
tight it was, to be sure!
An important change took place in the affairs of the Rocky Mountain
Company at this rendezvous. The three partners, Smith, Sublette, and
Jackson, sold out to a new firm, consisting of Milton Sublette, James
Bridger, Fitzpatrick, Frapp, and Jervais; the new company retaining the
same name and style as the old.
The old partners left for St. Louis, with a company of seventy men, to
convoy the furs. Two of them never returned to the Rocky Mountains; one
of them, Smith, being killed the following year, as will hereafter be
related; and Jackson remaining in St. Louis, where, like a true
mountain-man, he dissipated his large and hard-earned fortune in a few
years. Captain Sublette, however, continued to make his annual trips to
and from the mountains for a number of years; and until the
consolidation of another wealthy company with the Rocky Mountain
Company, continued to furnish goods to the latter, at a profit on St.
Louis prices; his capital and experience enabling him to keep the new
firm under his control to a large degree.
CHAPTER V.
1830. The whole country lying upon the Yellowstone and its tributaries,
and about the head-waters of the Missouri, at the time of which we are
writing, abounded not only in beaver, but in buffalo, bear, elk,
antelope, and many smaller kinds of game. Indeed the buffalo used then
to cross the mountains into the valleys about the head-waters of the
Snake and Colorado Rivers, in such numbers that at certain seasons of
the year, the plains and river bottoms swarmed with them. Since that day
they have quite disappeared from the western slope of the Rocky
Mountains, and are no longer seen in the same numbers on the eastern
side.
Bear, although they did not go in herds, were rather uncomfortably
numerous, and sometimes put the trapper to considerable trouble, and
fright also; for very few were brave enough to willingly encounter the
formidable grizzly, one blow of whose terrible paw, aimed generally at
the hunter's head, if not arrested, lays him senseless and torn, an easy
victim to the wrathful monster. A gunshot wound, if not directed with
certainty to some vulnerable point, has only the effect to infuriate the
beast, and make him trebly dangerous. From the fact that the bear always
bites his wound, and commences to run with his head thus brought in the
direction from which the ball comes, he is pretty likely to make a
straight wake towards his enemy, whether voluntarily or not; and woe be
to the hunter who is not prepared for him, with a shot for his eye,
or the spot just behind the ear, where certain death enters.
[Illustration: _THE THREE "BARES."_]
In the frequent encounters of the mountain-men with these huge beasts,
many acts of wonderful bravery were performed, while some tragedies, and
not a few comedies were enacted.
From something humorous in Joe Meek's organization, or some wonderful
"luck" to which he was born, or both, the greater part of his adventures
with bears, as with men, were of a humorous complexion; enabling him not
only to have a story to tell, but one at which his companions were bound
to laugh. One of these which happened during the fall hunt of 1830, we
will let him tell for himself:
"The first fall on the Yellowstone, Hawkins and myself were coming up
the river in search of camp, when we discovered a very large bar on the
opposite bank. We shot across, and thought we had killed him, fur he
laid quite still. As we wanted to take some trophy of our victory to
camp, we tied our mules and left our guns, clothes, and everything
except our knives and belts, and swum over to whar the bar war. But
instead of being dead, as we expected, he sprung up as we come near him,
and took after us. Then you ought to have seen two naked men run! It war
a race for life, and a close one, too. But we made the river first. The
bank war about fifteen feet high above the water, and the river ten or
twelve feet deep; but we didn't halt. Overboard we went, the bar after
us, and in the stream about as quick as we war. The current war very
strong, and the bar war about half way between Hawkins and me. Hawkins
was trying to swim down stream faster than the current war carrying the
bar, and I war a trying to hold back. You can reckon that I swam! Every
moment I felt myself being washed into the yawning jaws of the mighty
beast, whose head war up the stream, and his eyes on me. But the
current war too strong for him, and swept him along as fast as it did
me. All this time, not a long one, we war looking for some place to land
where the bar could not overtake us. Hawkins war the first to make the
shore, unknown to the bar, whose head war still up stream; and he set up
such a whooping and yelling that the bar landed too, but on the opposite
side. I made haste to follow Hawkins, who had landed on the side of the
river we started from, either by design or good luck: and then we
traveled back a mile and more to whar our mules war left--a bar on one
side of the river, and _two bares_ on the other!"
Notwithstanding that a necessary discipline was observed and maintained
in the fur traders' camp, there was at the same time a freedom of manner
between the Booshways and the men, both hired and free, which could not
obtain in a purely military organization, nor even in the higher walks
of civilized life in cities. In the mountain community, motley as it
was, as in other communities more refined, were some men who enjoyed
almost unlimited freedom of speech and action, and others who were the
butt of everybody's ridicule or censure. The leaders themselves did not
escape the critical judgment of the men; and the estimation in which
they were held could be inferred from the manner in which they
designated them. Captain Sublette, whose energy, courage, and kindness
entitled him to the admiration of the mountaineers, went by the name of
_Billy_: his partner Jackson, was called _Davey_; Bridger, _old Gabe_,
and so on. In the same manner the men distinguished favorites or
oddities amongst themselves, and to have the adjective _old_ prefixed to
a man's name signified nothing concerning his age, but rather that he
was an object of distinction; though it did not always indicate, except
by the tone in which it was pronounced, whether that distinction were an
enviable one or not.
Whenever a trapper could get hold of any sort of story reflecting on the
courage of a leader, he was sure at some time to make him aware of it,
and these anecdotes were sometimes sharp answers in the mouths of
careless camp-keepers. Bridger was once waylaid by Blackfeet, who shot
at him, hitting his horse in several places. The wounds caused the
animal to rear and pitch, by reason of which violent movements Bridger
dropped his gun, and the Indians snatched it up; after which there was
nothing to do except to run, which Bridger accordingly did. Not long
after this, as was customary, the leader was making a circuit of the
camp examining the camp-keeper's guns, to see if they were in order, and
found that of one Maloney, an Irishman, in a very dirty condition.
"What would you do," asked Bridger, "with a gun like that, if the
Indians were to charge on the camp?"
"Be ----, I would throw it to them, and run the way ye did," answered
Maloney, quickly. It was sometime after this incident before Bridger
again examined Maloney's gun.
A laughable story in this way went the rounds of the camp in this fall
of 1830. Milton Sublette was out on a hunt with Meek after buffalo, and
they were just approaching the band on foot, at a distance apart of
about fifty yards, when a large grizzly bear came out of a thicket and
made after Sublette, who, when he perceived the creature, ran for the
nearest cotton-wood tree. Meek in the meantime, seeing that Sublette was
not likely to escape, had taken sure aim, and fired at the bear,
fortunately killing him. On running up to the spot where it laid,
Sublette was discovered sitting at the foot of a cotton-wood, with his
legs and arms clasped tightly around it.
"Do you always climb a tree in that way?" asked Meek.
"I reckon you took the wrong end of it, that time, Milton!"
"I'll be ----, Meek, if I didn't think I was twenty feet up that tree
when you shot;" answered the frightened Booshway; and from that time the
men never tired of alluding to Milton's manner of climbing a tree.
[Illustration: THE WRONG END OF THE TREE.]
These were some of the mirthful incidents which gave occasion for a
gayety which had to be substituted for happiness, in the checkered life
of the trapper; and there were like to be many such, where there were
two hundred men, each almost daily in the way of adventures by flood or
field.
On the change in the management of the Company which occurred at the
rendezvous this year, three of the new partners, Fitzpatrick, Sublette,
and Bridger, conducted a large party, numbering over two hundred, from
the Wind River to the Yellowstone; crossing thence to Smith's River, the
Falls of the Missouri, three forks of the Missouri, and to the Big
Blackfoot River. The hunt proved very successful; beaver were plentiful;
and the Blackfeet shy of so large a traveling party. Although so long in
their country, there were only four men killed out of the whole company
during this autumn.
From the Blackfoot River the company proceeded down the west side of the
mountains to the forks of the Snake River, and after trapping for a
short time in this locality, continued their march southward as far as
Ogden's Hole, a small valley among the Bear River Mountains.
At this place they fell in with a trading and trapping party, under Mr.
Peter Skeen Ogden, of the Hudson's Bay Company. And now commenced that
irritating and reprehensible style of rivalry with which the different
companies were accustomed to annoy one another. Accompanying Mr. Ogden's
trading party were a party of Rockway Indians, who were from the North,
and who were employed by the Hudson's Bay Company, as the Iroquois and
Crows were, to trap for them. Fitzpatrick and associates camped in the
neighborhood of Ogden's company, and immediately set about endeavoring
to purchase from the Rockways and others, the furs collected for Mr.
Ogden. Not succeeding by fair means, if the means to such an end could
be called fair,--they opened a keg of whiskey, which, when the Indians
had got a taste, soon drew them away from the Hudson's Bay trader, the
regulations of whose company forbade the selling or giving of liquors to
the Indians. Under its influence, the furs were disposed of to the Rocky
Mountain Company, who in this manner obtained nearly the whole product
of their year's hunt. This course of conduct was naturally exceedingly
disagreeable to Mr. Ogden, as well as unprofitable also; and a feeling
of hostility grew up and increased between the two camps.
While matters were in this position, a stampede one day occurred among
the horses in Ogden's camp, and two or three of the animals ran away,
and ran into the camp of the rival company. Among them was the horse of
Mr. Ogden's Indian wife, which had escaped, with her babe hanging to the
saddle.
Not many minutes elapsed, before the mother, following her child and
horse, entered the camp, passing right through it, and catching the now
halting steed by the bridle. At the same moment she espied one of her
company's pack-horses, loaded with beaver, which had also run into the
enemy's camp. The men had already begun to exult over the circumstance,
considering this chance load of beaver as theirs, by the laws of war.
But not so the Indian woman. Mounting her own horse, she fearlessly
seized the pack-horse by the halter, and led it out of camp, with its
costly burden.
At this undaunted action, some of the baser sort of men cried out "shoot
her, shoot her!" but a majority interfered, with opposing cries of "let
her go; let her alone; she's a brave woman: I glory in her pluck;" and
other like admiring expressions. While the clamor continued, the wife of
Ogden had galloped away, with her baby and her pack-horse.
As the season advanced, Fitzpatrick, with his other partners, returned
to the east side of the mountains, and went into winter quarters on
Powder river. In this trapper's "land of Canaan" they remained between
two and three months. The other two partners, Frapp and Jervais, who
were trapping far to the south, did not return until the following year.
While wintering it became necessary to send a dispatch to St. Louis on
the company's business. Meek and a Frenchman named Legarde, were chosen
for this service, which was one of trust and peril also. They proceeded
without accident, however, until the Pawnee villages were reached, when
Legarde was taken prisoner. Meek, more cautious, escaped, and proceeded
alone a few days' travel beyond, when he fell in with an express on its
way to St. Louis, to whom he delivered his dispatches, and returned to
camp, accompanied only by a Frenchman named Cabeneau; thus proving
himself an efficient mountaineer at twenty years of age.
1831. As soon as the spring opened, sometime in March, the whole company
started north again, for the Blackfoot country. But on the night of the
third day out, they fell unawares into the neighborhood of a party of
Crow Indians, whose spies discovered the company's horses feeding on the
dry grass of a little bottom, and succeeded in driving off about three
hundred head. Here was a dilemma to be in, in the heart of an enemy's
country! To send the remaining horses after these, might be "sending the
axe after the helve;" besides most of them belonged to the free
trappers, and could not be pressed into the service.
The only course remaining was to select the best men and dispatch them
on foot, to overtake and retake the stolen horses. Accordingly one
hundred trappers were ordered on this expedition, among whom were Meek,
Newell, and Antoine Godin, a half-breed and brave fellow, who was to
lead the party. Following the trail of the Crows for two hundred miles,
traveling day and night, on the third day they came up with them on a
branch of the Bighorn river. The trappers advanced cautiously, and being
on the opposite side of the stream, on a wooded bluff, were enabled to
approach close enough to look into their fort, and count the
unsuspecting thieves. There were sixty of them, fine young braves, who
believed that now they had made a start in life. Alas, for the vanity of
human, and especially of Crow expectations! Even then, while they were
grouped around their fires, congratulating themselves on the sudden
wealth which had descended upon them, as it were from the skies, an
envious fate, in the shape of several roguish white trappers, was
laughing at them and their hopes, from the overhanging bluff opposite
them. And by and by, when they were wrapped in a satisfied slumber, two
of these laughing rogues, Robert Newell, and Antoine Godin, stole under
the very walls of their fort, and setting the horses free, drove them
across the creek.
The Indians were awakened by the noise of the trampling horses, and
sprang to arms. But Meek and his fellow-trappers on the bluff fired into
the fort with such effect that the Crows were appalled. Having delivered
their first volley, they did not wait for the savages to recover from
their recoil. Mounting in hot haste, the cavalcade of bare-back riders,
and their drove of horses, were soon far away from the Crow fort,
leaving the ambitious braves to finish their excursion on foot. It was
afterwards ascertained that the Crows lost seven men by that one volley
of the trappers.
Flushed with success, the trappers yet found the backward journey more
toilsome than the outward; for what with sleeplessness and fatigue, and
bad traveling in melted snow, they were pretty well exhausted when they
reached camp. Fearing, however, another raid from the thieving Crows,
the camp got in motion again with as little delay as possible. They had
not gone far, when Fitzpatrick turned back, with only one man, to go to
St. Louis for supplies.
After the departure of Fitzpatrick, Bridger and Sublette completed their
spring and summer campaign without any material loss in men or animals,
and with considerable gain in beaver skins. Having once more visited the
Yellowstone, they turned to the south again, crossing the mountains into
Pierre's Hole, on to Snake river; thence to Salt river; thence to Bear
river; and thence to Green river, to rendezvous.
It was expected that Fitzpatrick would have arrived from St. Louis with
the usual annual recruits and supplies of merchandise, in time for the
summer rendezvous; but after waiting for some time in vain, Bridger and
Sublette determined to send out a small party to look for him. The large
number of men now employed, had exhausted the stock of goods on hand.
The camp was without blankets and without ammunition; knives were not to
be had; traps were scarce; but worse than all, the tobacco had given
out, and alcohol was not! In such a case as this, what could a
mountain-man do?
To seek the missing Booshway became not only a duty, but a necessity;
and not only a necessity of the physical man, but in an equal degree a
need of the moral and spiritual man, which was rusting with the tedium
of waiting. In the state of uncertainty in which the minds of the
company were involved, it occurred to that of Frapp to consult a great
"medicine-man" of the Crows, one of those recruits filched from Mr.
Ogden's party by whiskey the previous year.
Like all eminent professional men, the Crow chief required a generous
fee, of the value of a horse or two, before he would begin to make
"medicine." This peculiar ceremony is pretty much alike among all the
different tribes. It is observed first in the making of a medicine man,
_i. e._, qualifying him for his profession; and afterwards is practiced
to enable him to heal the sick, to prophecy, and to dream dreams, or
even to give victory to his people. To a medicine-man was imputed great
power, not only to cure, but to kill; and if, as it sometimes happened,
the relatives of a sick man suspected the medicine-man of having caused
his death, by the exercise of evil powers, one of them, or all of them,
pursued him to the death. Therefore, although it might be honorable, it
was not always safe to be a great "medicine."
The Indians placed a sort of religious value upon the practice of
fasting; a somewhat curious fact, when it is remembered how many
compulsory fasts they are obliged to endure, which must train them to
think lightly of the deprivation of food. Those, however, who could
endure voluntary abstinence long enough, were enabled to become very
wise and very brave. The manner of making a "medicine" among some of the
interior tribes, is in certain respects similar to the practice gone
through with by some preachers, in making a convert. A sort of
camp-meeting is held, for several nights, generally about five, during
which various dances are performed, with cries, and incantations, bodily
exercises, singing, and nervous excitement; enough to make many
patients, instead of one doctor. But the native's constitution is a
strong one, and he holds out well. At last, however, one or more are
overcome with the mysterious _power_ which enters into them at that
time; making, instead of a saint, only a superstitious Indian doctor.
The same sort of exercises which had made the Cree man a doctor were now
resorted to, in order that he might obtain a more than natural sight,
enabling him to see visions of the air, or at the least to endow him
with prophetic dreams. After several nights of singing, dancing,
hopping, screeching, beating of drums, and other more violent exercises
and contortions, the exhausted medicine-man fell off to sleep, and when
he awoke he announced to Frapp that Fitzpatrick was not dead. He was on
the road; some road; but not the right one; etc., etc.
Thus encouraged, Frapp determined to take a party, and go in search of
him. Accordingly Meek, Reese, Ebarts, and Nelson, volunteered to
accompany him. This party set out, first in the direction of Wind
River; but not discovering any signs of the lost Booshway in that
quarter, crossed over to the Sweetwater, and kept along down to the
North Fork of the Platte, and thence to the Black Hills, where they
found a beautiful country full of game; but not the hoped-for train,
with supplies. After waiting for a short time at the Black Hills,
Frapp's party returned to the North Fork of the Platte, and were
rejoiced to meet at last, the long absent partner, with his pack train.
Urged by Frapp, Fitzpatrick hastened forward, and came into camp on
Powder River after winter had set in.
Fitzpatrick had a tale to tell the other partners, in explanation of his
unexpected delay. When he had started for St. Louis in the month of
March previous, he had hoped to have met the old partners, Capt.
Sublette and Jedediah Smith, and to have obtained the necessary supplies
from them, to furnish the Summer rendezvous with plenty. But these
gentlemen, when he fell in with them, used certain arguments which
induced him to turn back, and accompany them to Santa Fe, where they
promised to furnish him goods, as he desired, and to procure for him an
escort at that place. The journey had proven tedious, and unfortunate.
They had several times been attacked by Indians, and Smith had been
killed. While they were camped on a small tributary of the Simmaron
River, Smith had gone a short distance from camp to procure water, and
while at the stream was surprised by an ambush, and murdered on the
spot, his murderers escaping unpunished. Sublette, now left alone in the
business, finally furnished him; and he had at last made his way back to
his Rocky Mountain camp.
But Fitzpatrick's content at being once more with his company was
poisoned by the disagreeable proximity of a rival company. If he had
annoyed Mr. Ogden of the Hudson's Bay Company, in the previous autumn,
Major Vanderburg and Mr. Dripps, of the American Company, in their turn
annoyed him. This company had been on their heels, from the Platte
River, and now were camped in the same neighborhood, using the Rocky
Mountain Company as pilots to show them the country. As this was just
what it was not for their interest to do, the Rocky Mountain Company
raised camp, and fairly ran away from them; crossing the mountains to
the Forks of the Snake River, where they wintered among the Nez Perces
and Flathead Indians.
Some time during this winter, Meek and Legarde, who had escaped from the
Pawnees, made another expedition together; traveling three hundred miles
on snowshoes, to the Bitter Root River, to look for a party of free
trappers, whose beaver the company wished to secure. They were absent
two months and a half, on this errand, and were entirely successful,
passing a Blackfoot village in the night, but having no adventures worth
recounting.
CHAPTER VI.
1832. In the following spring, the Rocky Mountain Fur Company commenced
its march, first up Lewis' Fork, then on to Salt River, thence to Gray's
River, and thence to Bear River. They fell in with the North American
Fur Company on the latter river, with a large lot of goods, but no
beaver. The American Company's resident partners were ignorant of the
country, and were greatly at a loss where to look for the good trapping
grounds. These gentlemen, Vanderburg and Dripps, were therefore inclined
to keep an eye on the movements of the Rocky Mountain Company, whose
leaders were acquainted with the whole region lying along the mountains,
from the head-waters of the Colorado to the northern branches of the
Missouri. On the other hand, the Rocky Mountain Company were anxious to
"shake the dust from off their feet," which was trodden by the American
Company, and to avoid the evils of competition in an Indian country. But
they found the effort quite useless; the rival company had a habit of
turning up in the most unexpected places, and taking advantage of the
hard-earned experience of the Rocky Mountain Company's leaders. They
tampered with the trappers, and ferreted out the secret of their next
rendezvous; they followed on their trail, making them pilots to the
trapping grounds; they sold goods to the Indians, and what was worse, to
the hired trappers. In this way grew up that fierce conflict of
interests, which made it "as much as his life was worth" for a trapper
to suffer himself to be inveigled into the service of a rival company,
which about this time or a little later, was at its highest, and which
finally ruined the fur-trade for the American companies in the Rocky
Mountains.
Finding their rivals in possession of the ground, Bridger and Milton
Sublette resolved to spend but a few days in that country. But so far as
Sublette was concerned, circumstances ordered differently. A Rockway
Chief, named Gray, and seven of his people, had accompanied the camp
from Ogden's Hole, in the capacity of trappers. But during the sojourn
on Bear River, there was a quarrel in camp on account of some indignity,
real or fancied, which had been offered to the chief's daughter, and in
the affray Gray stabbed Sublette so severely that it was thought he must
die.
It thus fell out that Sublette had to be left behind; and Meek who was
his favorite, was left to take care of him while he lived, and bury him
if he died; which trouble Sublette saved him, however, by getting well.
But they had forty lonesome days to themselves after the camps had moved
off,--one on the heels of the other, to the great vexation of Bridger.
Time passed slowly in Sublette's lodge, while waiting for his wound to
heal. Day passed after day, so entirely like each other that the
monotony alone seemed sufficient to invite death to an easy conquest.
But the mountain-man's blood, like the Indians, is strong and pure, and
his flesh heals readily, therefore, since death would not have him, the
wounded man was forced to accept of life in just this monotonous form.
To him Joe Meek was everything,--hands, feet, physician, guard, caterer,
hunter, cook, companion, friend. What long talks they had, when Sublette
grew better: what stories they told; what little glimpses of a secret
chamber in their hearts, and a better than the every-day spirit, in
their bosoms, was revealed,--as men will reveal such things in the
isolation of sea-voyages, or the solitary presence of majestic Nature.
To the veteran mountaineer there must have been something soothing in
the care and friendship of the youth of twenty-two, with his daring
disposition, his frankness, his cheerful humor, and his good looks;--for
our Joe was growing to be a maturely handsome man--tall,
broad-shouldered, straight, with plenty of flesh, and none too much of
it; a Southerner's olive complexion; frank, dark eyes, and a classical
nose and chin. What though in the matter of dress he was ignorant of the
latest styles?--grace imparts elegance even to the trapper's beaver-skin
cap and blanket capote.
At the end of forty days, as many as it took to drown a world, Sublette
found himself well enough to ride; and the two set out on their search
for camp. But now other adventures awaited them. On a fork of Green
River, they came suddenly upon a band of Snake Indians feeding their
horses. As soon as the Snakes discovered the white men, they set up a
yell, and made an instinctive rush for their horses. Now was the
critical moment. One word passed between the travelers, and they made a
dash past the savages, right into the village, and never slacked rein
until they threw themselves from their horses at the door of the
Medicine lodge. This is a large and fancifully decorated lodge, which
stands in the centre of a village, and like the churches of Christians,
is sacred. Once inside of this, the strangers were safe for the present;
their blood could not be shed there.
The warriors of the village soon followed Sublette and Meek into their
strange house of refuge. In half an hour it was filled. Not a word was
addressed to the strangers; nor by them to the Indians, who talked
among themselves with a solemn eagerness, while they smoked the
medicine pipe, as inspiration in their councils. Great was the
excitement in the minds of the listeners, who understood the Snake
tongue, as the question of their life or death was gravely discussed;
yet in their countenances appeared only the utmost serenity. To show
fear, is to whet an Indian's appetite for blood: coolness confounds and
awes him when anything will.
If Sublette had longed for excitement, while an invalid in his lonely
lodge on Bear River, he longed equally now for that blissful seclusion.
Listening for, and hearing one's death-warrant from a band of
blood-thirsty savages, could only prove with bitter sharpness how sweet
was life, even the most uneventful. For hours the council continued, and
the majority favored the death-sentence. But one old chief, called the
good _Gotia_, argued long for an acquittal: he did not see the necessity
of murdering two harmless travelers of the white race. Nothing availed,
however, and just at sunset their doom was fixed.
The only hope of escape was, that, favored by darkness, they might elude
the vigilance of their jailers; and night, although so near, seemed ages
away, even at sundown. Death being decreed, the warriors left the lodge
one by one to attend to the preparation of the preliminary ceremonies.
Gotia, the good, was the last to depart. As he left the Medicine lodge
he made signs to the captives to remain quiet until he should return;
pointing upwards to signify that there was a chance of life; and
downwards to show that possibly they must die.
What an age of anxiety was that hour of waiting! Not a word had been
exchanged between the prisoners since the Indians entered the lodge,
until now; and now very little was said, for speech would draw upon them
the vigilance of their enemy, by whom they desired most ardently to be
forgotten.
About dusk there was a great noise, and confusion, and clouds of dust,
in the south end of the village. Something was going wrong among the
Indian horses. Immediately all the village ran to the scene of the
disorder, and at the same moment Gotia, the good, appeared at the door
of the Medicine lodge, beckoning the prisoners to follow him. With
alacrity they sprang up and after him, and were led across the stream,
to a thicket on the opposite side, where their horses stood, ready to
mount, in the charge of a young Indian girl. They did not stop for
compliments, though had time been less precious, they might well have
bestowed some moments of it in admiration of _Umentucken Tukutsey
Undewatsey_, the Mountain Lamb. Soon after, the beautiful Snake girl
became the wife of Milton Sublette; and after his return to the States,
of the subject of this narrative; from which circumstance the incident
above related takes on something of the rosy hue of romance.
As each released captive received his bridle from the delicate hand of
the Mountain Lamb, he sprang to the saddle. By this time the chief had
discovered that the strangers understood the Snake dialect. "Ride, if
you wish to live," said he: "ride without stopping, all night: and
to-morrow linger not." With hurried thanks our mountain-men replied to
this advice, and striking into a gallop, were soon far away from the
Snake village. The next day at noon found them a hundred and fifty miles
on their way to camp. Proceeding without further accident, they crossed
the Teton Mountains, and joined the company at Pierre's Hole, after an
absence of nearly four months.
Here they found the ubiquitous if not omnipresent American Fur Company
encamped at the rendezvous of the Rocky Mountain Company. The partners
being anxious to be freed from this sort of espionage, and obstinate
competition on their own ground, made a proposition to Vanderburg and
Dripps to divide the country with them, each company to keep on its own
territory. This proposition was refused by the American Company; perhaps
because they feared having the poorer portion set off to themselves by
their more experienced rivals. On this refusal, the Rocky Mountain
Company determin
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