I 
 
1 i 
 
 THE 
 
 ROCKY MOUNTAINS: 
 
 OR} 
 
 SCENES, INCIDENTS, AND ADVENTURES 
 
 IN THE FAR WEST; t. 
 
 DIGESTED FROM THE JOURNAL OP CAPTAIN B. L. E. BONNEVILLE, 
 OF THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND ILLUSTRATED 
 FROM VARIOUS OTHER ,SOURCES, 
 
 BY WASHINGTON IRVING. 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 BOSTOX COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 CHJtaTaUT HILL, MASS, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA. 
 
 CAREY, LEA, & BLANCHARD. 
 
 1837. 
 
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year one thou- 
 sand eight hundred and thirty-seven, by Washington Irving, in 
 the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for 
 the Southern District of New York. 
 
 56885 
 
 STEREOTYPED BY HENRY W. REES, 
 45 GOLD STREET, NEW YORK. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 While engaged in writing an account of the grand 
 enterprise of Astoria, it was my practice to seek all 
 kinds of oral information connected with the subject. 
 Nowhere did I pick up more interesting particulars 
 than at the table of Mr. John Jacob Astor ; who, being 
 the patriarch of the Fur Trade in the United States, 
 was accustomed to have at his board various persons 
 of adventurous turn, some of whom had been engaged 
 in his own great undertaking ; others, on their own 
 account, had made expeditions to the Rocky mountains 
 and the waters of the Columbia. 
 
 Among these personages, one who peculiarly took 
 my fancy, was Captain Bonneville, of the United 
 States' army ; who, in a rambling kind of enterprise, 
 had strangely engrafted the trapper and hunter upon 
 the soldier. As his expeditions and adventures will 
 form the leading theme of the following pages, a few 
 biographical particulars concerning him may not be 
 unacceptable. 
 
 Captain Bonneville is of French parentage. His 
 
4 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 father was a worthy old emigrant, who came to this 
 country many years since, and took up his abode in 
 New York. He is represented as a man not much 
 calculated for the sordid struggle of a money-making 
 world, but possessed of a happy temperament, a fes- 
 tivity of imagination, and a simplicity of heart, that 
 made him proof against its rubs and trials. He was 
 an excellent scholar : well acquainted with Latin and 
 Greek, and fond of the modern classics. His book 
 was his elysium ; once immersed in the pages of Vol- 
 taire, Corneille, or Racine, or of his favorite English 
 author, Shakspeare, he forgot the world and all its 
 concerns. Often would he be seen in summer weather, 
 seated under one of the trees on the Battery, or the 
 portico of St. Paul's church in Broadway, his bald 
 head uncovered, his hat lying by his side, his eyes 
 riveted to the page of his book, and his whole soul so 
 engaged, as to lose all consciousness of the passing 
 throng or the passing hour. 
 
 Captain Bonneville, it will be found, inherited some- 
 thing of his father's bonhommie, and his excitable imagi- 
 nation ; though the latter was somewhat disciplined in 
 early years, by mathematical studies. He was edu- 
 cated at our national Military Academy at West Point, 
 where he acquitted himself very creditably ; from 
 thence, he entered the army, in which he has ever 
 since continued. 
 
 The nature of our military service took him to the 
 frontier, where, for a number of years, he was stationed 
 at various posts in the far west. Here he was brought 
 into frequent intercourse with Indian traders, mountain 
 trappers, and other pioneers of the wilderness ; and 
 became so excited by their tales of wild scenes and 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 5 
 
 wild adventures, and their accounts of vast and mag- 
 nificent regions as yet unexplored, that an expedition 
 to the Rocky mountains became the ardent desire of 
 his heart, and an enterprise to explore untrodden tracts, 
 the leading object of his ambition. 
 
 By degrees he shaped this vague day-dream into a 
 practical reality. Having made himself acquainted 
 with all the requisites for a trading enterprise beyond 
 the mountains, he determined to undertake it. A leave 
 of absence, and a sanction of his expedition, was ob- 
 tained from the major general in chief, on his offering 
 to combine public utility with his private projects, and 
 to collect statistical information for the War Depart- 
 ment, concerning the wild countries and wild tribes he 
 might visit in the course of his journeyings. 
 
 Nothing now was wanting to the darling project of 
 the captain, but the ways and means. The expedition 
 would require an outfit of many thousand dollars ; a 
 staggering obstacle to a soldier, whose capital is sel- 
 dom any thing more than his sword. Full of that 
 buoyant hope, however, which belongs to the sanguine 
 temperament, he repaired to New York, the great 
 focus of American enterprise, where there are always 
 funds ready for any scheme, however chimerical or 
 romantic. Here he had the good fortune to meet with 
 a gentleman of high respectability and influence, who 
 had been his associate in boyhood, and who cherished 
 a schoolfellow friendship for him. He took a gene- 
 rous interest in the scheme of the captain ; introduced 
 him to commercial men of his acquaintance, and in a 
 little while an association was formed, and the neces- 
 sary funds were raised to carry the proposed measure 
 into effect. One of the most efficient persons in this 
 
 1* 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 association was Mr. Alfred Seton, who, when quite 
 a youth, had accompanied one of the expeditions sent 
 out by Mr. Astor to his commercial establishments 
 on the Columbia, and had distinguished himself by 
 his activity and courage at one of the interior posts. 
 Mr. Seton was one of the American youths who were 
 at Astoria at the time of its surrender to the British, 
 and who manifested such grief and indignation at see- 
 ing the flag of their country hauled down. The hope 
 of seeing that flag once more planted on the shores of 
 the Columbia, may have entered into his motives for 
 engaging in the present enterprise. 
 
 Thus backed and provided, Captain Bonneville un- 
 dertook his expedition into the far west, and was soon 
 beyond the Rocky mountains. Year after year elapsed 
 without his return. The term of his leave of absence 
 expired, yet no report was made of him at head quar- 
 ters at Washington. He was considered virtually dead 
 or lost, and his name was stricken from the army list. 
 
 It was in the autumn of 1835, at the country seat of 
 Mr. John Jacob Astor, at Hellgate, that I first met with 
 Captain Bonneville. He was then just returned from 
 a residence of upwards of three years among the 
 mountains, and was on his way to report himself at 
 head quarters, in the hopes of being reinstated in the 
 service. From all that I could learn, his wanderings 
 in the wilderness, though they had gratified his curi- 
 osity and his love of adventure, had not much benefited 
 his fortunes. Like Corporal Trim in his campaigns, 
 he had " satisfied the sentiment," and that was all. In 
 fact, he was too much of the frank, freehearted soldier, 
 and had inherited too much of his father's temperament, 
 to make a scheming trapper, or a thrifty bargainer. 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 7 
 
 There was something in the whole appearance of the 
 captain that prepossessed me in his favor. He was of 
 the middle size, well made and well set ; and a mili- 
 tary frock of foreign cut, that had seen service, gave 
 him a look of compactness. His countenance was 
 frank, open, and engaging; well browned by the sun, 
 and had something of a French expression. He had a 
 pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and, while he 
 kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime 
 of his days ; but the moment his head was uncovered, 
 a laid crown gained him credit for a few more years 
 than he was really entitled to. 
 
 Being extremely curious, at the time, about every 
 thing connected with the far west, I addressed numer- 
 ous questions to him. They drew from him a num- 
 ber of extremely striking details, which were given 
 with mingled modesty and frankness ; and in a gentle- 
 ness of manner, aud a soft tone of voice, that contrasted 
 singularly with the wild and often startling nature of 
 his themes. It wa\ difficult to conceive the mild, 
 quiet-looking personage before you, the actual hero of 
 the stirring scenes related. 
 
 In the course of three or four months, happening to 
 be at the city of Washington, I again came upon the 
 captain, who was attending the slow adjustment of his 
 affairs with the War Department. I found him quar- 
 tered with a worthy brother in arms, a major in the 
 army. Here he was writing at a table, covered with 
 maps and papers, in the centre of a large barrack room, 
 fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, 
 and war dresses, and the skins of various wild animals, 
 and hung round with pictures of Indian games and 
 ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting. In a 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 word, the captain was beguiling the tediousness of at- 
 tendance at court, by an attempt at authorship ; and 
 was rewriting and extending his travelling notes, and 
 making maps of the regions he had explored. As he 
 sat at the table, in this curious apartment, with his 
 high bald head of somewhat foreign cast, he reminded 
 me of some of those antique pictures of authors that I 
 have seen in old Spanish volumes. 
 
 The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, 
 which he subsequently put at my disposal, to fit it for 
 publication and bring it before the world. I found it 
 full of interesting details of life among the mountains, 
 and of the singular castes and races, both white men 
 and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, 
 too, throughout, the impress of his character, his bon- 
 hommie, his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility 
 to the grand and beautiful. 
 
 That manuscript has formed the staple of the follow- 
 ing work. I have occasionally interwoven facts and 
 details, gathered from various sources, especially from 
 the conversations and journals of some of the captain's 
 contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes he de- 
 scribes. I have also given it a tone and coloring 
 drawn from my own observation, during an excursion 
 into the Indian country beyond the bounds of civiliza- 
 tion ; as I before observed, however, the work is sub- 
 stantially the narrative of the worthy captain, and many 
 of its most graphic passages are but little varied from 
 his own language. 
 
 I shall conclude this notice by a dedication which 
 he had made of his manuscript to his hospitable brother 
 in arms, in whose quarters I found him occupied in his 
 literary labors ; it is a dedication which, I believe, pos- 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 
 
 9 
 
 sesses the qualities, not always found in complimentary 
 documents of the kind, of being sincere, and being 
 merited. 
 
 TO 
 
 JAMES HARVEY HOOK, 
 
 MAJOR, V, S. A. 
 
 WHOSE JEALOUSY OF ITS HONOR, 
 
 WHOSE ANXIETY FOR ITS INTERESTS, 
 AND 
 
 WHOSE SENSIBILITY FOR ITS WANTS, 
 HAVE ENDEARED HIM TO THE SERVICE AS 
 
 THE SOLDIER'S FRIENDJ 
 
 AND WHOSE GENERAL AMENITY, CONSTANT CHEERFULNESS, 
 DISINTERESTED HOSPITALITY, AND UNWEARIED 
 BENEVOLENCE, ENTITLE HIM TO THE 
 STILL LOFTIER TITLE OF 
 
 THE FRIEND OF MAN, 
 
 THIS WORK IS INSCRIBED, 
 
r 
 
CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of the fur trade of the Rocky mountains — American en- 
 terprises — General Ashley and his associates — Sublette, a 
 famous leader — Yearly rendezvous among the mountains — 
 Stratagems and dangers of the trade— Bands of trappers — 
 Indian banditti — Crows and Blackfeet — Mountaineers — 
 Traders of the far west — Character and habits of the trapper. 17 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Departure from Fort Osage — Modes of transportation — Pack- 
 horses — Waggons — Walker and Cerr6 — their characters — 
 Buoyant feelings on launching upon the prairies — Wild equip- 
 ments of the trappers — their gambols and antics — Difference 
 of character between the American and French trappers — 
 Agency of the Kansas — General Clarke — White Plume, the 
 Kansas chief — Night scene in a trader's camp — Colloquy 
 between White Plume and the captain — Bee hunters — their 
 expeditions — their feuds with the Indians — Bargaining talent 
 of White Plume. 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Wide prairies — Vegetable productions — Tabular hills — Slabs 
 of sandstone — Nebraska or Platte river — Scanty fare — 
 Buffalo sculls — Waggons turned into boats — Herds of Buf- 
 falo — Cliffs resembling castles — The chimney — Scott's bluffs 
 — Story connected with them — The bighorn or ahsahta — its 
 nature and habits — Difference between that and the " woolly 
 
 sheep," or goat of the mountains 40 
 
 { 
 
Xii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 An alarm — Crow Indians — their appearance — mode of ap- 
 proach — their vengeful errand — their curiosity — Hostility be- 
 tween the Crows and Blackfeet— Loving conduct of the 
 Crows — Laramie's fork — First navigation of the Nebraska — 
 great elevation of the country — Rarety of the atmosphere — 
 its effect on the woodwork of the waggons — Black hills — then- 
 wild and broken scenery — Indian dogs — Crow trophies — 
 Sterile and dreary country — Banks of the Sweet Water — 
 Buffalo hunting — Adventure of Tom Cain, the Irish cook. . 49 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Magnificent scenery — Wind river mountains — Treasury of 
 waters — A stray horse — An Indian trail — Trout streams — 
 The Great Green river valley — An alarm — A band of trap- 
 pers — Fontenelle, his information — Sufferings of thirst — En- 
 campment on the Seeds-ke-dee — Strategy of rival traders — 
 Fortification of the camp — The Blackfeet — banditti of the 
 mountains — their character and habits. . . . .61 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sublette and his band — Robert Campbell — Captain Wyetli 
 and a band of " down-easters" — Yankee enterprise — Fitz- 
 patrick — his adventure with the Blackfeet — A rendezvous 
 of mountaineers — The battle of Pierre's Hole — An Indian 
 ambuscade — Sublette's return 72 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Retreat of the Blackfeet — Fontenelle's camp in danger — Cap- 
 tain Bonneville and the Blackfeet — Free trappers — their 
 character, habits, dress, equipments, horses — Game fellows 
 of the mountains — their visit to the camp — Good fellowship 
 and good cheer — A carouse — A swagger, a brawl, and a 
 reconciliation 89 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Plans for the winter — Salmon river — Abundance of salmon 
 west of the mountains — New arrangements — Caches — Cer- 
 rg's detachment — Movements in Fontenelle's camp — De- 
 parture of the Blackfeet — their fortunes — Wind mountain 
 
CONTENTS. X1U 
 
 FA8I 
 
 streams — Buckeye, the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly 
 bear — Boaes of murdered travellers — Visit to Pierre's Hole 
 — Traces of the battle-^Nez Perce" Indians — Arrival at Sal- 
 mon river. . . .... 96 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Horses turned loose — Preparations for winter quarters — Hun- 
 gry times — Nez Percys, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, 
 religious ceremonies — Captain Bonneville's conversations 
 with them— Their love of gambling. . . . .106 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Blackfeet in the Horse prairie — Search after the hunters — Diffi- 
 culties and dangers — A card party in the wilderness— The 
 card party interrupted — " Old Sledge" a losing game — 
 Visiters to the camp — Iroquois hunters — -Hanging-eared 
 Indians 112 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Rival trapping parties — Manoeuvring — A desperate game — 
 Vanderburgh and the Blackfeet — Deserted camp fire — A 
 dark defile — An Indian ambush — A fierce mel£e — fatal 
 consequences — Fitzpatrick and Bridger — Trappers' pre- 
 cautions — Meeting with the Blackfeet — More fighting — An- 
 ecdote of a young Mexican and an Indian girl. . .118 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A winter camp in the wilderness — Medley of trappers, hunt- 
 ers, and Indians — Scarcity of game — New arrangements in 
 the camp — Detachments sent to a distance — Carelessness 
 of the Indians when encamped — Sickness among the In- 
 dians — Excellent character of the Nez Percys — The cap- 
 tain's effort as a pacificator — A Nez Percy's argument in 
 favor of war — Robberies by the Blackfeet — Long suffering of 
 the Nez Percys — A hunter's elysium among the mountains 
 — More robberies — The captain preaches up a crusade — 
 
 The effect upon his hearers. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Story of Kosato, the renegade Blackfoot 140 
 
 VOL. I. 2 
 
xiv 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 MM 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The party enters the mountain gorge — A wild fastness among 
 hills— Mountain mutton — Peace and plenty — The amor- 
 ous trapper— A piebald wedding— A free trapper's wife — 
 her gala equipments — Christmas in the wilderness. . 145 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A hunt after hunters — Hungry times — A voracious repast — 
 Wintry weather — Godin's river — Splendid winter scene on 
 the great lava plain of Snake river — Severe travelling and 
 tramping in the snow — Manoeuvres of a solitary Indian 
 horseman — Encampment on Snake river' — Banneck Indians 
 — The Horse chief— his charmed life 152 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Misadventures of Matthieu and his party — Return to the 
 caches at Salmon river — Battle between Nez Perces and 
 Blackfeet — Heroism of a Nez Perce' woman — enrolled 
 among the braves. . . 1 63 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Opening of the caches — Detachments of Cerr£ and Hodg- 
 kiss — Salmon river mountains — Superstition of an Indian 
 trapper — Godin's river — Preparations for trapping — An 
 alarm — An interruption — A rival band — Phenomena of 
 Snake river plain — Vast clefts and chasms — Ingulfed 
 streams — Sublime scenery — A grand buffalo hunt. . .172 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Meeting with Hodgkiss — Misfortunes of the Nez Percys — 
 Schemes of Kosato, the renegado — his foray into the Horse 
 prairie — Invasion of Blackfeet — Blue John, and his forlorn 
 hope — their generous enterprise — their fate — Consternation 
 and despair of the village — Solemn obsequies — Attempt at 
 Indian trade — Hudson's Bay Company's monopoly — Ar- 
 rangements for autumn — Breaking up of an encampment. 181 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Precautions in dangerous defiles — Trappers' mode of defence 
 on a prairie — A mysterious visiter — Arrival in Green river 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 XV 
 
 PAGE 
 
 valley — Adventures of the detachments — The forlorn parti- 
 san — His tale of disasters. 1 93 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Gathering in Green river valley— Visitings and feastings of 
 leaders — Rough wassailing among the trappers — Wild 
 blades of the mountains— Indian belles— Potency of bright 
 beads and red blankets — Arrival of supplies — Revelry and 
 extravagance — Mad wolves — The lost Indian. . .201 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Schemes of Captain Bonneville — The Great Salt lake — Ex- 
 pedition to explore it — Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn. 206 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Crow country — A Crow paradise — Habits of the Crows 
 — Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man — his fights 
 with the Blackfeet — his elevation — his death — Arapooish, 
 the Crow chief— his eagle — Adventure of Robert Campbell 
 — Honor among Crows 212 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Departure from Green river valley — Popo Agie — its course 
 — the rivers into which it runs — Scenery of the bluffs — The 
 great Tar spring — Volcanic tracts in the Crow country — 
 Burning mountain of Powder river — Sulphur springs — Hid- 
 den fires — Colter's Hell — Wind river — Campbell's party — 
 Fitzpatrick and his trappers — Captain Stewart, an amateur 
 traveller — Captain Wyeth — anecdotes of his expedition to 
 the far west — Disaster of Campbell's party — A union of 
 bands — The Bad Pass— The rapids — Departure of Fitzpa- 
 trick — Embarcation of peltries — Captain Wyeth and his 
 bull boat — Adventures of Captain Bonneville in the Big- 
 horn mountains — Adventures in the plain — Traces of In- 
 dians — Travelling precautions — Dangers of making a 
 smoke — The rendezvous. 221 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Adventures of the party of ten — The Balaamite mule— A 
 dead point — The mysterious elks — A night attack— A re- 
 treat — Travelling under an alarm — A joyful meeting — 
 
XVI 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PASS 
 
 Adventures of the other party — A decoy elk — retreat to 
 an island — A savage dance of triumph — Arrival at Wind 
 river. .232 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 Captain Bonneville sets out for Green river valley — Journey 
 up the Popo Agie — Buffaloes — The staring white bears — 
 The smoke — The warm springs — Attempt to traverse the 
 Wind river mountains — The Great Slope — Mountain dells 
 and chasms — Crystal lakes — Ascent of a snowy peak — 
 Sublime prospect — A panorama — " Les dignes de pitie," or 
 wild men of the mountains 239 
 
THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 State of the fur trade of the Rocky mountains — American enter- 
 prises — General Ashley and his associates — Sublette, a famous 
 leader — Yearly rendezvous among the mountains — Stratagems 
 and dangers of the trade — Bands of trappers — Indian banditti — 
 Crows and Blackfeet — Mountaineers — Traders of the far west — 
 Character and habits of the trapper. 
 
 In a recent work we have given an account of the 
 grand enterprise of Mr. John Jacob Astor, to es- 
 tablish an American emporium for the fur trade at 
 the mouth of the Columbia, or Oregon river ; of 
 the failure of that enterprise through the capture 
 of Astoria by the British, in 1814; and of the way 
 in which the control of the trade of the Columbia 
 and its dependancies fell into the hands of the North- 
 west Company. We have stated, likewise, the 
 unfortunate supineness of the American govern- 
 ment, in neglecting the application of Mr. Astor for 
 the protection of the American flag, and a small 
 military force, to enable him to reinstate himself in 
 the possession of Astoria at the return of peace; 
 
18 
 
 STATE OF THE FUR TRADE. 
 
 when the post was formally given up by the British 
 government, though still occupied by the North- 
 west Company. By that supineness the sovereignty 
 in the country has been virtually lost to the United 
 States ; and it will cost both governments much 
 trouble and difficulty to settle matters on that just 
 and rightful footing, on which they would readily 
 have been placed, had the proposition of Mr. Astor 
 been attended to. We shall now state a few par- 
 ticulars of subsequent events, so as to lead the reader 
 up to the period of which we are about to treat, 
 and to prepare him for the circumstances of our 
 narrative. 
 
 In consequence of the apathy and neglect of the 
 American government, Mr. Astor abandoned all 
 thoughts of regaining Astoria, and made no further 
 attempt to extend his enterprises beyond the Rocky 
 mountains; and the Northwest Company considered 
 themselves the lords of the country. They did not 
 long enjoy unmolested the sway which they had 
 somewhat surreptitiously attained. A fierce com- 
 petition ensued between them and their old rivals, the 
 Hudson's Bay Company ; which was carried on at 
 great cost and sacrifice, and occasionally with the 
 loss of life. It ended in the ruin of most of the 
 partners of the Northwest Company ; and the 
 merging of the relics of that establishment, in 1821, 
 in the rival association. From that time, the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company enjoyed a monopoly of the 
 Indian trade from the coast of the Pacific to the 
 Rocky mountains, and for a considerable extent 
 north and south. They removed their emporium 
 
GENERAL ASHLEY. 
 
 19 
 
 from Astoria to Fort Vancouver, a strong post on 
 the left bank of the Columbia river, about sixty 
 miles from its mouth ; from whence they furnished 
 their interior posts, and sent forth their brigades of 
 trappers. 
 
 The Rocky mountains formed a vast barrier be- 
 tween them and the United States, and their stern 
 and awful defiles, their rugged valleys, and the great 
 western plains watered by their rivers, remained 
 almost a terra incognita to the American trapper. 
 The difficulties experienced in 1808, by Mr. Henry 
 of the Missouri Company, the first American who 
 trapped upon the head waters of the Columbia ; and 
 the frightful hardships sustained by Wilson P. Hunt, 
 Ramsay Crooks, Robert Stuart, and other intrepid 
 Astorians, in their ill-fated expeditions across the 
 mountains, appeared for a time to check all fur- 
 ther enterprise in that direction. The American 
 traders contented themselves with following up the 
 head branches of the Missouri, the Yellowstone, 
 and other rivers and streams on the Atlantic side 
 of the mountains, but forbore to attempt those great 
 snow-crowned sierras. 
 
 One of the first to revive these tramontane expe- 
 ditions was General Ashley, of Missouri, a man 
 whose courage and achievements in the prosecution 
 of his enterprises, have rendered him famous in the 
 far west. In conjunction with Mr. Henry, already 
 mentioned, he established a post on the banks of 
 the Yellowstone river, in 1822, and in the fol- 
 lowing year pushed a resolute band of trappers 
 across the mountains to the banks of the Green 
 
20 PIONEERS OF THE FUR TRADE. 
 
 river or Colorado of the west, often known by the 
 Indian name of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie.* This 
 attempt was followed up and sustained by others, 
 until in 1825 a footing was secured, and a com- 
 plete system of trapping organized beyond the 
 mountains. 
 
 It is difficult to do justice to the courage, fortitude, 
 and perseverance of the pioneers of the fur trade, 
 who conducted these early expeditions, and first 
 broke their way through a wilderness where every 
 thing was calculated to deter and dismay them. 
 They had to-traverse the most dreary and desolate 
 mountains, and barren and trackless wastes, unin- 
 habited by man, or occasionally infested by preda- 
 tory and cruel savages. They knew nothing of the 
 country beyond the verge of their horizon, and had 
 to gather information as they wandered. They be- 
 held volcanic plains stretching around them, and 
 ranges of mountains piled up to the clouds, and 
 glistening with eternal frost : but knew nothing of 
 their defiles, or how they were to be penetrated or 
 traversed. They launched themselves in frail ca- 
 noes on rivers, without knowing whither their swift 
 currents would carry them, or what rocks, and 
 shoals, and rapids, they might encounter in their 
 course. They had to be continually on the alert, 
 too, against the mountain tribes, who beset every 
 defile, laid ambuscades in their path, or attacked 
 them in their night encampments ; so that, of the 
 
 * i. e. The Prairie Hen river. Agie in the Crow language sig- 
 nifies river. 
 
CELEBRATED LEADERS. 
 
 21 
 
 hardy bands of trappers that first entered into these 
 regions, three-fifths are said to have fallen by the , 
 hands of savage foes. 
 
 In this wild and warlike school a number of lead- 
 ers have sprung up, originally in the employ, sub- 
 sequently partners of Ashley ; among these we may 
 mention Smith, Fitzpatrick, Bridger, Robert Camp; 
 bell, and William Sublette ; whose adventures and 
 exploits partake of the wildest spirit of romance. 
 The association commenced by General Ashley 
 underwent various modifications.. That gentleman 
 having acquired sufficient fortune, sold out his in- 
 terest and retired ; and the leading spirit that suc- 
 ceeded him was Captain William Sublette : a man 
 worthy of note, as his name has become renowned 
 in frontier story. He is a native of Kentucky, and 
 of game descent ; his maternal grandfather, Colonel 
 Wheatley, a companion of Boon, having been one of 
 the pioneers of the west, celebrated in Indian war- 
 fare, and killed in one of the contests of the "Bloody 
 ground." We shall frequently have occasion to 
 speak of this Sublette, and always to the credit of 
 his game qualities. In 1830, the association took 
 the name of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, 
 of which Captain Sublette and Robert Campbell 
 were prominent members. 
 
 In the meantime, the success of this company 
 attracted the attention and excited the emulation of 
 the American Fur Company, and brought them once 
 more into the field of their ancient enterprise. Mr. 
 Astor, the founder of the association, had retired 
 from busy life, and the concerns of the company 
 
 > 
 
22 ENTERPRISES IN THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 were ably managed by Mr. Ramsay Crooks, of 
 Snake river renown, who still officiates as its pre- 
 sident. A competition immediately ensued between 
 the two companies, for the trade with the mountain 
 tribes, and the trapping of the head waters of the 
 Columbia, and the other great tributaries of the 
 Pacific. Beside the regular operations of these 
 formidable rivals, there have been from time to 
 time desultory enterprises, or rather experiments, of 
 minor associations, or of adventurous individuals, 
 beside roving bands of independent trappers, who 
 either hunt for themselves, or engage for a single 
 season, in the service of one or other of the main 
 companies. 
 
 The consequence is, that the Rocky mountains 
 and the ulterior regions, from the Russian posses- 
 sions in the north, down to the Spanish settlements 
 of California, have been traversed and ransacked in 
 every direction by bands of hunters and Indian 
 traders ; so that there is scarcely a mountain pass, 
 or defile, that is not known and threaded in their 
 restless migrations, nor a nameless stream that is 
 not haunted by the lonely trapper. 
 
 The American fur companies keep no estab- 
 lished posts beyond the mountains. Every thing 
 there is regulated by resident partners ; that is to 
 say, partners who reside in the tramontane country, 
 but who move about from place to place, either with 
 Indian tribes, whose traffic they wish to monopolize, 
 or with main bodies of their own men, whom they 
 employ in trading and trapping. In the mean- 
 time, they detach bands, or " brigades" as they are 
 
\ 
 
 THE RENDEZVOUS. 23 
 
 termed, of trappers in various directions, assigning 
 to each a portion of country as a hunting, or trap- 
 ping ground. In the months of June and July, 
 when there is an interval between the hunting sea- 
 sons, a general rendezvous is held, at some desig- 
 nated place in the mountains, where the affairs of 
 the past year are settled by the resident partners, 
 and the plans for the following year arranged. 
 
 To this rendezvous repair the various brigades 
 of trappers from their widely separated hunting 
 grounds, bringing in the products of their year's 
 campaign. Hither also repair the Indian tribes ac- 
 customed to traffic their peltries with the company. 
 Bands of free trappers resort hither also, to sell the 
 furs they have collected ; or to engage their services 
 for the next hunting season. 
 
 To this rendezvous the company sends annually 
 a convoy of supplies from its establishment on the 
 Atlantic frontier, under the guidance of some ex- 
 perienced partner or officer. On the arrival of 
 this convoy, the resident partner at the rendezvous 
 depends, to set all his next year's machinery in 
 motion. 
 
 Now as the rival companies keep a vigilant eye 
 upon each other, and are anxious to discover each 
 other's plans and movements, they generally contrive 
 to hold their annual assemblages at no great dis- 
 tance from each other. An eager competition exists 
 also between their respective convoys of supplies, 
 which shall first reach its place of rendezvous. For 
 this purpose, they set off with the first appearance 
 of grass on the Atlantic frontier, and push with all 
 
24 STRATEGY OF THE FUR TRADE. 
 
 diligence for the mountains. The company that 
 can first open its tempting supplies of coffee, to- 
 bacco, ammunition, scarlet cloth, blankets, bright 
 shawls and glittering trinkets, has the greatest chance 
 to get all the peltries and furs of the Indians and 
 free trappers, and to engage their services for the 
 next season. It is able, also, to fit out and despatch 
 its own trappers the soonest, so as to get the start 
 of its competitors, and to have the first dash into 
 the hunting and trapping grounds. 
 
 A new species of strategy has sprung out of this 
 hunting and trapping competition. The constant 
 study of the rival bands is to forestall and outwit 
 each other ; to supplant each other in the good will 
 and custom of the Indian tribes ; to cross each 
 other's plans ; to mislead each other as to routes ; 
 in a word, next to his own advantage, the study of 
 the Indian trader is the disadvantage of his com- 
 petitor. 
 
 The influx of this wandering trade has had its 
 effects on the habits of the mountain tribes. They 
 have found the trapping of the beaver their most 
 profitable species of hunting; and the traffic with 
 the white man has opened to them sources of luxury 
 of which they previously had no idea. The intro- 
 duction of fire-arms has rendered them more suc- 
 cessful hunters, but at the same time, more formida- 
 ble foes ; some of them, incorrigibly savage and 
 warlike in their nature, have found the expeditions 
 of the fur traders, grand objects cf profitable adven- 
 ture. To waylay and harass a band of trappers 
 with their pack-horses, when embarrassed in the 
 
\ 
 
 INDIAN BANDITTI — MOUNTAINEERS. 25 
 
 rugged defiles of the mountains, has become as fa- 
 vorite an exploit with these Indians as the plunder 
 of a caravan to the Arab of the desert. The Crows 
 and Blackfeet, who were such terrors in the path 
 of the early adventurers to Astoria, still continue 
 their predatory habits, but seem to have brought 
 them to greater system. They know the routes 
 and resorts of the trappers ; where to waylay them 
 on their journeys ; where to find them in the hunt- 
 ing seasons, and where to hover about them in 
 winter quarters. The life of a trapper, therefore, is 
 a perpetual state militant, and he must sleep with 
 his weapons in his hands. 
 
 A new order of trappers and traders, also, have 
 grown out of this system of things. In the old 
 times of the great Northwest Company, when the 
 trade in furs was pursued chiefly about the lakes 
 and rivers, the expeditions were carried on in bat- 
 teaux and canoes. The voyageurs or boatmen were 
 the rank and file in the service of the trader, and 
 even the hardy "men of the north," those great ruf- 
 flers and game birds, were fain to be paddled from 
 point to point of their migrations. 
 
 A totally different class has now sprung up, 
 "the Mountaineers," the traders and trappers that 
 scale the vast mountain chains, and pursue their 
 hazardous vocations amidst their wild recesses. 
 They move from place to place on horseback. The 
 equestrian exercises, therefore, in which they are 
 continually engaged ; the nature of the countries 
 they traverse ; vast plains and mountains, pure and 
 exhilarating in atmospheric qualities ; seem to make 
 
 VOL. I. 3 
 
26 
 
 MOUNTAINEERS. 
 
 them physically and mentally a more lively and 
 mercurial race than the fur traders and trappers of 
 former days, the self-vaunting " men of the north." 
 A man who bestrides a horse, must be essentially 
 different from a man who cowers in a canoe. We 
 find them, accordingly, hardy, lithe, vigorous and 
 active ; extravagant in word, and thought, and deed ; 
 heedless of hardship ; daring of danger ; prodigal 
 of the present, and thoughtless of the future. 
 
 A difference is to be perceived even between 
 these mountain hunters and those of the lower re- 
 gions along the waters of the Missouri. The latter, 
 generally French Creoles, live comfortably in cabins 
 and log huts, well sheltered from the inclemencies 
 of the seasons. They are within the reach of fre- 
 quent supplies from the settlements ; their life is 
 comparatively free from danger, and from most of 
 the vicissitudes of the upper wilderness. The con- 
 sequence is, that they are less hardy, self-dependant 
 and game-spirited, than the mountaineer. If the 
 latter by chance comes among them on his way to 
 and from the settlements, he is like a game-cock 
 among the common roosters of the poultry-yard. 
 Accustomed to live in tents, or to bivouac in the 
 open air, he despises the comforts and is impatient 
 of the confinement of the log house. If his meal is 
 not ready in season, he takes his rifle, hies to the 
 forest or the prairie, shoots his own game, lights his 
 fire, and cooks his repast. With his horse and his 
 rifle, he is independent of the world, and spurns at 
 all its restraints. The very superintendents at the 
 lower* posts will not put him to mess with the com- 
 
mon men, the hirelings of the establishment, but 
 treat him as something superior. 
 
 There is, perhaps, no class of men on the face of 
 the earth, says Captain Bonneville, who lead a life 
 of more continued exertion, peril, and excitement, 
 and who are more enamoured of their occupations, 
 than the free trappers of the west. No toil, no dan- 
 ger, no privation can turn the trapper from his pur- 
 suit. His passionate excitement at times resembles 
 a mania. In vain may the most vigilant and cruel 
 savages beset his path ; in vain may rocks, and pre- 
 cipices, and wintry torrents oppose his progress ; 
 let but a single track of a beaver meet his eye, and 
 he forgets all dangers and defies all difficulties. 
 At times, he may be seen with his traps on his 
 shoulder, buffeting his way across rapid streams, 
 amidst floating blocks of ice : at other times, he is 
 to be found with his traps swung on his back clam- 
 bering the most rugged mountains, scaling or de- 
 scending the most frightful precipices, searching, 
 by routes inaccessible to the horse, and never before 
 trodden by white man, for springs and lakes un- 
 known to his comrades, and where he may meet 
 with his favorite game. Such is the mountaineer, 
 the hardy trapper of the west; and such, as we 
 have slightly sketched it, is the wild, Robin Hood 
 kind of life, with all its strange and motley popu- 
 lace, now existing in full vigor among the Rocky 
 mountains. 
 
 Having thus given the reader some idea of the 
 actual state of the fur trade in the interior of our 
 vast continent, and made him acquainted with the 
 
28 
 
 MOUNTAINEERS. 
 
 wild chivalry of the mountains, we will no longer 
 delay the introduction of Captain Bonneville and his 
 band into this field of their enterprise, but launch 
 them at once upon the perilous plains of the far 
 west. 
 
DEPARTURE FROM FORT OSAGE. 29 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Departure from Fort Osage — Modes of transportation— Pack-horsea 
 — Waggons — Walker and Cerr<§ — their characters — Buoyant 
 feelings on launching upon the prairies — Wild equipments of the 
 trappers — their gambols and antics — Difference of character be- 
 tween the American and French trappers — Agency of the Kan- 
 sas — General Clarke — White Plume, the Kansas chief— Night 
 scene in a trader's camp — Colloquy between White Plume and 
 the captain — Bee hunters — their expeditions — their feuds with 
 the Indians — Bargaining talent of White Plume. 
 
 It was on the first of May, 1832, that Captain 
 Bonneville took his departure from the frontier post 
 of Fort Osage, on the Missouri. He had enlisted 
 a party of one hundred and ten men, most of whom 
 had been in the Indian country, and some of whom 
 were experienced hunters and trappers. Fort Osage, 
 and other places on the borders of the western wild- 
 erness, abound with characters of the kind, ready 
 for any expedition. 
 
 The ordinary mode of transportation in these 
 great inland expeditions of the fur traders is on 
 mules and pack-horses ; but Captain Bonneville 
 substituted waggons. Though he was to travel 
 through a trackless wilderness, yet the greater part 
 of his route would lie across open plains, destitute 
 of forests, and where wheel carriages can pass in 
 every direction. The chief difficulty occurs in pass- 
 
30 TRAVELLING ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 ing the deep ravines cut through the prairies by 
 streams and winter torrents. Here it is often ne- 
 cessary to dig a road down the banks, and to make 
 bridges for the waggons. 
 
 In transporting his baggage in vehicles of this 
 kind, Captain Bonneville thought he would save the 
 great delay caused every morning by packing the 
 horses, and the labor of unpacking in the evening. 
 Fewer horses also would be required, and less risk 
 incurred of their wandering away, or being fright- 
 ened or carried off by the Indians. The waggons, 
 also, would be more easily defended, and might 
 form a kind of fortification in case of attack in the 
 open prairies. A train of twenty waggons, drawn 
 by oxen, or by four mules or horses each, and laden 
 with merchandise, ammunition, and provisions, were 
 disposed in two columns in the centre of the party, 
 which was equally divided into a van and a rear- 
 guard. As sub-leaders or lieutenants in his expedi- 
 tion, Captain Bonneville had made choice of Mr. I. 
 R. Walker and Mr. M. S. Cerre. The former was 
 a native of Tennessee, about six feet high, strong 
 built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit, though mild 
 in manners. He had resided for many years in 
 Missouri, on the frontier ; had been among the ear- 
 liest adventurers to Santa Fe, where he went to trap 
 beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards. Being 
 liberated, he engaged with the Spaniards and Sioux 
 Indians in a war against the Pawnees; then re- 
 turned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as sheriff, 
 trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by 
 Captain Bonneville. 
 
TRAVELLING ARRANGEMENTS. 31 
 
 Cerre, his other leader, had likewise been in ex- 
 peditions to Santa Fe, in which he had endured 
 much hardship. He was of the middle size, light 
 complexioned, and though but about twenty-five 
 years of age, was considered an experienced Indian 
 trader. It was a great object with Captain Bonne- 
 ville to get to the mountains before the summer 
 heats and summer flies should render the travelling 
 across the prairies distressing; and before the annual 
 assemblages of people connected with the fur trade, 
 should have broken up, and dispersed to the hunt- 
 ing grounds. 
 
 The two rival associations already mentioned, the 
 American Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain 
 Fur Company, had their several places of rendez- 
 vous for the present year at no great distance apart, 
 in Pierre's Hole, a deep valley in the heart of the 
 mountains, and thither Captain Bonneville intended^ 
 to shape his course. 
 
 It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feel- 
 ings of the worthy captain, at finding himself at 
 the head of a stout band of hunters, trappers, and 
 woodmen ; fairly launched on the broad prairies, 
 with his face- to the boundless west. The tamest 
 inhabitant of cities, the veriest spoiled child of civil- 
 ization, feels his heart dilate and his pulse beat 
 high, on finding himself on horseback in the glori- 
 ous wilderness ; what then must be the excitement 
 of one whose imagination had been stimulated by a 
 residence on the frontier, and to whom the wilder- 
 ness was a region of romance ! 
 
 His hardy followers partook of his excitement. 
 
32 
 
 trappers' gambols. 
 
 Most of them had already experienced the wild 
 freedom of savage life, and looked forward to a 
 renewal of past scenes of adventure and exploit. 
 Their very appearance and equipment exhibited a 
 piebald mixture, half civilized and half savage. 
 Many of them looked more like Indians than white 
 men, in their garbs and accoutrements, and their 
 very horses were caparisoned in barbaric style, with 
 fantastic trappings. The outset of a band of ad- 
 venturers on one of these expeditions is always 
 animated and joyous. The welkin rang with their 
 shouts and yelps, after the manner of the savages ; 
 and with boisterous jokes and light-hearted laugh- 
 ter. As they passed the straggling hamlets and 
 solitary cabins that fringe the skirts of the frontier, 
 they woule^<startle their inmates by Indian yells and 
 war-whoops, or regale them with grotesque feats 
 $ of Indian horsemanship, well suited to their half 
 savage appearance. Most of these abodes were in- 
 habited by men who had themselves been in similar 
 expeditions, they welcomed the travellers, therefore, 
 as brother trappers, treated them with a hunter's 
 hospitality, and cheered them with an honest God 
 speed, at parting. 
 
 And here we would remark a great difference, 
 in point of character and quality, between the two 
 classes of trappers, the "American" and "French," 
 as they are called in contradistinction. The latter 
 is meant to designate the French creole of Canada 
 or Louisiana; the former, the trapper of the old 
 American stock, from Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
 others of the western states. The French trapper 
 
AMERICAN AND FRENCH TRAPPERS. 33 
 
 is represented as a lighter, softer, more self-indul- 
 gent kind of man. He must have his Indian wife, 
 his lodge, and his petty conveniences. He is gay 
 and thoughtless, takes little heed of landmarks, 
 depends upon his leaders and companions to think 
 for the common weal, and, if left to himself, is 
 easily perplexed and lost. 
 
 The American trapper stands by himself, and is 
 peerless for the service of the wilderness. Drop 
 him in the midst of a prairie, or in the heart of the 
 mountains, and he is never at a loss. He notices 
 every landmark; can retrace his route through 
 the most monotonous plains, or the most perplexed 
 labyrinths of the mountains ; no danger nor diffi- 
 culty can appal him, and he scorns to complain 
 under any privation. In equipping the two kinds 
 of trappers, the Creole and Canadian are apt to pre- 
 fer the light fusee ; the American always grasps the 
 rifle : he despises what he calls the " shot-gun.'i'* 
 We give these estimates on the authority of a trader 
 of long experience, and a foreigner by birth. " I con- 
 sider one American," said he, " equal to three Cana- 
 dians in point of sagacity, aptness at resources, self- 
 dependence, and fearlessness of spirit. In fact, no 
 one can cope with him as a stark tramper of the 
 wilderness." 
 
 Beside the two classes of trappers just mentioned, 
 Captain Bonneville had enlisted several Delaware 
 Indians in his employ, on whose hunting qualifica- 
 tions he placed great reliance. 
 
 On the 6th of May the travellers passed the last 
 border habitation, and bade a long farewell to the 
 
34 
 
 KANSAS AGENCY. 
 
 ease and security of civilization. The buoyant and 
 clamorous spirits with which they had commenced 
 their march, gradually subsided as they entered 
 upon its difficulties. They found the prairies sat- 
 urated with the heavy cold rains, prevalent in certain 
 seasons of the year in this part of the country. 
 The waggon wheels sank deep in the mire, the 
 horses were often to the fetlock, and both steed and 
 rider were completely jaded by the evening of the 
 12th, when they reached the Kansas river; a fine 
 stream about three hundred yards wide, entering 
 the Missouri from the south. Though fordable in 
 almost every part at the end of summer and during 
 the autumn, yet it was necessary to construct a raft 
 for the transportation of the waggons and effects. 
 All this was done in the course of the following 
 day, and by evening, the whole party arrived at the 
 agency of the Kansas tribe. This was under the - 
 * superintendence of General Clarke, brother of the 
 celebrated traveller of the same name, who, with 
 Lewis, made the first expedition down the waters 
 of the Columbia. He was living like a patriarch, 
 surrounded by laborers and interpreters, all snugly 
 housed, and provided with excellent farms. The 
 functionary next in consequence to the agent, was 
 the blacksmith, a most important, and indeed, indis- 
 pensable personage in a frontier community. The 
 Kansas resemble the Osages in features, dress, and 
 language : they raise corn and hunt the buffalo, rang- 
 ing the Kansas river, and its tributary streams; at 
 the time of the captain's visit, they were at war with 
 the Pawnees of the Nebraska, or Platte river. 
 
WHITE PLUME. 
 
 35 
 
 The unusual sight of a train of waggons, caused 
 quite a sensation among these savages ; who thronged 
 about the caravan, examining every thing minutely, 
 and asking a thousand questions : exhibiting a de- 
 gree of excitability, and a lively curiosity, totally 
 opposite to that apathy with which their race is so 
 often reproached. 
 
 The personage who most attracted the captain's 
 attention at this place, was "White Plume," the 
 Kansas chief, and they soon became good friends. 
 White Plume (we are pleased with his chivalrous 
 soubriquet) inhabited a large stone house, built for 
 him by order of the American government : but the 
 establishment had not been carried out in corres- 
 pondent style. It might be palace without, but it 
 was wigwam within ; so that, between the stateli- 
 ness of his mansion, and the squalidness of his fur- 
 niture, the gallant White Plume presented some 
 such whimsical incongruity as we see in the gala 
 equipments of an Indian chief, on a treaty-making 
 embassy at Washington, who has been generously 
 decked out in cocked hat and military coat, in con- 
 trast to his breech-clout and leathern leggings ; 
 being grand officer at top, and ragged Indian at 
 bottom. 
 
 White Plume was so taken with the courtesy of 
 the captain, and pleased with one or two presents 
 received from him, that he accompanied him a day's 
 journey on his march, and passed a night in his 
 camp, on the margin of a small stream. The 
 method of encamping generally observed by the 
 captain, was as follows : The twenty waggons were 
 
36 
 
 MODE OF ENCAMPMENT. 
 
 disposed in a square, at the distance of thirty-three 
 feet from each other. In every interval there was 
 a mess stationed ; and each mess had its fire, where 
 the men cooked, ate, gossiped, and slept. The 
 horses were placed in the centre of the square, with 
 a guard stationed over them at night. 
 
 The horses were " side lined," as it is termed : 
 that is to say, the fore and hind foot on the same 
 side of the animal were tied together, so as to be 
 within eighteen inches of each other. A horse thus 
 fettered is for a time sadly embarrassed, but soon 
 becomes sufficiently accustomed to the restraint to 
 move about slowly. It prevents his wandering ; 
 and his being easily carried off at night by lurking 
 Indians. "When a horse that is " foot free," is tied 
 to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it were, a 
 pivot, round which the other runs and curvets, in 
 case of alarm. 
 
 The encampment of which we are speaking, pre- 
 sented a striking scene. The various mess-fires 
 were surrounded by picturesque groups, standing, 
 sitting, and reclining ; some busied in cooking, oth- 
 ers in cleaning their weapons : while the frequent 
 laugh told that the rough joke, or merry story 
 was going on. In the middle of the camp, before 
 the principal lodge, sat the two chieftains, Captain 
 Bonneville and White Plume, in soldier-like com- 
 munion, the captain delighted with the opportunity 
 of meeting, on social terms, with one of the red 
 warriors of the wilderness, the unsophisticated child- 
 ren of nature. The latter was squatted on his buf- 
 falo robe, his strong features and red skin glaring 
 
BEE HUNTERS. 
 
 37 
 
 in the broad light of a blazing fire, while he re- 
 counted astounding tales of the bloody exploits of 
 his tribe and himself, in their wars with the Paw- 
 nees ; for there are no old soldiers more given to 
 long campaigning stories, than Indian " braves." 
 
 The feuds of White Plume, however, had not 
 been confined to the red men ; he had much to say 
 of brushes with bee hunters, a class of offenders for 
 whom he seemed to cherish a particular abhorrence. 
 As the species of hunting prosecuted by these wor- 
 thies is not laid down in any of the ancient books 
 of venerie, and is, in fact, peculiar to our western 
 frontier, a word or two on the subject may not be 
 unacceptable to the reader. 
 
 The bee hunter is generally some settler on the 
 verge of the prairies.; a long, lank fellow, of fever 
 and ague complexion, acquired from living on new 
 soil, and in a hut built of green logs. In the au- 
 tumn, when the harvest is over, these frontier set- 
 tlers form parties of two or three, and prepare for a 
 bee hunt. Having provided themselves with a wag- 
 gon, and a number of empty casks, they sally off, 
 armed with their rifles, into the wilderness, direct- 
 ing their course east, west, north, or south, without 
 any regard to the ordinance of the American gov- 
 ernment, which strictly forbids all. trespass upon the 
 lands belonging to the Indian tribes. 
 
 The belts of woodland that traverse the lower 
 prairies, and border the rivers, are peopled by in- 
 numerable swarms of wild bees, which make their 
 hives in hollow trees, and fill them with honey tolled 
 
 from the rich flowers of the prairies. The bees, 
 voi*. i. 4 
 
38 
 
 WILD HONEY. 
 
 according to popular assertion, are migrating like 
 the settlers, to the west. An Indian trader, well 
 experienced in the country, informs us that within 
 ten years that he has passed in the far west, the 
 bee has advanced westward above a hundred miles. 
 It is said on the Missouri, that the wild turkey and 
 the wild bee go up the river together : neither are 
 found in the upper regions. It is but recently that 
 the wild turkey has been killed on the Nebraska, 
 or Platte; and his travelling competitor, the wild 
 bee, appeared there about the same time. 
 
 Be all this as it may : the course of our party of 
 bee hunters, is to make a wide circuit through the 
 woody river bottoms, and the patches of forest on 
 the prairies, marking, as they go out, every tree in 
 which they have detected a hive. These marks 
 are generally respected by any other bee hunter 
 that should come upon their track. When they 
 have marked sufficient to fill all their casks, they turn 
 their faces homeward, cut down the trees as they 
 proceed, and having loaded their waggon with honey 
 and wax, return well pleased to the settlements. 
 
 Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild 
 honey as highly as do the white men, and are the 
 more delighted with this natural luxury from its 
 having, in many instances, but recently made its 
 appearance in their lands. The consequence is, 
 numberless disputes and conflicts between them and 
 the bee hunters : and often a party of the latter, 
 returning, laden with rich spoil, from one of their 
 forays, are apt to be waylaid by the native lords 
 of the soil ; their honey to be seized, their harness 
 
RECIPROCITY. 
 
 39 
 
 cut to pieces, and themselves left, to find their way 
 home the best way they can, happy to escape with 
 no greater personal harm than a sound rib-roasting. 
 
 Such were the marauders of whose offences the 
 gallant White Plume made the most bitter com- 
 plaint. They were chiefly the settlers of the west- 
 ern part of Missouri, who are the most famous bee 
 hunters on the frontier, and whose favorite hunting 
 ground lies within the lands of the Kansas tribe. 
 According to the account of White Plume, how- 
 ever, matters were pretty fairly balanced between 
 him and the offenders ; he having as often treated 
 them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed 
 him of the sweets. 
 
 It is but justice to this gallant chief to say, that 
 he gave proofs of having acquired some of the lights 
 of civilization from his proximity to the whites, as 
 was evinced in his knowledge of driving a bargain. 
 He required hard cash in return for some corn with 
 which he supplied the worthy captain, and left the 
 latter at a loss which most to admire, his native 
 chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a 
 trader. 
 
40 
 
 WIDE PRAIRIES. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Wide prairies — Vegetable productions — Tabular hills — Slabs of 
 sandstone — Nebraska or Platte river — Scanty fare— Buffalo 
 sculls — "Waggons turned into boats — Herds of Buffalo — Cliffs 
 resembling castles — The chimney — Scott's bluffs — Story con- 
 nected with them — The bighorn or ahsahta — its nature and 
 habits — Difference between that and the " woolly sheep," or goat 
 of the mountains. 
 
 From the middle to the end of May, Captain Bonne- 
 ville pursued a western course over vast undulating 
 plains, destitute of tree or shrub, rendered miry by 
 occasional rain, and cut up by deep water courses, 
 where they had to dig roads for their waggons down 
 the soft crumbling banks, and to throw bridges 
 across the streams. The weather had attained the 
 summer heat ; the thermometer standing about 
 fifty-seven degrees in the morning, early, but rising 
 to about ninety degrees at noon. The incessant 
 breezes, however, which sweep these vast plains, 
 render the heats endurable. Game was scanty, and 
 they had to eke out their scanty fare with wild roots 
 and vegetables, such as the Indian potato, the wild 
 onion, and the prairie tomato, and they met with 
 quantities of "red root," from which the hunters 
 make a very palatable beverage. The only human 
 being that crossed their path was a Kansas warrior, 
 
TABULAR HILLS. 
 
 41 
 
 returning from some solitary expedition of bravado 
 or revenge, bearing a Pawnee scalp as a trophy. 
 
 The country gradually rose as they proceeded 
 westward, and their route took them over high 
 ridges, commanding wide and beautiful prospects. 
 The vast plain was studded on the west with in- 
 numerable hills of conical shape, such as are seen 
 north of the Arkansas river. These hills have their 
 summits apparently cut off about the same eleva- 
 tion, so as to leave flat surfaces at top. It is con- 
 jectured by some, that the whole country may 
 originally have been of the altitude of these tabular 
 hills ; but through some process of nature may 
 have sunk to its present level; these insulated 
 eminences being protected by broad foundations 
 of solid rock. 
 
 Captain Bonneville mentions another geological 
 phenomenon north of Red river, where the surface 
 of the earth, in considerable tracts of country, is 
 covered with broad slabs of sandstone, having the 
 form and position of grave-stones, and looking as if 
 they had been forced up by some subterranean agi- 
 tation. " The resemblance," says he, " which these 
 very remarkable spots have in many places to old 
 churchyards is curious in the extreme. One might 
 almost fancy himself among the tombs of the pre- 
 Adamites." 
 
 On the 2d of June, they arrived on the main 
 stream of the Nebraska or Platte river ; twenty-five 
 miles below the head of the Great island. The 
 low banks of this river give it an appearance of 
 great width. Captain Bonneville measured it in 
 
 4* 
 
BUFFALO SCULLS. 
 
 one place, and found it twenty-two hundred yards 
 from bank to bank. Its depth was from three to six 
 feet, the bottom full of quicksands. The Nebraska 
 is studded with islands covered with that species 
 of poplar called the cotton-wood tree. Keeping up 
 along the course of this river for several days, they 
 were obliged, from the scarcity of game, to put 
 themselves upon short allowance, and, occasionally, 
 to kill a steer. They bore their daily labors and 
 privations, however, with great good humor, taking 
 their tone, in all probability, from the bouyant spirit 
 of their leader. " If the weather was inclement," 
 says the captain, " we watched the clouds, and hoped 
 for a sight of the blue sky and the merry sun. If 
 food was scanty, we regaled ourselves with the hope 
 of soon falling in with herds of buffalo, and having 
 nothing to do but slay and eat." We doubt whether 
 the genial captain is not describing the cheeriness 
 of his own breast, which gave a cheery aspect to 
 every thing around him. 
 
 There certainly were evidences, however, that the 
 country was not always equally destitute of game. 
 At one place, they observed a field decorated with 
 buffalo sculls, arranged in circles, curves, and other 
 mathematical figures, as if for some mystic rite or 
 ceremony. They were almost innumerable, and 
 seemed to have been a vast hecatomb offered up in 
 thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for some signal 
 success in the chase. 
 
 On the 11th of June, they came to the fork of 
 the Nebraska, where it divides itself into two equal 
 and beautiful streams. One of these branches rises 
 
CROSSING THE NEBRASKA. 
 
 43 
 
 in the west southwest, near the head waters of the 
 Arkansas. Up the course of this branch, as Captain 
 Bonneville was well aware, lay the route to the 
 Camanche and Kioway Indians, and to the northern 
 Mexican settlements ; of the other branch he knew 
 nothing. Its sources might lie among wild and in- 
 accessible cliffs, and tumble and foam down rugged 
 defiles and over craggy precipices ; but its direction 
 was in the true course, and up this stream he deter- 
 mined to prosecute his route to the Rocky moun- 
 tains. Finding it impossible, from quicksands and 
 other dangerous impediments, to cross the river in 
 this neighborhood, he kept up along the south fork 
 for two days, merely seeking a safe fording place. 
 At length he encamped, caused the bodies of the 
 waggons to be dislodged from the wheels, covered 
 with buffalo hides, and besmeared with a compound 
 of tallow and ashes ; thus forming rude boats. In 
 these, they ferried their effects across the stream, 
 which was six hundred yards wide, with a swift 
 and strong current. Three men were in each boat, 
 to manage it ; others waded across, pushing the 
 barks before them. Thus all crossed in safety. A 
 march of nine miles took them over high rolling 
 prairies to the north fork ; their eyes being regaled 
 with the welcome sight of herds of buffalo at a dis- 
 tance, some careering the plain, others grazing and 
 reposing in the natural meadows. 
 
 Skirting along the north fork for a day or two, ex- 
 cessively annoyed by musquitoes and buffalo gnats, 
 they reached, in the evening of the 17th, a small 
 but beautiful grove, from which issued the confused 
 
44 
 
 BLACK-TAILED DEER. 
 
 notes of singing birds, the first they had heard since 
 crossing the boundary of Missouri. After so many 
 days of weary travelling, through a naked, mono- 
 tonous and silent country, it was delightful once 
 more to hear the song of the bird, and to behold the 
 verdure of the grove. It was a beautiful sunset, 
 and a sight of the glowing rays, mantling the tree 
 tops and rustling branches, seemed to gladden every 
 heart. They pitched their camp in the grove, kin- 
 dled their fires, partook merrily of their rude fare, 
 and resigned themselves to the sweetest sleep they 
 had enjoyed since their outset upon the prairies. 
 
 The country now became rugged and broken. 
 High bluffs advanced upon the river, and forced the 
 travellers occasionally to leave its banks and wind 
 their course into the interior. In one of the wild 
 and solitary passes, they were startled by the trail of 
 four or five pedestrians, whom they supposed to be 
 spies from some predatory camp of either Arickara 
 or Crow Indians. This obliged them to redouble 
 their vigilance at night, and to keep especial watch 
 upon their horses. In these rugged and elevated 
 regions they began to see the black-tailed deer, a 
 > species larger than the ordinary kind, and chiefly 
 found in rocky and mountainous countries. They 
 had reached also a great buffalo range ; Captain 
 Bonneville ascended a high bluff, commanding an 
 extensive view of the surrounding plains. As far as 
 his eye could reach, the country seemed absolutely 
 blackened by innumerable herds. No language, he 
 says, could convey an adequate idea of the vast liv- 
 ing mass thus presented to his eye. He remarked 
 
THE CHIMNEY. 
 
 45 
 
 that the bulls and cows generally congregated in 
 separate herds. 
 
 Opposite to the camp at this place, was a singu- 
 lar phenomenon, which is among the curiosities of 
 the country. It is called the chimney. The lower 
 part is a conical mound, rising out of the naked 
 plain ; from the summit shoots up a shaft or column, 
 about one hundred and twenty feet in height, from 
 which it derives its name. The height of the 
 whole, according to Captain Bonneville, is a hun- 
 dred and seventy-five yards. It is composed of 
 indurated clay, with alternate layers of red and white 
 sandstone, and may be seen at the distance of up- 
 wards of thirty miles. 
 
 On the 21st, they encamped amidst high and 
 beetling cliffs of indurated clay and sandstone, bear- 
 ing the semblance of towers, castles, churches, and 
 fortified cities. At a distance, it was scarcely pos- 
 sible to persuade oneself that the works of art were 
 not mingled with these fantastic freaks of nature. 
 They have received the name of Scott's bluffs, from 
 a melancholy circumstance. A number of years 
 since, a party were descending the upper part of 
 the river in canoes, when their frail barks were 
 overturned and all their powder spoiled. Their 
 rifles being thus rendered useless, they were unable 
 to procure food by hunting, and had to depend upon 
 roots and wild fruits for subsistence. After suffer- 
 ing extremely from hunger, they arrived at Lara- 
 mie's fork, a small tributary of the north branch of 
 the Nebraska, about sixty miles above the cliffs just 
 mentioned. Here one of the party, by the name of 
 
46 
 
 scott's bluff. 
 
 Scott, was taken ill ; and his companions came to 
 a halt, until he should recover health and strength 
 sufficient to proceed. While they were searching 
 round in quest of edible roots, they discovered a 
 fresh trail of white men, who had evidently but re- 
 cently preceded them. What was to be done ? By 
 a forced march they might overtake this party, and 
 thus be able to reach the settlements in safety. 
 Should they linger, they might all perish of famine 
 and exhaustion. Scott, however, was incapable of 
 moving ; they were too feeble to aid him forward, 
 and dreaded that such a clog would prevent their 
 coming up with the advance party. They deter- 
 mined, therefore, to abandon him to his fate. Ac- 
 cordingly, under pretence of seeking food, and such 
 simples as might be efficacious in his malady, they 
 deserted him and hastened forward upon the trail. 
 They succeeded in overtaking the party of which 
 they were in quest, but concealed their faithless 
 desertion of Scott; alleging that he had died of 
 disease. 
 
 On the ensuing summer, these very individuals 
 visiting these parts in company with others, came 
 suddenly upon the bleached bones and grinning scull 
 of a human skeleton, which, by certain signs they 
 recognised for the remains of Scott. This was 
 sixty long miles from the place where they had 
 abandoned him ; and it appeared that the wretched 
 man had crawled that immense distance before 
 death put an end to his miseries. The wild and 
 picturesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely 
 grave have ever since borne his name. 
 
Amidst this wild and striking scenery, Captain 
 Bonneville, for the first time, beheld flocks of the 
 ahsahta or bighorn, an animal which frequents these 
 cliffs in great numbers. They accord with the na- 
 ture of such scenery, and add much to its romantic 
 effect ; bounding like goats from crag to crag, often 
 trooping along the lofty shelves of the mountains, 
 under the guidance of some venerable patriarch, 
 with horns twisted lower than his muzzle, and some- 
 times peering over the edge of a precipice, so high 
 that they appear scarce bigger than crows ; indeed, 
 it seems a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged 
 and frightful situations, doubtless from a feeling of 
 security. 
 
 This animal is commonly called the mountain 
 sheep, and is often confounded with another animal, 
 the " woolly sheep," found more to the northward, 
 about the country of the Flatheads. The latter 
 likewise inhabits cliffs in summer, but descends into 
 the valleys in the winter. It has white wool, like a 
 sheep, mingled with a thin growth of long hair ; but 
 it has short legs, a deep belly, and a beard like a 
 goat. Its horns are about five inches long, slightly 
 curved backwards, black as jet, and beautifully 
 polished. Its hoofs are of the same color. This 
 animal is by no means so active as the bighorn ; it 
 does not bound much, but sets a good deal upon its 
 haunches. It is not so plentiful either ; rarely more 
 than two or three are seen at a time. Its wool 
 alone gives it a resemblance to the sheep ; it is 
 more properly of the goat genus. The flesh is said 
 to have a musty flavor ; some have thought the fleece 
 
48 
 
 NATURE AND HABITS. 
 
 might be valuable, as it is said to be as fine as that 
 of the goat of Cashmere, but it is not to be procured 
 in sufficient quantities. 
 
 The ahsahta, argali, or bighorn, on the contrary, 
 has short hair like a deer, and resembles it in shape, 
 but has the head and horns of a sheep, and its flesh 
 is said to be delicious mutton. The Indians -con- 
 sider it more sweet and delicate than any other kind 
 of venison. It abounds in the Rocky mountains, 
 from the fiftieth degree of north latitude, quite down 
 to California ; generally in the highest regions capa- 
 ble of vegetation ; sometimes it ventures into the 
 valleys, but on the least alarm, regains its favorite 
 cliffs and precipices, where it is perilous, if not im- 
 possible for the hunter to follow.* 
 
 * Dimensions of a male of this species, from the nose to the base 
 of the tail, five feet ; length of the tail, four inches ; girth of the 
 body, four feet ; height, three feet eight inches ; the horn, three feet 
 six inches long ; one foot three inches in circumference at base. 
 
AN ALARM. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 An alarm — Crow Indians — their appearance—mode of approach 
 — their vengeful errand — their curiosity — Hostility between the 
 Crows and Blackfeet — Loving conduct of the Crows — Lara- 
 mie's fork — First navigation of the Nebraska — Great elevation 
 of the country — Rarety of the atmosphere — its effect on the wood- 
 work of the waggons — Black hills — their wild and broken scenery 
 — Indian dogs — Crow trophies — Sterile and dreary country — 
 Banks of the Sweet Water— Buffalo hunting— Ad venture of Tom 
 Cain, the Irish cook. 
 
 When on the march, Captain Bonneville always 
 sent some of his best hunters in the advance to 
 reconnoitre the country, as well as to look out for 
 game. On the 24th of May, as the caravan was 
 slowly journeying up the banks of the Nebraska, 
 the hunters came galloping back, waving their caps, 
 and giving the alarm cry, Indians ! Indians ! 
 
 The captain immediately ordered a halt : the hunt- 
 ers now came up and announced that a large war- 
 party of Crow Indians were just above, on the river. 
 The captain knew the character of these savages ; 
 one of the most roving, warlike, crafty, and preda- 
 tory tribes of the mountains ; horse-stealers of the 
 first order, and easily provoked to acts of sanguinary 
 violence. Orders were accordingly given to prepare 
 for action, and every one promptly took the post that 
 
 vol. i. 5 
 
50 APPROACH OF CROW INDIANS. 
 
 had been assigned him, in the general order of the 
 march, in all cases of warlike emergency. 
 
 Every thing being put in battle array, the captain 
 took the lead of his little band, and moved on slowly 
 and warily. In a little while he beheld the Crow 
 warriors emerging from among the bluffs. There 
 were about sixty of them ; fine martial looking fel- 
 lows, painted and arrayed for war, and mounted on 
 horses decked out with all kinds of wild trappings. 
 They came prancing along in gallant style, with 
 many wild and dextrous evolutions, for none can 
 surpass them in horsemanship ; and their bright 
 colors, and flaunting and fantastic embellishments, 
 glaring and sparkling in the morning sunshine, gave 
 them really a striking appearance. 
 
 Their mode of approach, to one not acquainted 
 with the tactics and ceremonies of this rude chivalry 
 of the wilderness, had an air of direct hostility. 
 They came galloping forward in a body as if about 
 to make a furious charge, but, when close at hand, 
 opened to the right and left, and wheeled in wide 
 circles round the travellers, whooping and yelling 
 like maniacs. 
 
 This done, their mock fury sank into a calm, and 
 the chief approaching the captain, who had remained 
 warily drawn up, though informed of the pacific 
 nature of the manoeuvre, extended to him the hand 
 of friendship. The pipe of peace was smoked, and 
 now all was good fellowship. 
 
 The Crows were in pursuit of a band of Chey- 
 ennes, who had attacked , their village in the night, 
 and killed one of their people. They had already 
 
THEIR CURIOSITY. 
 
 51 
 
 been five and twenty days on the track of the ma- 
 rauders, and were determined not to return home 
 until they had sated their revenge. 
 
 A few days previously, some of their scouts, who 
 were ranging the country at a distance from the 
 main body, had discovered the party of Captain 
 Bonneville. They had dogged it for a time in 
 secret, astonished at the long train of waggons and 
 oxen, and especially struck with the sight of a cow 
 and calf, quietly following the caravan ; supposing 
 them to be some kind of tame buffalo. Having 
 satisfied their curiosity, they had carried back to 
 their chief intelligence of all that they had seen. 
 He had, in consequence, diverged from his pursuit 
 of vengeance to behold the wonders described to 
 him. " Now that we have met you," said he to 
 Captain Bonneville, " and have seen these marvels 
 with our own eyes, our hearts are glad." In fact, 
 nothing could exceed the curiosity evinced by these 
 people as to the objects before them. Waggons 
 had never been seen by them before, and they ex- 
 amined them with the greatest minuteness ; but the 
 calf was the peculiar object of their admiration. 
 They watched it with intense interest as it licked 
 the hands accustomed to feed it, and were struck 
 with the mild expression of its countenance, and its 
 perfect docility. 
 
 After much sage consultation, they at length de- 
 termined that it must be the " great medicine" of 
 the white party : an application given by the Indians 
 to any thing of supernatural and mysterious power, 
 that is guarded as a talisman. They were com- 
 
52 LOVING CONDUCT OF THE CROWS. 
 
 pletely thrown out in their conjecture, however, by 
 an offer of the white men to exchange the calf for a 
 horse ; their estimation of the great medicine sunk 
 in an instant, and they declined the bargain. 
 
 At the request of the Crow chieftain the two par- 
 ties encamped together, and passed the residue of 
 the day in company. The captain was well pleased 
 with every opportunity to gain a knowledge of the 
 " unsophisticated sons of nature," that had so long 
 been objects of his poetic speculations ; and indeed 
 this wild, horse-stealing tribe, is one of the most 
 notorious of the mountains. The chief, of course, 
 had his scalps to show and his battles to recount. 
 The Blackfoot is the hereditary enemy of the Crow, 
 towards whom hostility is like a cherished principle 
 of religion ; for every tribe, beside its casual antago- 
 nists, has some enduring foe with whom there can 
 be no permanent reconciliation. The Crows and 
 Blackfeet, upon the whole, are enemies worthy of 
 each other, being rogues and ruffians of the first 
 water. As their predatory excursions extend over 
 the same regions, they often come in contact with 
 each other, and these casual conflicts serve to keep 
 their wits awake and their passions alive. - 
 
 The present party of Crows, however, evinced 
 nothing of the invidious character for which they 
 are renowned. During the day and night that they 
 were encamped in company with the travellers, their 
 conduct was friendly in the extreme. They were, 
 in fact, quite irksome in their attentions, and had a 
 caressing manner at times quite importunate. It 
 was not until after separation on the following 
 
laramie's fork. 
 
 53 
 
 morning, that the captain and his men ascertained 
 the secret of all this loving kindness. In the course 
 of their fraternal caresses, the Crows had contrived 
 to empty the pockets of their white brothers; to 
 abstract the very buttons from their coats, and, above 
 all, to make free with their hunting knives. 
 
 By equal altitudes of the sun, taken at this last 
 encampment, Captain Bonneville ascertained his 
 latitude to be 41° 47' north. The thermometer, 
 at six o'clock in the morning, stood at fifty-nine 
 degrees ; at two o'clock, P. M., at ninety-two 
 degrees ; and at six o'clock in the evening, at 
 seventy degrees. 
 
 The Black hills, or mountains, now began to be 
 seen at a distance, printing the horizon with their 
 rugged and broken outlines ; and threatening to op- 
 pose a difficult barrier in the way of the travellers. 
 
 On the 26th of May, the travellers encamped 
 at Laramie's fork, a clear and beautiful stream, 
 rising in the west-southwest, maintaining an average 
 width of twenty yards, and winding through broad 
 meadows abounding in currants and gooseberries, 
 and adorned with groves and clumps of trees. 
 
 By an observation of Jupiter's satellites, with a 
 Dolland reflecting telescope, Captain Bonneville 
 ascertained the longitude to be 102° 57' west of 
 Greenwich. 
 
 We will here step ahead of our narrative to ob- 
 serve, that about three years after the time of which 
 we are treating, Mr. Robert Campbell, formerly of 
 the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, descended the 
 Platte from this fork, in skin canoes, thus proving, 
 
 5* 
 
54 DRYNESS OP THE ATMOSPHERE. 
 
 what had always been discredited, that the river was 
 navigable. About the same time, he built a fort or 
 trading post at Laramie's fork, which he named Fort 
 William, after his friend and partner, Mr. William 
 Sublette. Since that time, the Platte has become 
 a highway for the fur traders. 
 
 For some days past, Captain Bonneville had been 
 made sensible of the great elevation of country into 
 which he was gradually ascending, by the effect of 
 the dryness and rarefaction of the atmosphere upon 
 his waggons. The wood-work shrunk ; the paint 
 boxes of the wheels were continually working out, 
 and it was necessary to support the spokes by stout 
 props to prevent their falling asunder. The travel- 
 lers were now entering one of those great steppes of 
 the far west, where the prevalent aridity of the atmo- 
 sphere renders the country unfit for cultivation. In 
 these regions, there is a fresh sweet growth of grass 
 in the spring, but it is scanty and short, and parches 
 up in the course of the summer, so that there is none 
 for the hunters to set fire to in the autumn. It is a 
 common observation, that "above the forks of the 
 Platte the grass does not burn." All attempts at 
 agriculture and gardening in the neighborhood of 
 Fort William, have been attended with very little 
 success. The grain and vegetables raised there 
 have been scanty in quantity and poor in quality. 
 The great elevation of these plains, and the dryness 
 of the atmosphere, will tend to retain these immense 
 regions in a state of pristine wildness. 
 
 In the course of a day or two more, the travellers 
 entered that wild and broken tract of the Crow 
 
INDIAN DOGS. 
 
 55 
 
 country called the Black hills, and here their jour- 
 ney became toilsome in the extreme. Rugged 
 steeps and deep ravines incessantly obstructed their 
 progress, so that a great, part of the day was spent 
 in the painful toil of digging through banks, filling 
 up ravines, forcing the waggons up the most forbid- 
 ding ascents, or swinging them with ropes down the 
 face of dangerous precipices. The shoes of their 
 horses were worn out, and their feet injured by the 
 rugged and stony roads. The travellers were an- 
 noyed also by frequent but brief storms, which 
 would come hurrying over the hills, or through the 
 mountain defiles, rage with great fury for a short 
 time, and then pass off, leaving every thing calm 
 and serene again. 
 
 For several nights the camp had been infested by 
 vagabond Indian dogs, prowling about in quest of 
 food. They were about the size of a large pointer ; 
 with ears short and erect, and a long bushy tail — alto- 
 gether, they bore a striking resemblance to a wolf. 
 These skulking visiters would keep about the pur- 
 lieus of the camp until daylight ; when, on the first 
 stir of life among the sleepers, they would scamper 
 off until they reached some rising ground, where 
 they would take their seats, and keep a sharp and 
 hungry watch upon every movement. The moment 
 the travellers were fairly on the march, and the camp 
 was abandoned, these starveling hangers-on would 
 hasten to the deserted fires, to seize upon the half- 
 picked bones, the offals and garbage that lay about; 
 and, having made a hasty meal, with many a snap 
 and snarl and growl, would follow leisurely on the 
 
56 
 
 CROW TROPHIES. 
 
 trail of the caravan. Many attempts were made to 
 coax or catch them, but in vain. Their quick and 
 suspicious eyes caught the slightest sinister move- 
 ment, and they turned and scampered off. At length 
 one was taken. He was terribly alarmed, and 
 crouched and trembled as if expecting instant death. 
 Soothed, however, by caresses, he began after a 
 time to gather confidence and wag his tail, and at 
 length was brought to follow close at the heels of 
 his captors, still, however, darting around furtive 
 and suspicious glances, and evincing a disposition 
 to scamper off upon the least alarm. 
 
 On the first of July, the band of Crow warriors 
 again crossed their path. They came in vaunting 
 and vainglorious style ; displaying five Cheyenne 
 scalps, the trophies of their vengeance. They were 
 now bound homewards, to appease the manes of 
 their comrade by these proofs that his death had 
 been revenged, and intended to have 'scalp-dances 
 and other triumphant rejoicings. Captain Bonne- 
 ville and his men, however, were by no means dis- 
 posed to renew their confiding intimacy with these 
 crafty savages, and above all, took care to avoid 
 their pilfering caresses. They remarked one pre- 
 caution of the Crows with respect to their horses ; 
 to protect their hoofs from the sharp and jagged 
 rocks among which they had to pass, they had cov- 
 ered them with shoes constructed of buffalo hide. 
 
 The route of the travellers lay generally along 
 the course of the Nebraska or Platte, but occasion- 
 ally, where steep promontories advanced to the mar- 
 gin of the stream, they were obliged to make inland 
 
STERILE AND DREARY COUNTRY. 57 
 
 circuits. One of these took them through a bold 
 and stern country, bordered by a range of low moun- 
 tains, running east and west. Every thing around 
 bore traces of some fearful convulsion of nature in 
 times long past. Hitherto the various strata of 
 rock had exhibited a gentle elevation towards the 
 southwest, but here, every thing appeared to have 
 been subverted, and thrown out of place. In many 
 places there were heavy beds of white sandstone 
 resting upon red. Immense strata of rocks jutted 
 up into crags and cliffs ; and sometimes formed per- 
 pendicular walls and overhanging precipices. An 
 air of sterility prevailed over these savage wastes. 
 The valleys were destitute of herbage, and scantily 
 clothed with a stunted species of wormwood, gene- 
 rally known among traders and trappers by the 
 name of sage. From an elevated point of their 
 march through this region, the travellers caught a 
 beautiful view of the Powder river mountains away 
 to the north, stretching along the very verge of the 
 horizon, and seeming, from the snow with which 
 they were mantled, to be a chain of small white 
 clouds, connecting sky and earth. 
 
 Though the thermometer at mid-day ranged from 
 eighty to ninety, and even sometimes rose to ninety- 
 three degrees, yet occasional spots of snow were to 
 be seen on the tops of the low mountains, among 
 which the travellers were journeying ; proofs of the 
 great elevation of the whole region. 
 
 The Nebraska, in its passage through the Black 
 hills, is confined to a much narrower channel than 
 that through which it flows in the plains below ; but 
 
58 
 
 BANKS OF THE SWEET WATER. 
 
 it is deeper and clearer, and rushes with a stronger 
 current. The scenery, also, is more varied and 
 beautiful. Sometimes it glides rapidly, but smooth- 
 ly, through a picturesque valley, between wooded 
 banks ; then, forcing its way into the bosom of rug- 
 ged mountains, it rushes impetuously through nar- 
 row defdes, roaring and foaming down rocks and 
 rapids, until it is again soothed to rest in some 
 peaceful valley. 
 
 On the 12th of July, Captain Bonneville aban- 
 doned the main stream of the Nebraska, which was 
 continually shouldered by rugged promontories, and 
 making a bend to the southwest, for a couple of 
 days, part of the time over plains of loose sand, en- 
 camped on the 14th, on the banks of the Sweet 
 Water, a stream about twenty yards in breadth, 
 and four or five feet deep, flowing between low 
 banks over a sandy soil, and forming one of the 
 forks or upper branches of the Nebraska. Up this 
 stream they now shaped their course for several 
 successive days, tending, generally, to the west. 
 The soil was light and sandy ; the country much 
 diversified. Frequently the plains were studded 
 with isolated blocks of rock, sometimes in the shape 
 of a half globe, and from three to four hundred feet 
 high. These singular masses had occasionally a 
 very imposing, and even sublime appearance, rising 
 from the midst of a savage and lonely landscape. 
 
 As the travellers continued to advance, they be- 
 came more and more sensible of the elevation of 
 the country. The hills around were more generally 
 capped with snow. The men complained of cramps 
 
TOM CAIN THE COOK. 
 
 59 
 
 and colics, sore lips and mouths, and violent head- 
 aches. The wood-work of the waggons also shrunk 
 so much, that it was with difficulty the wheels were 
 kept from falling to pieces. The country bordering 
 upon the river was frequently gashed with deep 
 ravines, or traversed by high bluffs, to avoid which, 
 the travellers were obliged to make wide circuits 
 through the plains. In the course of these, they 
 came upon immense herds of buffalo, which kept 
 scouring off in the van, like a retreating army. 
 
 Among the motley retainers of the camp was Tom 
 Cain, a raw Irishman, who officiated as cook, whose, 
 various blunders and expedients in his novel situa- 
 tion, and in the wild scenes and wild kind of life 
 into which he had suddenly been thrown, had made 
 him a kind of butt or droll of the camp. Tom, how- 
 ever, began to discover an ambition superior to his 
 station ; and the conversation of the hunters, and 
 their stories of their exploits, inspired him with a 
 desire to elevate himself to the dignity of their order. 
 The buffalo in such immense droves presented a 
 tempting opportunity for making his first essay. 
 He rode, in the line of march, all prepared for 
 action : his powder flask and shot pouch knowingly- 
 slung at the pommel of his saddle, to be at hand ; 
 his rifle balanced on his shoulder. While in this 
 plight, a troop of buffalo came trotting by in great 
 alarm. In an instant, Tom sprang from his horse 
 and gave chase on foot. Finding they were leaving 
 him behind, he levelled his rifle and pulled trigger. 
 His shot produced no other effect than to increase 
 the speed of the buffalo, and to frighten his own 
 
60 
 
 HIS BUFFALO HUNT. 
 
 horse, who took to his heels, and scampered off with 
 all the ammunition. Tom scampered after him, 
 hallooing with might and main, and the wild horse 
 and wild Irishman soon disappeared among the ra- 
 vines of the prairie. Captain Bonneville, who was 
 at the head of the line, and had seen the transaction 
 at a distance, detached a party in pursuit of Tom. 
 After a long interval they returned, leading the 
 frightened horse ; but though they had scoured the 
 country, and looked out and shouted from every 
 height, they had seen nothing of his rider. 
 
 As Captain Bonneville knew Tom's utter awk- 
 wardness and inexperience, and the dangers of a 
 bewildered Irishman in the midst of a prairie, he 
 halted and encamped at an early hour, that there 
 might be a regular hunt for him in the morning. 
 
 At early dawn on the following day scouts were 
 sent off in every direction, while the main body, 
 after breakfast, proceeded slowly on its course. It 
 was not until the middle of the afternoon, that the 
 hunters returned with honest Tom mounted behind 
 one of them. They had found him in a complete 
 state of perplexity and amazement. His appear- 
 ance caused shouts of merriment in the camp, — but 
 Tom for once could not join in the mirth raised at 
 his expense : he was completely chapfallen, and 
 apparently cured of the hunting mania for the rest 
 of his life. 
 
MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Magnificent scenery — Wind river mountains — Treasury of waters 
 — A stray horse — An Indian trail — Trout streams — The Great 
 Green river valley — An alarm — A band of trappers — Fontenelle, 
 his information — Sufferings of thirst — Encampment on the Seeds- 
 ke-dee — Strategy of rival traders — Fortification of the camp — 
 The Blackfeet — Banditti of the mountains — their character and 
 habits. 
 
 It was on the 20th of July, that Captain Bonne- 
 ville first came in sight of the grand region of his 
 hopes and anticipations, the Rocky mountains. He 
 had been making a bend to the south, to avoid some 
 obstacles along the river, and had attained a high, 
 rocky ridge, when a magnificent prospect burst 
 upon his sight. To the west, rose the Wind river 
 mountains, with their bleached and snowy summits 
 towering into the clouds. These stretched far to 
 the north-northwest, until they melted away into 
 what appeared to be faint clouds, but which the ex- 
 perienced eyes of the veteran hunters of the party 
 recognised for the rugged mountains of the Yellow- 
 stone ; at the feet of which, extended the wild Crow 
 country : a perilous, though profitable region for the 
 trapper. 
 
 To the southwest, the eye ranged over an im- 
 mense extent of wilderness, with what appeared to 
 vol. !• 6 
 
62 
 
 WIND RIVER MOUNTAINS. 
 
 be a snowy vapor resting upon its horizon. This, 
 however, was pointed out as another branch of the 
 Great Chippewyan, or Rocky chain ; being the Eu- 
 taw mountains, at whose basis, the wandering tribe 
 of hunters of the same name pitch their tents. 
 
 We can imagine the enthusiasm of the worthy 
 captain, when he beheld the vast and mountainous 
 scene of his adventurous enterprise thus suddenly 
 unveiled before him. We can imagine with what 
 feelings of awe and admiration he must have con- 
 templated the Wind river sierra, or bed of moun- 
 tains ; that great fountain head, from whose springs, 
 and lakes, and melted snows, some of those mighty 
 rivers take their rise, which wander over hundreds 
 of miles of varied country and clime, and find their 
 way to the opposite waves of the Atlantic and the 
 Pacific. 
 
 The Wind river mountains are, in fact, among 
 the most remarkable of the whole Rocky chain ; 
 and would appear to be among the loftiest. They 
 form, as it were, a great bed of mountains, about 
 eighty miles in length, and from twenty to thirty in 
 breadth ; with rugged peaks, covered with eternal 
 snows, and deep, narrow valleys, full of springs, and 
 brooks, and rock-bound lakes. From this great 
 treasury of waters, issue forth limpid streams, that, 
 augmenting as they descend, become main tributa- 
 ries of the Missouri, on the one side, and the Co- 
 lumbia, on the other ; and give rise to the Seeds- 
 ke-dee Agie, or Green river, the great Colorado of 
 the west, that empties its current into the Gulf of 
 California. 
 
A STRAY HORSE. 
 
 63 
 
 The Wind river mountains are notorious in hunt- 
 ers' and trappers' stories : their rugged denies, and 
 the rough tracts about their neighborhood, having 
 been lurking places for the predatory hordes of the 
 mountains, and scenes of rough encounter with 
 Crows and Blackfeet. It was to the west of these 
 mountains, in the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, 
 or Green river, that Captain Bonneville intended to 
 make a halt, for the purpose of giving repose to his 
 people and his horses, after their weary journeying; 
 and of collecting information as to his future course. 
 This Green river valley, and its immediate neigh- 
 borhood, as we have already observed, formed the 
 main point of rendezvous, for the present year, of 
 the rival fur companies, and the motley populace, 
 civilized and savage, connected with them. Seve- 
 ral days of rugged travel, however, yet remained for 
 the captain and his men, before they should encamp 
 in this desired resting place. 
 
 On the 21st of July, as they were pursuing their 
 course through one of the meadows of the Sweet 
 Water, they beheld a horse grazing at a little dis- 
 tance. He showed no alarm at their approach, but 
 suffered himself quietly to be taken, evincing a per- 
 fect state of tameness. The scouts of the party 
 were instantly on the look out for the owners of this 
 animal ; lest some dangerous band of savages might 
 be lurking in the vicinity. After a narrow search, 
 they discovered the trail of an Indian party, which 
 had evidently passed through that neighborhood but 
 recently. The horse was accordingly taken pos- 
 session of, as an estray ; but a more vigilant watch 
 
64 
 
 TROUT STREAMS. 
 
 than usual was kept round the camp at nights, lest 
 his former owners should be upon the prowl. 
 
 The travellers had now attained so high an ele- 
 vation, that on the 23d of July, at daybreak, there 
 was considerable ice in the water-buckets, and the 
 thermometer stood at twenty-two degrees. The 
 rarety of the atmosphere continued to affect the 
 wood-work of the waggons, and the wheels were 
 incessantly falling to pieces. A remedy was at 
 length devised. The tire of each wheel was taken 
 off ; a band of wood was nailed round the exterior 
 of the felloes, the tire was then made red hot, re- 
 placed round the wheel, and suddenly cooled with 
 water. By this means, the whole was bound to- 
 gether with great compactness. 
 
 The extreme elevation of these great steppes, 
 which range along the feet of the Rocky mountains, 
 take away from the seeming height of their peaks, 
 which yield to few in the known world in point of 
 altitude above the level of the sea. 
 
 On the 24th, the travellers took final leave of the 
 Sweet Water, and, keeping westwardly, over a low 
 and very rocky ridge, one of the most southern 
 spurs of the Wind river mountains, they encamped, 
 after a march of seven hours and a half, on the 
 banks of a small clear stream, running to the south, 
 in which they caught a number of fine trout. 
 
 The sight of these fish was ha-iled with pleasure, 
 as a sign that they had reached the waters which 
 flow into the Pacific ; for it is only on the western 
 streams of the Rocky mountains that trout are to 
 be taken. The stream on which thev had thus 
 
GREEN RIVER VALLEY. 
 
 65 
 
 encamped, proved, in 'effect, to be tributary to the 
 Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green river, into which it 
 flowed, at some distance to the south. 
 
 Captain Bonneville now considered himself as 
 having fairly passed the crest of the Rocky moun- 
 tains ; and felt some degree of exultation in being 
 the first individual that had crossed, north of the 
 settled provinces of Mexico, from the waters of the 
 Atlantic to those of the Pacific, with waggons. 
 Mr. William Sublette, the enterprising leader of the 
 Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had, two or three 
 years previously, reached the valley of the Wind 
 river, which lies on the northeast of the mountains ; 
 but had proceeded with them no further. 
 
 A vast valley now spread itself before the travel- 
 lers, bounded on one side, by the Wind river moun- 
 tains, and to the west, by a long range of high hills. 
 This, Captain Bonneville was assured by a veteran 
 hunter in his company, was the great valley of the 
 Seeds-ke-dee ; and the same informant would fain 
 have persuaded him, that a small stream, three feet 
 deep, which he came to on the 25th, was that river. 
 The captain was convinced, however, that stream 
 was too insignificant to drain that wide valley, and 
 the adjacent mountains : he encamped, therefore, at 
 an early hour, on its borders, that he might take the 
 whole of the next day to reach the main river; which 
 he presumed to flow between him and the distant 
 range of western hills. 
 
 On the 26th of July, he commenced his march at 
 an early hour, making directly across the valley, to- 
 wards the hills in the west ; proceeding at as brisk 
 
 6* 
 
66 
 
 A BAND OF TRAPPERS. 
 
 a rate as the jaded condition of his horses would 
 permit. About eleven o'clock in the morning, a 
 great cloud of dust was descried in the rear, ad- 
 vancing directly on the trail of the party. The alarm 
 was given ; they all came to a halt, and held a coun- 
 cil of war. Some conjectured that the band of 
 Indians, whose trail they had discovered in the 
 neighborhood of the stray horse, had been lying in 
 wait for them, in some secret fastness of the moun- 
 tains ; and were about to attack them on the open 
 plain, where they would have no shelter. Prepara- 
 tions were immediately made for defence ; and a 
 scouting party sent off to reconnoitre. They soon 
 came galloping back, making signals that all was 
 well. The cloud of dust was made by a band of 
 fifty or sixty mounted trappers, belonging to the 
 American Fur Company, who soon came up, lead- 
 ing their pack-horses. They were headed by Mr. 
 Fontenelle, an experienced leader, or " partisan," as 
 a chief of a party is called, in the technical language 
 of the trappers. 
 
 Mr. Fontenelle informed Captain Bonneville, that 
 he was on his way from the company's trading post, 
 on the Yellowstone, to the yearly rendezvous, with 
 reinforcements and supplies for their hunting and 
 trading parties beyond the mountains ; and that he 
 expected to meet, by appointment, with a band of 
 free trappers in that very neighborhood. He had 
 fallen upon the trail of Captain Bonneville's party, 
 just after leaving the Nebraska; and, finding that 
 they had frightened off all the game, had been 
 obliged to push on, by forced marches, to avoid 
 
FONTENELLE — HIS INFORMATION. 67 
 
 famine : both men and horses were, therefore, much 
 travel-worn ; but this was no place to halt ; the 
 plain before them, he said, was destitute of grass 
 and water, neither of which would be met with 
 short of the Green river, which was yet at a con- 
 siderable distance. He hoped, he added, as his 
 party were all on horseback, to reach the river, with 
 hard travelling, by night fall : but he doubted the 
 possibility of Captain Bonneville's arrival there with 
 his waggons, before the day following. Having 
 imparted this information, he pushed forward with 
 all speed. 
 
 Captain Bonneville followed on as fast as circum- 
 stances would permit. The ground was firm and 
 gravelly ; but the horses were too much fatigued to 
 move rapidly. After a long and harassing day's 
 march, without pausing for a noontide meal, they 
 were compelled, at nine o'clock at night, to encamp 
 in an open plain, destitute of water or pasturage. 
 On the following morning, the horses were turned 
 loose at the peep of day ; to slake their thirst, if 
 possible, from the dew collected on the sparse grass, 
 here and there springing up among dry sand banks. 
 The soil of a great part of this Green river valley, 
 is a whitish clay, into which the rain cannot pene- 
 trate, but which dries and cracks with the sun. , In 
 some places it produces a salt weed, and grass 
 along the margins of the streams ; but the wider 
 expanses of it, are desolate and barren. It was not 
 until noon, that Captain Bonneville reached the 
 banks of the Seeds-ke-dee, or Colorado of the 
 west ; in the meantime, the sufferings of both men 
 
68 
 
 STRATEGY OF A TRADER. 
 
 and horses had been excessive, and it was with 
 almost frantic eagerness that they hurried to allay 
 their burning thirst, in the limpid current of the 
 river. 
 
 Fontenelle and his party had not fared much bet- 
 ter : the chief part had managed to reach the river 
 by nightfall, but were nearly knocked up by the 
 exertion ; the horses of others sank under them, 
 and they were obliged to pass the night upon the 
 road. 
 
 On the following morning, July 27th, Fontenelle 
 moved his camp across the river ; while Captain 
 Bonneville proceeded some little distance below, 
 where there was a small but fresh meadow, yielding 
 abundant pasturage. Here the poor jaded horses 
 were turned out to graze, and take their rest : the 
 weary journey up the mountains had worn them 
 down in flesh and spirit ; but this last march across 
 the thirsty plain, had nearly finished them. 
 
 The captain had here the first taste of the boasted 
 strategy of the fur trade. During his brief, but 
 social encampment, in company with Fontenelle, 
 that experienced trapper had managed to win over 
 a number of Delaware Indians, whom the captain 
 had brought with him, by offering them four hun- 
 dred dollars each, for the ensuing autumnal hunt. 
 The captain was somewhat astonished, when he saw 
 these hunters, on whose services he had calculated 
 securely, suddenly pack up their traps, and go over 
 to the rival camp. That he might in some measure, 
 however, be even with his competitor, he despatched 
 two scouts to look out for the band of free trappers, 
 
BLACKFEET INDIANS. 
 
 69 
 
 who were to meet Fontenelle in this neighborhood, 
 and to endeavor to bring them to his camp. 
 
 As it would be necessary to remain some time 
 in this neighborhood, that both men and horses 
 might repose, and recruit their strength ; and as it 
 was a region full of danger, Captain Bonneville pro- 
 ceeded to fortify his camp with breastworks of logs 
 and pickets. 
 
 These precautions were, at that time, peculiarly 
 necessary, from the bands of Blackfeet Indians 
 which were roving about the neighborhood. These 
 savages are the most dangerous banditti of the moun- 
 tains, and the inveterate foe of the trappers. 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 set- 
 ting 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 at 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 
 
70 
 
 BLACKFEET INDIANS. 
 
 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 Ameri- 
 can 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 
 Marias river, where they traffic their peltries for 
 arms, ammunition, clothing, and trinkets. They 
 are extremely fond of spiritous 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 Ameri- 
 can Fur Company is obliged constantly to keep at 
 that post a garrison of sixty or seventy men. 
 
 Under the general name of Blackfeet, are com- 
 prehended 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 Gros Ventres 
 of the Missouri, who keep about the lower part of 
 that river, and are friendly to the white men. 
 
BLACKFEET INDIANS. 
 
 71 
 
 This hostile band keeps about the head waters of 
 the Missouri, and numbers about nine hundred fight- 
 ing 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, Bahnacks, 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 
 trails ; hovering about their camps ; waylaying and 
 dogging the caravans of the free traders, and mur- 
 dering 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. 
 
 The band in question was, at this time, on their 
 way homeward from one of their customary visits 
 to the Arapahoes ; and in the ensuing chapter, we 
 shall treat of some bloody encounters between them 
 and the trappers, which had taken place just be- 
 fore the arrival of Captain Bonneville among the 
 mountains. 
 
72 
 
 sublette's band. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sublette and his band — Robert Campbell — Captain Wyeth and a 
 band of " down-easters" — Yankee enterprise — Fitzpatrick — his 
 adventure with the Blackfeet — A rendezvous of mountaineers — 
 The battle of Pierre's Hole — An Indian ambuscade — Sublette's 
 return. 
 
 Leaving Captain Bonneville and his band ensconced 
 within their fortified camp in the Green river valley, 
 we shall step back and accompany a party of the 
 Rocky Mountain Fur Company in its progress, 
 with supplies from St. Louis, to the annual rendez 
 vous at Pierre's Hole. This party consisted of 
 sixty men, well mounted, and conducting a line of 
 pack-horses. They were commanded by Captain 
 William Sublette, a partner in the company, and 
 one of the most active, intrepid, and renowned lead- 
 ers in this half military kind of service. He was 
 accompanied by his associate in business, and tried 
 companion in danger, Mr. Robert Campbell, one of 
 the pioneers of the trade beyond the mountains, who 
 had commanded trapping parties there in times of 
 the greatest peril. 
 
 As these worthy compeers were on their route to 
 the frontier, they fell in with another expedition, 
 likewise on its way to the mountains. This was a 
 party of regular " down-easters," that is to say, peo- 
 
DOWN-E ASTERS — YANKEE ENTERPRISE. 73 
 
 pie of New England, who, with the all penetrating, 
 and all pervading spirit of their race, were now 
 pushing their way into a new field of enterprise, 
 with which they were totally unacquainted. The 
 party had been fitted out, and was maintained and 
 commanded by Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of 
 Boston. This gentleman had conceived an idea, 
 that a profitable fishery for salmon might be estab- 
 lished on the Columbia river, and connected with 
 the fur trade. He had, accordingly, invested capi 
 tal in goods, calculated, as he supposed, for the 
 Indian trade, and had enlisted a number of eastern 
 men in his employ, who had never been in the far 
 west, nor knew any thing of the wilderness. With 
 these, he was bravely steering his way across the 
 continent, undismayed by danger, difficulty, or dis- 
 tance, in the same way that a New England coaster 
 and his neighbors will coolly launch forth on a voy- 
 age to the Black sea, or a whaling cruise to the 
 Pacific. 
 
 With all their national aptitude at expedient and 
 resource, Captain Wyeth ancf his men felt them- 
 selves completely at a loss when they reached the 
 frontier, and found that the wilderness required ex- 
 perience and habitudes, of which they were totally 
 deficient. Not one of the party, except the leader, 
 had ever seen an Indian or handled a rifle; they 
 were without guide or interpreter, and totally un- 
 acquainted with " wood craft," and the modes of 
 making their way among savage hordes, and sub- 
 sisting themselves, during long marches over wild 
 mountains and barren plains. 
 
 vol. i. 7 
 
74 
 
 ADVENTURE OF FITZPATRICK. 
 
 In this predicament, Captain Sublette found them, 
 in a manner becalmed, or rather run aground, at the 
 little frontier town of Independence, in Missouri, and 
 kindly took them in tow. The two parties travelled 
 amicably together; the frontier men of Sublette's 
 party gave their Yankee comrades some lessons in 
 hunting, and some insight into the art and mystery 
 of dealing with the Indians, and they all arrived 
 without accident at the upper branches of the Ne- 
 braska or Platte river. 
 
 In the course of their march, Mr. Fitzpatrick, the 
 partner of the company who was resident at that 
 time beyond the mountains, came down from the 
 rendezvous at Pierre's Hole to meet them, and 
 hurry them forward. He travelled in company 
 with them until they reached the Sweet Water; 
 then taking a couple of horses, one for the saddle, 
 and the other as a packhorse, he started off express 
 for Pierre's Hole, to make arrangements against 
 their arrival, that he might commence his hunting 
 campaign before the rival company. 
 
 Fitzpatrick was a hardy and experienced moun- 
 taineer, and knew all the passes and defiles. As he 
 was pursuing his lonely course up the Green river 
 valley, he descried several horsemen at a distance, 
 and came to a' halt to reconnoitre. He supposed 
 them to be some detachment from the rendezvous, 
 or a party of friendly Indians. They perceived 
 him, and setting up the war-whoop, dashed for- 
 ward at full speed : he saw at once his mistake 
 and his peril — they were Blackfeet. Springing 
 upon his fleetest horse, and abandoning the other to 
 
AN ATTACK IN THE NIGHT. 
 
 75 
 
 the enemy, he made for the mountains, and suc- 
 ceeded in escaping up one of the most dangerous 
 denies. Here he concealed himself for a time, until 
 he thought the Indians had gone off, when he re- 
 turned into the valley. He was again pursued, lost 
 his remaining horse, and only escaped by scram- 
 bling up among the cliffs. For several days he 
 remained lurking among rocks and precipices, and 
 almost famished, having but one remaining charge 
 in his rifle, which he kept for self-defence. 
 
 In the meantime, Sublette and Campbell, with 
 their fellow traveller, Captain Wyeth, had pursued 
 their march unmolested, and arrived in the Green 
 river valley, totally unconscious that there was any 
 lurking enemy at hand. They had encamped one 
 night on the banks of a small stream, which came 
 down from the Wind river mountains, when about 
 midnight, a band of Indians suddenly burst upon 
 their camp, with horrible yells and whoops, and a 
 discharge of guns and arrows. Happily no other 
 harm was done than wounding one mule, and caus- 
 ing several horses to break loose from their pickets. 
 The camp was instantly in arms ; but the Indians 
 retreated with yells of exultation, carrying off seve- 
 ral of the horses, under covert of the night. 
 
 This was somewhat of a disagreeable foretaste 
 of mountain life to some of Captain Wyeth's band, 
 accustomed only to the regular and peaceful life of 
 New England ; nor was it altogether to the taste of 
 Captain Sublette's men, who were chiefly Creoles 
 and townsmen from St. Louis. They continued 
 their march the next morning, keeping scouts ahead 
 
76 
 
 pierre's hole. 
 
 and upon their flanks, and arrived without further 
 molestation at Pierre's Hole. 
 
 The first inquiry of Captain Sublette, on reach- 
 ing the rendezvous, was for Fitzpatrick. To his 
 great concern he found he had not arrived, nor had 
 any intelligence been received concerning him. 
 Great uneasiness was now entertained, lest that 
 gentleman should have fallen into the hands of the 
 Blackfeet, who had made the midnight attack upon 
 the camp. It was a matter of general joy, there- 
 fore, when he made his appearance, conducted by 
 two half-breed Iroquois hunters. He had lurked 
 for several days among the mountains, until almost 
 starved ; at length he escaped the vigilance of his 
 enemies in the night, and was so fortunate as to 
 meet the two Iroquois hunters, who, being on horse- 
 back, conveyed him without further difficulty to the 
 rendezvous. He arrived there so emaciated, that 
 he could scarcely be recognised. 
 
 The valley called Pierre's Hole, is about thirty 
 miles in length and fifteen in width, bounded to the 
 west and south by low and broken ridges, and over- 
 looked to the east by three lofty mountains, called 
 the three Tetons, which domineer as landmarks 
 over a vast extent of country. 
 
 A fine stream, fed by rivulets and mountain 
 springs, pours through the valley towards the north, 
 dividing it into nearly equal parts. The meadows 
 on its borders are broad and extensive, covered with 
 willow and cotton-wood trees, so closely interlocked 
 and matted together, as to be nearly impassable. 
 
 In this valley was congregated the motley popu- 
 
A MOUNTAIN RENDEZVOUS. 
 
 77 
 
 lace connected with the fur trade. Here the two 
 rival companies had their encampments, with their 
 retainers of all kinds : traders, trappers, hunters, and 
 half-breeds, assembled from all quarters, awaiting 
 their yearly supplies, and their orders to start off in 
 new directions. Here, also, the savage tribes con- 
 nected with the trade, the Nez Perces or Chopun- 
 nish Indians, and Flatheads, had pitched their lodges 
 beside the streams, and with their squaws, awaited 
 the distribution of goods and finery. There was, 
 moreover, a band of fifteen free trappers, com- 
 manded by a gallant leader from Arkansas, named 
 Sinclair, who held their encampment a little apart 
 from the rest. Such was the wild and heteroge- 
 neous assemblage, amounting to several hundred 
 men, civilized and savage, distributed in tents and 
 lodges in the several camps. 
 
 The arrival of Captain Sublette with supplies, 
 put the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in full ac- 
 tivity. The wares and merchandise were quickly 
 opened, and as quickly disposed of to trappers and 
 Indians; the usual excitement and revelry took 
 place, after which, all hands began to disperse to 
 their several destinations. 
 
 On the 17th of July, a small brigade of fourteen 
 trappers, led by Milton Sublette, brother of the 
 captain, set out with the intention of proceeding to 
 the southwest. They were accompanied by Sin- 
 clair and his fifteen free trappers ; Captain Wyeth, 
 also, and his New-England band of beaver hunters 
 and salmon fishers, now dwindled down to eleven, 
 took this opportunity to prosecute their cruise in 
 
78 ENCOUNTER WITH THE BLACKFEET. 
 
 the wilderness, in company with such experienced 
 pilots. On the first day, they proceeded about 
 eight miles to the southeast, and encamped for the 
 night, still in the valley of Pierre's Hole. On the 
 following morning, just as they were raising, their 
 camp, they observed a long line of people pouring 
 down a defile of the mountains. They at first sup- 
 posed them to be Fontenelle and his party, whose 
 arrival had been daily expected. Captain Wyeth, 
 however, reconnoitred them with a spyglass, and 
 soon perceived they were Indians. They were 
 divided into two parties, forming, in the whole, 
 about one hundred and fifty persons, men, women, 
 and children. Some were on horseback, fantastically 
 painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets fluttering 
 in the wind. The greater part, however, were on 
 foot. They had perceived the trappers before they 
 were themselves discovered, and came down yell- 
 ing and whooping into the plain. On nearer ap- 
 proach, they were ascertained to be Blackfeet. 
 
 One of the trappers of Sublette's brigade, a half- 
 breed, named Antoine Godin, now mounted his 
 horse, and rode forth as if to hold a conference. 
 He was the son of an Iroquois hunter, who had 
 been cruelly murdered by the Blackfeet at a small 
 stream below the mountains, which still bears his 
 name. In company with Antoine rode forth a Flat- 
 head Indian, whose once powerful tribe had been 
 completely broken down in their wars with the 
 Blackfeet. Both of them, therefore, cherished the 
 most vengeful hostility against these marauders of 
 the mountains. The Blackfeet came to a halt. 
 
AN INDIAN PORT. 
 
 79 
 
 One of the chiefs advanced singly and unarmed, 
 bearing the pipe of peace. This overture was cer- 
 tainly pacific ; but Antoine and the Flathead were 
 predisposed to hostility, and pretended to consider 
 it a treacherous movement. 
 
 " Is your piece charged ?" said Antoine to his red 
 companion. 
 
 " It is." 
 
 " Then cock it, and follow me." 
 They met the Blackfoot chief half way, who ex- 
 tended his hand in friendship. Antoine grasped it. 
 " Fire !" cried he. 
 
 The Flathead levelled his piece, and brought the 
 Blackfoot to the ground. Antoine snatched off his 
 scarlet blanket, which was richly ornamented, and 
 galloped off with it as a trophy to the camp, the 
 bullets of the enemy whistling after him. The 
 Indians immediately threw themselves into the 
 edge of a swamp, among willows and cotton-wood 
 trees, interwoven with vines. Here they began to 
 fortify themselves ; the women digging a trench, 
 and throwing up a breastwork of logs and branches, 
 deep hid in the bosom of the wood, while the war- 
 riors skirmished at the edge to keep the trappers 
 at bay. 
 
 The latter took their station in a ravine in front, 
 from whence they kept up a scattering fire. As to 
 Captain Wyeth, and his little band of " down- 
 easters," they were perfectly astounded by this 
 second specimen of life in the wilderness ; the men 
 being, especially, unused to bush-fighting and the use 
 of the rifle, were at a loss how to proceed. Captain 
 
60 
 
 AN ALARM — A TURN OUT. 
 
 Wyeth, however, acted as a skilful commander. 
 He got all his horses into camp and secured them ; 
 then, making a breastwork of his packs of goods, 
 he charged his men to remain in garrison, and not 
 to stir out of their fort. For himself, he mingled 
 with the other leaders, determined to take his share 
 in the conflict. 
 
 In the meantime, an express had been sent off to 
 the rendezvous for reinforcements. Captain Su- 
 blette, and his associate, Campbell, were at their 
 camp when the express came galloping across 
 the plain, waving his cap, and giving the alarm ; 
 "Blackfeet! Blackfeet ! a fight in the upper part 
 of the valley ! — to arms ! to arms !" 
 
 The alarm was passed from camp to camp. It 
 was a common cause. Every one turned out with 
 horse and rifle. The Nez Perces and Flatheads 
 joined. As fast as horseman could arm and mount 
 he galloped off; the valley was soon alive with 
 white men and red men scouring at full speed. 
 
 Sublette ordered his men to keep to the camp, 
 being recruits from St. Louis, unused to Indian 
 warfare. He and his friend Campbell prepared for 
 action. Throwing off their coats, rolling up their 
 sleeves, and arming themselves with pistols and 
 rifles, they mounted their horses and dashed forward 
 among the first. As they rode along, they made 
 their wills in soldierlike style ; each stating how his 
 effects should be disposed of in case of his death, 
 and appointing the other his executor. 
 
 The Blackfeet warriors had supposed the brigade 
 of Milton Sublette all the foe they had to deal with, 
 
and were astonished to behold the* whole valley 
 suddenly swarming with horsemen, galloping to the 
 field of action. They withdrew into their fort, 
 which was completely hid from sight in the dark 
 and tangled wood. Most of their women and chil- 
 dren had retreated to the mountains. The trappers 
 now sallied forth and approached the swamp, firing 
 into the thickets at random ; the Blackfeet had a 
 better sight at their adversaries, who were in the 
 open field, and a half-breed was wounded in the 
 shoulder. 
 
 When Captain Sublette arrived, he urged to pene- 
 trate the swamp and storm the fort, but all hung 
 back in awe of the dismal horrors of the place, and 
 the danger of attacking such desperadoes in their 
 savage den. The very Indian allies, though accus- 
 tomed to bush-fighting, regarded it as almost impen- 
 etrable, and full of frightful danger. Sublette was 
 not to be turned from his purpose, but offered to 
 lead the way into the swamp. Campbell stepped 
 forward to accompany him. Before entering the 
 perilous wood, Sublette took his brothers aside, and 
 told them that in case he fell, Campbell, who knew 
 his will, was to be his executor. This done, he 
 grasped his rifle and pushed into the thickets, fol- 
 lowed by Campbell. Sinclair, the partisan from 
 Arkansas, was at the edge of the wood with his 
 brother and a few of his men. Excited by the gal- 
 lant example of the two friends, he pressed forward 
 to share their dangers. 
 
 The swamp was produced by the labors of the 
 beaver, which, by damming up a stream, had in- 
 
82 
 
 BUSH-FIGHTING. 
 
 undated a portion of the valley. The place was all 
 overgrown with woods and thickets, so closely mat- 
 ted and entangled, that it was impossible to see ten 
 paces ahead, and the three associates in peril had 
 to crawl along, one after another, making their way 
 by putting the branches and vines aside ; but doing 
 it with caution, lest they should attract the eye of 
 some lurking marksman. They took the lead by 
 turns, each advancing about twenty yards at a time, 
 and now and then hallooing to their men to follow. 
 Some of the latter gradually entered the swamp, 
 and followed a little distance in their rear. 
 
 They had now reached a more open part of the 
 wood, and had glimpses of the rude fortress from 
 between the trees. It was a mere breastwork, as 
 we have said, of logs and branches, with blankets, 
 buffalo robes, and the leathern covers of lodges, 
 extended round the top as a screen. The move- 
 ments of the leaders, as they groped their way, had 
 been descried by the sharp-sighted enemy. As 
 Sinclair, who was in the advance, was putting some 
 branches aside, he was shot through the body. He 
 fell on the spot. " Take me to my brother," said he 
 to Campbell. The latter gave him in charge to some 
 of the men, who conveyed him out of the swamp. 
 
 Sublette now took the advance. As he was re- 
 connoitring the fort, he perceived an Indian peeping 
 through an aperture. In an instant his rifle was 
 levelled and discharged, and the ball struck the 
 savage in the eye. While he was reloading, he 
 called to Campbell, and pointed out to him the 
 hole ; " Watch that place," said he, " and you will 
 
CROSS FIRING. 
 
 83 
 
 soon have a fair chance for a shot." Scarce had 
 he uttered the words, when a ball struck him in the 
 shoulder, and almost wheeled him round. His first 
 thought was to take hold of his arm with his other 
 hand, and move it up and down. He ascertained, 
 to his satisfaction, that the bone was not broken. 
 The next moment he was so faint that he could not 
 stand. Campbell took him in his arms and carried 
 him out of the thicket. The same shot that struck 
 Sublette, wounded another man in the head. 
 
 A brisk fire was now opened by the mountaineers 
 from the wood, answered occasionally from the fort. 
 Unluckily, the trappers and their allies, in search- 
 ing for the fort, had got scattered, so that Captain 
 Wyeth, and a number of Nez Perces, approached 
 the fort on the northwest side, while others did the 
 same on the opposite quarter. A cross fire thus 
 took place, which occasionally did mischief to 
 friends as well as foes. An Indian was shot down, 
 close to Captain Wyeth, by a ball which, he was 
 convinced, had been sped from the rifle of a trapper 
 on the other side of the fort. 
 
 The number of whites and their Indian allies, had 
 by this time so much increased by arrivals from 
 the rendezvous, that the Blackfeet were completely 
 overmatched. They kept doggedly in their fort, 
 however, making no offer of surrender. An occa- 
 sional firing into the breastwork was kept up during 
 the day. Now and then, one of the Indian allies, 
 in bravado, would rush up to the fort, fire over the 
 ramparts, tear off a buffalo robe or a scarlet blanket, 
 and return with it in triumph to his comrades. Most 
 
84 
 
 AN INDIAN MENACE. 
 
 of the savage garrison that fell, however, were killed 
 in the first part of the attack. 
 
 At one time it was resolved to set fire to the fort; 
 and the squaws belonging to the allies, were em- 
 ployed to collect combustibles. This, however, was 
 abandoned; the Nez Perces being unwilling to 
 destroy the robes and blankets, and other spoils of 
 the enemy, which they felt sure would fall into their 
 hands. 
 
 The Indians, when fighting, are prone to taunt 
 and revile each other. During one of the pauses of 
 the battle, the voice of the Blackfeet chief was heard. 
 
 " So long," said he, " as we had powder and ball, 
 we fought you in the open field : when those were 
 spent, we retreated here to die with our women and 
 children. You may burn us in our fort ; but, stay 
 by our ashes, and you who are so hungry for fight- 
 ing, will soon have enough. There are four hun- 
 dred lodges of our brethren at hand. They will 
 soon be here — their arms are strong — their hearts 
 are big — they will avenge us !" 
 
 This speech was translated two or three times 
 by Nez Perce and Creole interpreters. By the 
 time it was rendered into English, the chief was 
 made to say, that four hundred lodges of his tribe 
 were attacking the encampment at the other end of 
 the valley. Every one now was for hurrying to 
 the defence of the rendezvous. A party was left 
 to keep watch upon the fort ; the rest galloped off 
 to the camp. As night came on, the trappers drew 
 out of the swamp, and remained about the skirts of 
 the wood. By morning, their companions returned 
 
KILLED AND WOUNDED. 
 
 from the rendezvous, with the report that all was 
 safe. As the day opened, they ventured within the 
 swamp and approached the fort. All was silent. 
 They advanced up to it without opposition. They 
 entered : it had been abandoned in the night, and 
 the Blackfeet had effected their retreat, carrying off 
 their wounded on litters made of branches, leaving 
 bloody traces on the herbage. The bodies of ten 
 Indians were found within the fort; among them 
 the one shot in the eye by Sublette. The Black- 
 feet afterwards reported that they had lost twenty- 
 six warriors in this battle. Thirty-two horses were 
 likewise found killed ; among them were some of 
 those recently carried off from Sublette's party, in 
 the night ; which showed that these were the very 
 savages that had attacked him. They proved to be 
 an advance party of the main body of Blackfeet ; 
 which had been upon the trail of Sublette's party. 
 Five white men and one half-breed were killed, and 
 several wounded. Seven of the Nez Perces were 
 also killed, and six wounded. They had an old 
 chief, who was reputed as invulnerable. In the 
 course of the action he was hit by a spent ball, and 
 threw up blood ; but his skin was unbroken. His 
 people were now fully convinced that he was proof 
 against powder and ball. 
 
 A striking circumstance is related as having oc- 
 curred, the morning after the battle. As some of 
 the trappers and their Indian allies were approach- 
 ing the fort, through the woods, they beheld an In- 
 dian woman, of noble form and features, leaning 
 against a tree. Their surprise at her lingering here 
 VOL. i. 8 
 
86 
 
 A FAITHFUL WIFE. 
 
 alone, to fall into the hands of her enemies, was 
 dispelled, when they saw the corpse of a warrior 
 at her feet. Either she was so lost in grief, as 
 not to perceive their approach ; or a proud spirit 
 kept her silent and motionless. The Indians sat up 
 a yell, on discovering her, and before the trappers 
 could interfere, her mangled body fell upon the 
 corpse which she had refused to abandon. We 
 have heard this anecdote discredited by one of the 
 leaders who had been in the battle : but the fact 
 may have taken place without his seeing it, and 
 been concealed from him. It is an instance of fe- 
 male devotion, even to the death, which we are well 
 disposed to believe and to record. 
 
 After the battle, the brigade of Milton Sublette, 
 together with the free trappers, and Captain Wyeth's 
 New-England band, remained some days at the 
 rendezvous, to see if the main body of Blackfeet 
 intended to make an attack ; nothing of the kind 
 occurring, they once more put themselves in motion, 
 and proceeded on their route towards the south- 
 west. 
 
 Captain Sublette having distributed his supplies, 
 had intended to set off on his return to St. Louis, 
 taking with him the peltries collected from the trap- 
 pers and Indians. His wound, however, obliged 
 him to postpone his departure. Several who were 
 to have accompanied him, became impatient of this 
 delay. Among these was a young Bostonian, Mr. 
 Joseph More, one of the followers of Captain Wyeth, 
 who had seen enough of mountain life and savage 
 warfare, and was eager to return to the abodes of 
 
AN AMBUSH. 
 
 87 
 
 civilization. He and six others, among whom were 
 a Mr. Foy, of Mississippi, Mr. Alfred K. Stephens, 
 of St. Louis, and two grandsons of the celebrated 
 Daniel Boon, set out together, in advance of Su- 
 blette's party, thinking they would make their own 
 way through the mountains. 
 
 It was just five days after the battle of the swamp, 
 that these seven companions were making their way 
 through Jackson's Hole, a valley not far from the 
 three Tetons, when, as they were descending a hill, 
 a party of Blackfeet that lay in ambush, started up 
 with terrific yells. The horse of the young Bos- 
 tonian, who was in front, wheeled round with af- 
 fright, and threw his unskilful rider. The young 
 man scrambled up the side of the hill, but, unac- 
 customed to such wild scenes, lost his presence of 
 mind, and stood, as if paralyzed, on the edge of a 
 bank, until the Blackfeet came up, and slew him on 
 the spot. His comrades had fled on the first alarm ; 
 but two of them, Foy and Stephens, seeing his dan- 
 ger, paused when they had got half way up the hill, 
 turned back, dismounted, and hastened to his assist- 
 ance. Foy was instantly killed. Stephens was 
 severely wounded, but escaped, to die five days 
 afterwards. The survivors returned to the camp 
 of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings of this new 
 disaster. That hardy leader, as soon as he could 
 bear the journey, set out on his return to St. Louis, 
 accompanied by Campbell. As they had a number 
 of pack horses richly laden with peltries to convey, 
 they chose a different route through the mountains, 
 out of the way, as they hoped, of the lurking bands 
 
88 
 
 sublette's caravan. 
 
 of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making the fron- 
 tier in safety. We remember to have seen them 
 with their band, about two or three months after- 
 wards, passing through a skirt of woodland in the 
 upper part of Missouri. Their long caravan stretched 
 in single file for nearly half a mile. Sublette still 
 wore his arm in a sling. The mountaineers in their 
 rude hunting dresses, armed with rifles, and roughly 
 mounted, and leading their pack horses down a hill 
 of the forest, looked like banditti returning with 
 plunder. On the top of some of the packs were 
 perched several half-breed children, perfect little 
 imps, with wild black eyes glaring from among elf 
 locks. These, I was told, were children of the 
 trappers : pledges of love from their squaw spouses 
 in the wilderness. 
 
RETREAT OF THE BLACKFEET. 89 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Retreat of the Blackfeet— Fontenelle's camp in danger,— Captain 
 Bonneville and the Blackfeet— Free trappers— their character, 
 habits, dress, equipments, horses— Game fellows of the mountains 
 — their visit to the camp — Good fellowship and good cheer — A 
 carouse — A swagger, a brawl, and a reconciliation. 
 
 The Blackfeet warriors^ when they effected their 
 midnight retreat from their wild fastness in Pierre's 
 Hole, fell back into the valley of the Seeds-ke-dee, 
 or Green river, where they joined the main body of 
 their band. The whole force amounted to several 
 hundred fighting men, gloomy and exasperated by 
 their late disaster. They had with them their wives 
 and children, which incapacitated them for any bold 
 and extensive enterprise of a warlike nature ; but 
 when, in the course of their wandering*, they came 
 in sight of Fontenelle's encampment, who had moved 
 some distance up Green river valley, in search of 
 the free trappers, they put up tremendous war-cries 
 and advanced fiercely, as if to attack it. Second 
 thoughts caused them to moderate their fury. They 
 recollected the severe lesson they had just received, 
 and they could not but remark the strength of Fon- 
 tenelle's position ; who had pitched his camp with 
 great judgment. 
 
 A formal talk ensued. The Blackfeet said no- 
 
 8* 
 
90 
 
 BLACKFEET VISITERS*. 
 
 thing of the late battle, of which Fontenelle had as 
 yet received no accounts ; the latter, however, knew 
 the hostile and perfidious nature of these savages, 
 and took care to inform them of the encampment 
 of Captain Bonneville, that they might know there 
 were more white men in the neighborhood. 
 
 The conference ended, Fontenelle sent a Dela- 
 ware Indian of his party to conduct fifteen of the 
 Blackfeet to the camp of Captain Bonneville. 
 There was at that time two Crow Indians in the 
 captain's camp, who had recently arrived there. 
 They looked with dismay at this deputation from 
 their implacable enemies, and gave the captain a 
 terrible character of them, assuring him that the 
 best thing he could possibly do, was to put those 
 Blackfeet deputies to death on the spot. The 
 captain, however, who had heard nothing of the 
 conflict at Pierre's Hole, declined all compliance 
 with this sage counsel. He treated the grim war- 
 riors with his usual urbanity. They passed some 
 little time at the camp ; saw, no doubt, that every 
 thing was conducted with military skill and vigil- 
 ance ; and that such an enemy was not to be easily 
 surprised, nor to be molested with impunity, and 
 then departed, to report all that they had seen to 
 their comrades. 
 
 The two scouts which Captain Bonneville had 
 sent out to seek for the band of free trappers, ex- 
 pected by Fontenelle, and to invite them to his 
 camp, had been successful in their search, and on 
 the 12th of August, those worthies made their 
 appearance. 
 
HIRED AND FREE TRAPPERS. 91 
 
 To explain the meaning of the appellation, free 
 trapper, it is necessary to state the terms on which 
 the men enlist in the service of the fur companies. 
 Some have regular wages, and are furnished with 
 weapons, horses, traps, and other requisites. These 
 are under command, and bound to do every duty re- 
 quired of them connected with the service ; such as 
 hunting, trapping, loading and unloading the horses, 
 mounting guard ; and, in short, all the drudgery of 
 the camp. These are the hired trappers. 
 
 The free trappers are a more independent class ; 
 and in describing them, we shall do little more than 
 transcribe the graphic description of them by Cap- 
 tain Bonneville. " They come and go," says he, 
 /" when and where they please ; provide their own 
 horses, arms, and other equipments ; trap and trade 
 on their own account, and dispose of their skins 
 and peltries to the highest bidder. Sometimes in a 
 dangerous hunting ground, they attach themselves 
 to the camp of some trader for protection. Here 
 they come under some restrictions ; they have to 
 conform to the ordinary rules for trapping, and to 
 submit to such restraints, and to take part in such 
 general duties, as are established for the good order 
 and safety of the camp. In return for this pro- 
 tection, and for their camp keeping, they are bound 
 to dispose of all the beaver they take, to the trader 
 who commands the camp, at a certain rate per skin ; 
 or, should they prefer seeking a market elsewhere, 
 they are to make him an allowance, of from thirty 
 to forty dollars for the whole hunt." 
 
 There is an inferior order, who, either from pru- 
 
92 
 
 SKIN TRAPPERS. 
 
 dence or poverty, come to these dangerous hunting 
 grounds without horses or accoutrements, and are 
 furnished by the traders. These, like the hired 
 trappers, are bound to exert themselves to the 
 utmost in taking beavers, which, without skinning, 
 they render in at the trader's lodge, where a stipu- 
 lated price for each is placed to their credit. These, 
 though generally included in the generic name of 
 free trappers, have the more specific title of skin 
 trappers. 
 
 The wandering whites who mingle for any length 
 of time with the savages, have invariably a prone- 
 ness to adopt savage habitudes ; but none more so 
 than the free trappers. It is a matter of vanity and 
 ambition with them to discard every thing that may 
 bear the stamp of civilized life, and to adopt the 
 manners, habits, dress, gesture, and even walk of 
 the Indian. You cannot pay a free trapper a greater 
 compliment, than to persuade him you have mis- 
 taken him for an Indian brave ; and, in truth, the 
 counterfeit is complete. His hair, suffered to attain 
 to a great length, is carefully combed out, and either 
 left to fall carelessly over his shoulders, or plaited 
 neatly and tied up in otter skins, or parti-colored 
 ribands. A hunting shirt of ruffled calico of bright 
 dyes, or of ornamented leather, falls to his knee ; 
 below which, curiously fashioned leggins, orna- 
 mented with strings, fringes, and a profusion of 
 hawks' bells, reach to a costly pair of moccasins of 
 the finest Indian fabric, richly embroidered with 
 beads. A blanket of scarlet, or some other bright 
 color, hangs from his shoulders, and is girt round 
 
THE FREE TRAPPER'S HORSE. 93 
 
 his waist with a red sash, in which he bestows his 
 pistols, knife, and the stem of his Indian pipe ; pre- 
 parations either for peace or war. His gun is 
 lavishly decorated with brass tacks and vermilion, 
 and provided with a fringed cover, occasionally of 
 buckskin, ornamented here and there with a feather. 
 His horse, the noble minister to the pride, pleasure, 
 and profit of the mountaineer, is selected for his 
 speed and spirit, and prancing carriage, and holds a 
 place in his estimation second only to himself. He 
 shares largely of his bounty, and of his pride and 
 pomp of trapping. He is caparisoned in the most 
 dashing and fantastic style ; the bridles and crupper 
 are weightily embossed with beads and cockades ; 
 and head, mane, and tail, are interwoven with abun- 
 dance of eagles' plumes, which flutter in the wind. 
 To complete this grotesque equipment, the proud 
 animal is bestreaked and bespotted with vermilion, 
 or with white clay, whichever presents the most 
 glaring contrast to his real color. 
 
 Such is the account given by Captain Bonneville 
 of these rangers of the wilderness, and their appear- 
 ance at the camp was strikingly characteristic. 
 They came dashing forward at full speed, firing 
 their fusees, and yelling in Indian style. Their 
 dark sunburnt faces, and long flowing hair, their 
 leggins, flaps, moccasins, and richly dyed blank- 
 ets, and their painted horses gaudily caparisoned, 
 gave them so much the air and appearance of In- 
 dians, that it was difficult to persuade oneself that 
 they were white men, and had been brought up in 
 civilized life. 
 
94 VISIT OF THE FREE TRAPPERS. 
 
 Captain Bonneville was delighted with the game 
 look of these cavaliers of the mountains, welcomed 
 them heartily to his camp, and ordered a free allow- 
 ance of grog to regale them, which soon put them 
 in the most braggart spirits. They pronounced the 
 captain the finest fellow in the world, and his men 
 all bons gargons, jovial lads, and swore they would 
 pass the day with them. They did so ; and a day it 
 was, of boast, and swagger, and rodomontado. The 
 prime bullies and braves among the free trappers 
 had each his circle of novices, from among the 
 captain's band; mere greenhorns, men unused to 
 Indian life ; mangeurs de lard, or pork eaters ; as 
 such new comers are superciliously called by the 
 veterans of the wilderness. These he would asto- 
 nish and delight by the hour, with prodigious tales 
 of his doings among the Indians; and of the wonders 
 he had seen, and the wonders he had performed, 
 in his adventurous peregrinations among the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 In the evening, the free trappers drew off, and 
 returned to the camp of Fontenelle, highly delighted 
 with their visit and with their new acquaintances, 
 and promising to return the following day. They 
 kept their word : day after day their visits were 
 repeated ; they became " hail fellow well met" with 
 Captain Bonneville's men; treat after treat suc- 
 ceeded, until both parties got most potently con- 
 vinced, or rather confounded by liquor. Now came 
 on confusion and uproar. The free trappers were 
 no longer suffered to have all the swagger to them- 
 selves. The camp bullies and prime trappers of 
 
A FROLIC AND A FIGHT. 95 
 
 the party began to ruffle up, and to brag, in turn, of 
 their perils and achievements. Each now tried to 
 out-boast and out-talk each other ; a quarrel ensued 
 as a matter of course, and a general fight, according 
 to frontier usage. The two factions drew out their 
 forces for a pitched battle. They fell to work and 
 belabored each other with might and main ; kicks 
 and cuffs and dry blows were as well bestowed as 
 they were well merited, until, having fought to their 
 hearts' content, and been drubbed into a familiar 
 acquaintance with each other's prowess and good 
 qualities, they ended the fight by becoming firmer 
 friends than they could have been rendered by a 
 year's peaceable companionship. 
 
 While Captain Bonneville amused himself by 
 observing the habits and characteristics of this sin- 
 gular class of men ; and indulged them, for the 
 time, in all their vagaries, he profited by the oppor- 
 tunity to collect from them information concerning 
 the different parts of the country, about which they 
 had been accustomed to range : the characters of 
 the tribes, and, in short, every thing important to 
 his enterprise. He also succeeded in securing the 
 services of several to guide and aid him in his pere- 
 grinations among the mountains, and to trap for him 
 during the ensuing season. Having strengthened 
 his party with such valuable recruits, he felt in 
 some measure consoled for the loss of the Delaware 
 Indians, decoyed from him by Mr. Fontenelle. 
 
96 
 
 SALMON RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Plans for the winter— Salmon river — Abundance of salmon west 
 of the mountains — New arrangements — Caches — Ceng's detach- 
 ment — Movements in Fontenelle's camp — Departure of the 
 Blackfeet — their fortunes — Wind mountain streams — Buckeye, 
 the Delaware hunter, and the grizzly bear — Bones of murdered 
 travellers — Visit to Pierre's Hole — Traces of the battle — Nez 
 Perce" Indians — Arrival at Salmon river. 
 
 The information derived from the free trappers, 
 determined Captain Bonneville as to his further 
 movements. He learnt that in the Green river 
 valley the winters were severe, the snow frequently 
 falling to the depth of several feet ; and that there 
 was no good wintering ground in the neighborhood. 
 The upper part of the Salmon river was represented 
 as far more eligible, beside being in an excellent 
 beaver country ; and thither the captain resolved to 
 bend his course-. 
 
 The Salmon river is one of the upper branches 
 of the Oregon or Columbia ; and takes its rise from 
 various sources, among a group of mountains to the 
 northwest of the Wind river chain. It takes its 
 name from the immense shoals of salmon which 
 ascend it in the months of September and Octo- 
 ber. The salmon on the west* side of the Rocky 
 mountains, are, like the buffalo on the eastern plains, 
 
MIGRATIONS OF THE SALMON. 97 
 
 vast migratory supplies for the wants of man, that 
 come and go with the seasons. As the buffalo in 
 countless throngs find their certain way with the 
 transient pasturage on the prairies, along the fresh 
 banks of the rivers, and up every valley and green 
 defile of the mountains, so the salmon at their al- 
 lotted seasons, regulated by a sublime and all-seeing 
 Providence, swarm in myriads up the great rivers, 
 and find their way up their main branches, and into 
 the minutest tributary streams ; ) so as to pervade 
 the great arid plains, and to penetrate even among 
 barren mountains. Thus wandering tribes are fed 
 in the desert places of the wilderness, where there 
 is no herbage for the animals of the chase, and 
 where, but for these periodical supplies, it would 
 be impossible for man to subsist. 
 
 The rapid currents of the rivers that run into the 
 Pacific, render the ascent of them very exhausting 
 to the salmon. When the fish first run up the 
 rivers, they are fat and in fine order. The struggle 
 against impetuous streams and frequent rapids, 
 gradually renders them thin and weak, and great 
 numbers are seen floating down the rivers on their 
 backs. As the season advances and the water be- 
 comes chilled, they are flung in myriads on the 
 shores, where the wolves and bears assemble to 
 banquet on them. Often they rot in such quanti- 
 ties along the river banks, as to taint the atmosphere. 
 They are commonly from two to three feet long. 
 
 Captain Bonneville now made his arrangements 
 for the autumn and the winter. The nature of the 
 country through which he was about to travel, ren- 
 voi,, i. 9 
 
98 MATTHIELf's BRIGABE OF TRAPPERS. 
 
 dered it impossible to proceed with waggons. He 
 had more goods and supplies of various kinds, also, 
 than were required for present purposes, or than 
 could be conveniently transported on horseback; 
 aided, therefore, by a few confidential men, he 
 made caches, or secret pits, during the night, when 
 all the rest of the camp were asleep, and in these 
 deposited the superfluous effects, together with the 
 waggons. All traces of the caches were then 
 carefully obliterated. This is a common expedient 
 with the traders and trappers of the mountains. 
 Having no established posts and magazines, they 
 make these caches or deposits at certain points, 
 whither they repair, occasionally, for supplies. It 
 is an expedient derived from the wandering tribes 
 of Indians. 
 
 Many of the horses were still so weak and lame, 
 as to be unfit for a long scramble through the 
 mountains. These were collected into one caval- 
 cade, and given in charge to an experienced trapper, 
 of the name of Matthieu. He was to proceed 
 westward, with a brigade of trappers, to Bear river; 
 a stream to the west of the Green river or Colorado, 
 where there was good pasturage for the horses. In 
 this neighborhood it was expected he would meet 
 the Shoshonie villages or bands,* on their yearly 
 
 * A village of Indians, in trappers' language, does not always 
 imply a fixed community ; but often a wandering horde or band. 
 The Shoshonies, like most of the mountain tribes, have no settled 
 residences ; but are a nomadic people, dwelling in tents or lodges, 
 and shifting their encampments from place to place, according as 
 fish and game abound. 
 
RIVAL LEADERS OF THE FUR COMPANIES. 99 
 
 migrations, with whom he was to trade for peltries 
 and provisions. After he had traded with these 
 people, finished his trapping, and recruited the 
 strength of the horses, he was to proceed to Salmon 
 river and rejoin Captain Bonneville, who intended 
 to fix his quarters there for the winter. 
 
 While these arrangements were in progress in 
 the camp of Captain Bonneville, there was a sudden 
 bustle and stir in the camp of Fontenelle. One of 
 the partners of the American Fur Company had 
 arrived, in all haste, from the rendezvous at Pierre's 
 Hole, in quest of the supplies. The competition 
 between the two rival companies was just now at 
 its height, and prosecuted with unusual zeal. The 
 tramontane concerns of the Rocky Mountain Fur 
 Company were managed by two resident partners, 
 Fitzpatrick and Bridger ; those of the American 
 Fur Company, by Vanderburgh and Dripps. The 
 latter were ignorant of the mountain regions, but 
 trusted to make up by vigilance and activity for 
 their want of knowledge of the country. 
 
 Fitzpatrick, an experienced trader and trapper, 
 knew the evils of competition in the same hunting- 
 grounds, and had proposed that the two companies 
 should divide the country, so as to hunt in different, 
 directions : this proposition being rejected, he had 
 exerted himself to get first into the field. His 
 exertions, as has already been shown, were effectual. 
 The early arrival of Sublette, with supplies, had 
 enabled the various brigades of the Rocky Mountain 
 Company to start off to their respective hunting- 
 grounds. Fitzpatrick himself, with his associate, 
 
100 MOVEMENTS OF THE BLACKFEET. 
 
 Bridger, had pushed off with a strong party of 
 trappers, for a prime beaver country to the north- 
 northwest. 
 
 This had put Vanderburgh upon his mettle. He 
 had hastened on to meet Fontenelle. Finding him 
 at his camp in Green river valley, he immediately 
 furnished himself with the supplies ; put himself at 
 the head of the free trappers and Delawares, and 
 set off with all speed, determined to follow hard 
 upon the heels of Fitzpatrick and Bridger. Of the 
 adventures of these parties among the mountains, 
 and the disastrous effects of their competition, we 
 shall have occasion to treat in a future chapter. 
 
 Fontenelle, having now delivered his supplies and 
 accomplished his errand, struck his tents and set off 
 on his return to the Yellowstone. Captain Bonne- 
 ville and his band, therefore, remained alone in the 
 Green river valley ; and their situation might have 
 been perilous, had the Blackfeet band still lingered 
 in the vicinity. Those marauders, however, had 
 been dismayed at finding so many resolute and well- 
 appointed parties of white men in this neighborhood. 
 They had, therefore, abandoned this part of the 
 country, passing over the head waters of the Green 
 river, and bending their course toward the Yellow- 
 stone. Misfortune pursued them. Their route lay 
 through the country of their deadly enemies, the 
 Crows. In the Wind river valley, which lies east 
 of the mountains, they were encountered by a 
 powerful war party of that tribe, and completely 
 put to rout. Forty of them were killed, many of 
 their women and children captured, and the scattered 
 
DECAMPMENT MOUNTAIN STREAMS. 101 
 
 fugitives hunted like wild beasts, until they were 
 completely chased out of the Crow country. 
 
 On the 22d of August Captain Bonneville broke 
 up his camp, and set out on his route for Salmon 
 river. His baggage was arranged in packs, three 
 to a mule, or packhorse ; one being disposed on each 
 side of the animal, and one on the top ; the three 
 forming a load of from one hundred and eighty to two 
 hundred and twenty pounds. This is the trappers' 
 style of loading their packhorses ; his men, however, 
 were inexpert at adjusting the packs ; which were 
 prone to get loose and slip off; sorthat it was ne- 
 cessary to keep a rear guard, to assist in reloading. 
 A few days' experience, however, brought them into 
 proper training. 
 
 Their march lay up the valley of the Seeds-ke- 
 dee, overlooked to the right by the lofty peaks of the 
 Wind river 'mountains. From bright little lakes 
 and fountain heads of this remarkable bed of moun- 
 tains, poured forth the tributary streams of the 
 Seeds-ke-dee. Some came rushing down gullies 
 and ravines ; others tumbling in crystal cascades 
 from inaccessible clefts and rocks, winding their 
 way in rapid and pellucid currents across the valley, 
 to throw themselves into the main river. So trans- 
 parent were these waters, that the trout, with.which 
 they abounded, could be seen gliding about as if in 
 the air ; and their pebbly beds were distinctly visi- 
 ble at the depth of many feet. This beautiful and 
 diaphanous quality of the Rocky mountain streams, 
 prevails for a long time after they have mingled 
 their waters and swollen into important rivers. 
 
 9* 
 
102 
 
 BUCKEYE AND THE BEARS. 
 
 Issuing forth from the upper pari of the valley, 
 Captain Bonneville continued to the east-northeast, 
 across rough and lofty ridges, and deep rocky de- 
 files, extremely fatiguing both to man and horse. 
 Among his hunters was a Delaware Indian who had 
 remained faithful to him. His name was Buckeye. 
 He had often prided himself on his skill and success 
 in coping with the grizzly bear, that terror of the 
 hunters. Though crippled in the left arm, he de- 
 clared he had no hesitation to close with a wounded 
 bear, and attack him with a sword. If armed with 
 a rifle, he was willing to brave the animal when in 
 full force and fury. He had twice an opportunity 
 of proving his prowess, in the course of this moun- 
 tain journey, and was each time successful. His 
 mode was to seat himself upon the ground, with 
 his rifle cocked and resting on his lame arm. Thus 
 prepared, he would await the approach of the bear 
 with perfect coolness, nor pull trigger until he was 
 close at hand. In each instance, he laid the mon- 
 ster dead upon the spot. 
 
 A march of three or four days, through savage 
 and lonely scenes, brought Captain Bonneville to 
 the fatal defile of Jackson's Hole, where poor More 
 and Foy had been surprised and murdered by the 
 Blackfeet. The feelings of the Captain were 
 shocked at beholding the bones of these unfortunate 
 young men bleaching among the rocks ; and he 
 caused them to be decently interred. 
 
 On the 3d of September he arrived on the sum- 
 mit of a mountain which commanded a full view 
 of the eventful valley of Pierre's Hole. From hence 
 
THE BATTLE GROUND OF PIERRE'S HOLE. 103 
 
 he could trace the winding of its streams through 
 green meadows, and forests of willow and cotton- 
 wood : and had a prospect, between distant moun- 
 tains, of the lava plains of Snake river, dimly spread 
 forth like a sleeping ocean below. 
 
 After enjoying this magnificent prospect, he de- 
 scended into the valley, and visited the scenes of 
 the late desperate conflict. There were the remains 
 of the rude fortress in the swamp, shattered by rifle 
 shot, and strewed with the mingled bones of sav- 
 ages and horses. There was the late populous and 
 noisy rendezvous, with the traces of trappers' camps 
 and Indian lodges ; but their fires were extinguished, 
 the motley assemblage of trappers and hunters, 
 white traders and Indian braves, had all dispersed 
 to different points of the wilderness, and the valley 
 had relapsed into its pristine solitude and silence. 
 
 That night the captain encamped upon the battle 
 ground ; the next day, he resumed his toilsome 
 peregrinations through the mountains. For up- 
 wards of two weeks he continued his painful march ; 
 both men and horses suffering excessively at times 
 from hunger and thirst. At length, on the 19th of 
 September, he reached the upper waters of Salmon 
 river. 
 
 The weather was cold, and there were symptoms 
 of an impending storm. The night set in, but 
 Buckeye, the Delaware Indian, was missing. He 
 had left the party early in the morning, to hunt by 
 himself, according to his custom. Fears were en- 
 tertained, lest he should lose his way, and become 
 bewildered in tempestuous weather. These fears 
 
104 AN INDIAN HUNTING PARTY. 
 
 increased on the following morning, when a violent 
 snow storm came on, which soon covered the earth 
 to the depth of several inches. Captain Bonneville 
 immediately encamped, and sent out scouts in every 
 direction. After some search, Buckeye was dis- 
 covered, quietly seated, at a considerable distance 
 in the rear, waiting the expected approach of the 
 party, not knowing that they had passed, the snow 
 having covered their trail. 
 
 On the ensuing morning, they resumed their 
 march at an early hour, but had not proceeded far, 
 when the hunters, who were beating up the country 
 in the advance, came galloping back, making sig- 
 nals to encamp, and crying Indians ! Indians ! 
 
 Captain Bonneville immediately struck into a 
 skirt of wood and prepared for action. The sav- 
 ages were now seen trooping over the hills in great 
 numbers. One of them left the main body and 
 came forward singly, making signals of peace. He 
 announced them as a band of Nez Percys* or 
 Pierced-nose Indians, friendly to the whites, where- 
 upon, an invitation was returned by Captain Bonne- 
 ville, for them to come' and encamp with him. 
 They halted for a short time to make their toilette, 
 an operation as important with an Indian warrior, 
 as with a fashionable beauty. This done, they ar- 
 ranged themselves in martial style, the chiefs lead- 
 ing the van, the braves following in a long line, 
 
 * We should observe that this tribe is universally called by its 
 French name, which is pronounced by the trappers, Nepercy. 
 There are two main branches of this tribe, the upper Nepercys and 
 the lower Nepercys, as we shall show hereafter. 
 
DETACHMENT OF CERRE. 
 
 105 
 
 painted and decorated, and topped off with flutter- 
 ing plumes. In this way they advanced, shouting 
 and singing, firing off jheir fusees, and clashing 
 their shields. The two parties encamped hard by 
 each other. The Nez Percys were on a hunting 
 expedition, but had been almost famished on their 
 march. They had no provisions left but a few 
 dried salmon, yet finding the white men equally in 
 want, they generously offered to share even this 
 meagre pittance, and frequently repeated the offer, 
 with an earnestness that left no doubt of their sin- 
 cerity. Their generosity won the heart of Captain 
 Bonneville, and produced the most cordial good 
 will on the part of his men. For two days that 
 the parties remained in company, the most amica- 
 ble intercourse prevailed, and they parted the best 
 of friends. Captain Bonneville detached a few 
 men, under Mr. Cerre", an able leader, to accom- 
 pany the Nez Perce's on their hunting expedition, 
 and to trade with them for meat for the winter's 
 supply. After this, he proceeded down the river, 
 about five miles below the forks, when he came to 
 a halt on the 26th of September, to establish his 
 winter quarters. 
 
106 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WINTER. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Horses turned loose— Preparations for winter quarters— Hungry 
 times— Nez Percys, their honesty, piety, pacific habits, religious 
 ceremonies— Captain Bonneville's conversations with them — 
 Their love of gambling. 
 
 It was a gratifying thing to Captain Bonneville, 
 after so long and toilsome a course of travel, to 
 relieve his poor jaded horses of the burdens under 
 which they were almost ready to give out, and to 
 behold them rolling upon the green grass, and 
 taking a long repose after all their sufferings. In- 
 deed, so exhausted were they, that those employed 
 under the saddle were no longer capable of hunting 
 for the daily subsistence of the camp. 
 
 All hands now set to work to prepare a winter 
 cantonment. A temporary fortification was thrown 
 up for the protection of the party ; a secure and 
 comfortable pen, into which the horses could be 
 driven at night ; and huts were built for the recep- 
 tion of the merchandise. 
 
 This done, Captain Bonneville made a distribu- 
 tion of his forces : twenty men were to remain with 
 him in garrison to protect the property; the rest 
 were organized into three brigades, and sent off in 
 different directions, to subsist themselves by hunt- 
 
HUNGER IN THE CAMP. 
 
 107 
 
 ing the buffalo, until " the snow should become too 
 deep. 
 
 Indeed, it would have been impossible to provide 
 for the whole party in this neighborhood. It was 
 at the extreme western limit of the buffalo range, 
 and these animals had recently been completely 
 hunted out of the neighborhood by the Nez Perces, 
 so that, although the hunters of the garrison were 
 continually on the alert, ranging the country round, 
 they brought in scarce game sufficient to keep 
 famine from the door. Now and then there was a 
 scanty meal of fish or wild fowl, occasionally an 
 antelope ; but frequently the cravings of hunger had 
 to be appeased with roots, or the flesh of wolves 
 and muskrats. Rarely could the inmates of the 
 cantonment boast of having made a full meal, and 
 never of having wherewithal for the morrow. In 
 this way they starved along until the 8th of October, 
 when they were joined by a party of five families 
 of Nez Perces, who in some measure reconciled 
 them to the hardships of their situation, by exhibit- 
 ing a lot still more destitute. A more forlorn set 
 they had never encountered : they had not a morsel 
 of meat or fish; nor any thing to subsist on, except- 
 ing roots, wild rosebuds, the barks of certain plants, 
 and other vegetable productions ; neither had they 
 z/y weapon for hunting or defence, excepting an 
 oia spear : yet the poor fellows made no murmur 
 nor complaint ; but seemed accustomed to their 
 hard fare. If they could not teach the white men 
 their practical stoicism, they at least made them 
 acquainted with the edible properties of roots and 
 
108 PIOUS SCRUPLES OF SAVAGES. 
 
 wild rosebuds, and furnished them a supply from 
 their own store. The necessities of the camp at 
 length became so urgent, that Captain Bonneville 
 determined to despatch a party to the Horse prairie > 
 a plain to the north of his cantonment, to procure a 
 supply of provisions. When the men were about 
 to depart, he proposed to the Nez Perces that they, 
 or some of them, should join the hunting party. To 
 his surprise, they promptly declined. He inquired 
 the reason for their refusal, seeing that they were in 
 nearly as starving a situation as his own people. 
 They replied that it was a sacred day with them, 
 and the Great Spirit would be angry should they 
 devote it to hunting. They offered, however, to 
 accompany the party if it would delay its departure 
 until the following day ; but this the pinching de- 
 mands of hunger would not permit, and the detach- 
 ment proceeded. 
 
 A few days afterwards, four of them signified to 
 Captain Bonneville that they were about to hunt. 
 " What !" exclaimed he, " without guns or arrows ; 
 and with only one old spear ? What do you expect 
 to kill ?" They smiled among themselves, but made 
 no answer. They prepared for the chase with a 
 natural piety that seems to have been edifying to 
 the beholders. They performed some religious 
 rites, and offered up to the Great Spirit a few short 
 prayers for safety and success ; then, having re- 
 ceived the blessings of their wives, they leaped 
 upon their horses and departed, leaving the whole 
 party of Christian spectators amazed and rebuked 
 by this lesson of faith and dependance on a supreme 
 
PIETY OF THE NEZ PERCES. 
 
 109 
 
 and. benevolent Being. " Accustomed," adds Cap- 
 tain Bonneville, " as I had heretofore been, to find 
 the wretched Indian revelling in blood, and stained 
 by every vice which can degrade human nature, I 
 could scarcely realize the scene which I had wit- 
 nessed. Wonder at such unaffected tenderness and 
 piety, where it was least to have been sought, con- 
 tended in all our bosoms with shame and confusion, 
 at receiving such pure and wholesome instructions 
 from creatures so far below us in all the arts and 
 comforts of life." The simple prayers of the poor 
 Indians were not unheard. In the course of four or 
 five days they returned, laden with meat. Captain 
 Bonneville was curious to know how they had 
 attained such success with such scanty means. 
 They gave him to understand that they had chased 
 the herds of buffalo at full speed, until they tired 
 them down, when they easily despatched them with 
 the spear, and made use of the same weapon to flay 
 the carcasses. To carry through their lesson to 
 their Christian friends, the poor savages were as 
 charitable as they had been pious, and generously 
 shared with them the spoils of their hunting : giving 
 them food enough to last for several days. 
 
 A further and more intimate intercourse with this 
 tribe, gave Captain Bonneville still greater cause 
 to admire their strong devotional feeling. " Simply 
 to call these people religious," says he, " would 
 convey but a faint idea of the deep hue of piety 
 and devotion which pervades their whole conduct. 
 Their honesty is immaculate, and their purity of 
 
 purpose, and their observance of the rites of their 
 vol. i. 10 
 
110 PIETY OF THE NEZ PERCES. 
 
 religion, are most uniform and remarkable. They 
 are, certainly, more like a nation of saints than a 
 horde of savages." 
 
 In fact, the antibelligerant policy of this tribe, 
 may have sprung from the doctrines of Christian 
 charity, for it would appear that they had imbibed 
 some notions of the Christian faith from Catholic 
 missionaries and traders who had been among them. 
 They even had a rude calendar of the fasts and 
 festivals of the Romish Church, and some traces 
 of its ceremonials. These have become blended 
 with their own wild rites, and present a strange 
 medley ; civilized and barbarous. On the Sab- 
 bath, men, women and children array themselves 
 in their best style, and assemble round a pole 
 erected at the head of the camp. Here they go 
 through a wild fantastic ceremonial ; strongly 
 resembling the religious dance of the Shaking 
 Quakers ; but from its enthusiasm, much more 
 striking and impressive. During the intervals of 
 the ceremony, .the principal chiefs, who officiate as 
 priests, instruct them in their duties, and exhort 
 them to virtue and good deeds. 
 
 " There is something antique and patriarchal," 
 observes Captain Bonneville, " in this union of the 
 offices of leader and priest ; as there is in many of 
 their customs and manners, which are all strongly 
 imbued with religion." 
 
 The worthy captain, indeed, appears to have been 
 strongly interested by this gleam of unlooked for 
 light amidst the darkness of the wilderness. He 
 exerted himself, during his sojourn among this sim- 
 
PIETY OF THE NEZ PERCES. 
 
 Ill 
 
 pie and welldisposed people, to inculcate, as far as 
 he was able, the gentle and humanizing precepts of 
 the Christian faith, and to make them acquainted 
 with the leading points of its history; and it speaks 
 highly for the purity and benignity of his heart, that 
 he derived unmixed happiness from the task. 
 
 " Many a time," says he, " was my little lodge 
 thronged, or rather piled with hearers, for they lay 
 on the ground, one leaning over the other, until 
 there was no further room, all listening with greedy 
 ears to the wonders which the Great Spirit had 
 revealed to the white man. No other subject gave 
 them half the satisfaction, or commanded half the 
 attention ; and but few scenes in my life remain 
 so freshly on my memory, or are so pleasurably re- 
 called to my contemplation > as these hours of inter- 
 course with a distant and benighted race in the midst 
 of the desert." 
 
 The only excesses indulged in by this temperate 
 and exemplary people, appear to be gambling and 
 horseracing. In these they engage with an eager- 
 ness that amounts to infatuation. Knots of gamblers 
 will assemble before one of their lodge fires, early 
 in the evening, and remain absorbed in the chances 
 and changes of the game until long after dawn of 
 the following day. As the night advances, they 
 wax warmer and warmer. Bets increase in amount, 
 one loss only serves to lead to a greater, until in the 
 course of a single night's gambling, the richest chief 
 becomes the poorest varlet in the camp. 
 
112 
 
 ALARM OF BLACKFEET. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Blackfeet in the Horse prairie — Search after the hunters — Difficul- 
 ties and dangers — A card party in the wilderness — The card 
 party interrupted — " Old Sledge" a losing game — Visiters to the 
 camp — Iroquois hunters — Hanging-eared Indians. 
 
 On the 12th of October, two young Indians of the 
 Nez Perce tribe arrived at Captain Bonneville's 
 encampment. They were on their way homeward, 
 but had been obliged to swerve from their ordinary 
 route through the mountains, by deep snows. Their 
 new route took them through the Horse prairie 
 Tn traversing it, they had been attracted by the dis- 
 tant smoke of a camp fire, and, on stealing near to 
 reconnoitre, had discovered a war party of Black- 
 feet. They had several horses with them ; and, as 
 they generally go on foot on warlike excursions, it 
 was concluded that these horses had been captured 
 in the course of their maraudings. 
 
 This intelligence awakened solicitude on the 
 mind of Captain Bonneville, for the party of hunt- 
 ers whom he had sent to that neighborhood ; and 
 the Nez Perces, when informed of the circum- 
 stance, shook their heads, and declared their belief 
 that the horses they had seen had been stolen from 
 that very party. 
 
SCOUTING PARTY. 
 
 113 
 
 Anxious for information on the subject, Captain 
 Bonneville despatched two hunters to beat up the 
 country in that direction. They searched in vain ; 
 not a trace of the men could be found; but they 
 got into a region destitute of game, where they 
 were wellnigh famished. At one time, they were 
 three entire days without a mouthful of food; at 
 length they beheld a buffalo grazing at the foot of a 
 mountain. After manoeuvring so as to get within 
 shot, they fired, but merely wounded him. He 
 took to flight, and they followed him over hill and 
 dale, with the eagerness and perseverance of starv- 
 ing men. A more lucky shot brought him to the 
 ground. Stanfield sprang upon him, plunged his 
 knife into his throat, and allayed his raging* hunger 
 by drinking his blood. A fire was instantly kin- 
 dled beside the carcass, when the two hunters 
 cooked, and ate again and again, until, perfectly 
 gorged, they sank to sleep before their hunting fire. 
 On the following morning they rose early, made 
 another hearty meal, then loading themselves with 
 buffalo meat, set out on their return to the camp, to 
 report the fruitlessness of their mission. 
 
 At length, after six weeks' absence, the hunters 
 made their appearance, and were received with joy, 
 proportioned to the anxiety that had been felt on 
 their account. They had hunted with success on 
 the prairie, but, while busy drying buffalo meat, 
 they were joined by a few panic-stricken Flatheads, 
 who informed them that a powerful band of Black- 
 feet were at hand. The hunters immediately aban- 
 doned the dangerous hunting ground, and accom- 
 
 10* 
 
114 A CARD PARTY INTERRUPTED. 
 
 parried the Flalheads to their village. Here they 
 found Mr. Cerre, and the detachment of hunters 
 sent with him to accompany the hunting party of 
 the Nez Perces. 
 
 After remaining some time at the village, until 
 they supposed the Blackfeet to have left the neigh- 
 borhood, they set off with some of Mr. Cerre's men, 
 for the cantonment at Salmon river, where they 
 arrived without accident. They informed Captain 
 Bonneville, however, that not far from his quarters, 
 they had found a wallet of fresh meat and a cord, 
 which they supposed had been left by some prowl- 
 ing Blackfeet. A few days afterwards, Mr. Cerre, 
 with the remainder of his men, likewise arrived at 
 the cantonment. 
 
 Mr. Walker, one of the subleaders, who had v 
 gone with a band of twenty hunters, to range the 
 country just beyond the Horse prairie, had, like- 
 wise, his share of adventures with the all pervading 
 Blackfeet. At one of his encampments, the guard 
 stationed to keep watch round the camp, grew 
 weary of their duty, and feeling a little too secure, 
 anp! too much at home on these prairies, retired to 
 a small grove of willows, to amuse themselves with 
 a social game of cards, called " old sledge," which 
 is as popular among these trampers of the prairies, 
 as whist or ecarte among the polite circles of the 
 cities. From the midst of their sport, they were 
 suddenly aroused by a discharge of fire-arms, and 
 a shrill war-whoop. Starting on their feet, and 
 snatching up their rifles, they beheld in dismay 
 their horses and mules already in possession of the 
 
OLD SLEDGE A LOSING GAME. 
 
 115 
 
 enemy, who had stolen upon the camp unperceived, 
 while they were spell-bound by the magic of old 
 sledge. The Indians sprang upon the animals 
 barebacked, and endeavored to urge them off, under 
 a galling fire, that did some execution. The mules, 
 however, confounded by the hurly-burly, and dis- 
 liking their new riders, kicked up their heels and 
 dismounted half of them, in spite of their horse- 
 manship. This threw the rest into confusion, they 
 endeavored to protect their unhorsed comrades from 
 the furious assaults of the whites ; but, after a scene 
 of " confusion worse confounded," horses and mules 
 were abandoned, and the Indians betook themselves 
 to the bushes. Here, they quickly scratched holes 
 in the earth, about two feet deep, in which they 
 prostrated themselves, and while thus screened from 
 the shots of the white men, were enabled to make 
 such use of their bows. and arrows, and fusees, as 
 to repulse their assailants, and to effect their retreat. 
 This adventure threw a temporary stigma upon the 
 game of " old sledge." 
 
 In the course of the autumn, four Iroquois hunt- 
 ers, driven by the snow from their hunting grounds, 
 made their appearance at the cantonment. They 
 were kindly welcomed there, and during their so- 
 journ, made themselves useful in a variety of ways, 
 being excellent trappers, and, in every way, first- 
 rate woodsmen. They Avere of the remnants of a 
 party of Iroquois hunters, that came from Canada 
 into these mountain regions many years previously, 
 in the employ of the Hudson's Bay Company. 
 They were led by a brave chieftain, named Pierre, 
 
116 
 
 HANGING-EARED INDIANS. 
 
 who fell by the hands of the Blackfeet, and gave his 
 name to the fated valley of Pierre's Hole. This 
 branch of the Iroquois tribe has ever since remained 
 among these mountains, at mortal enmity with the 
 Blackfeet, and have lost many of their prime hunt- 
 ers in their feuds with that ferocious race. Some 
 of them fell in with General Ashley, in the course 
 of one of his gallant excursions into the wilderness, 
 and have continued ever since in the employ of the 
 company. 
 
 Among the motley visiters to the winter quar- 
 ters of Captain Bonneville, was a party of Pends 
 Oreilles, (or Hanging-ears) and their chief. These 
 Indians have a strong resemblance, in character 
 and customs, to the Nez Perces. They amount to 
 about three hundred lodges, and are well armed, 
 and possess great numbers of horses. During the 
 spring, summer, and autumn, they hunt the buffalo 
 about the head waters of the Missouri, Henry's 
 fork of the Snake river, and the northern branches 
 of Salmon river. Their winter quarters are upon 
 the Racine Amere, where they subsist upon roots 
 and dried buffalo meat. Upon this river the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company have established a trading post, 
 where the Pends Oreilles and the Flatheads bring 
 their peltries to exchange for arms, clothing, and 
 trinkets. 
 
 This tribe, like the Nez Perces, evince strong 
 and peculiar feelings of natural piety. Their re- 
 ligion is not a mere superstitious fear, like that 
 of most savages ; they evince abstract notions of 
 morality ; a deep reverence for an overruling Spirit, 
 
THEIR PACIFIC PRINCIPLES. 117 
 
 and a respect for the rights of their fellow-men. 
 In one respect, their religion partakes of the pacific 
 doctrines of the Quakers. They hold that the 
 Great Spirit is displeased with all nations who wan- 
 tonly engage in war ; they abstain, therefore, from 
 all aggressive hostilities. But though thus unof- 
 fending in their policy, they are called upon con- 
 tinually to wage defensive warfare ; especially with 
 the Blackfeet ; with whom, in the course of their 
 hunting expeditions, they come in frequent collision, 
 and have desperate battles. Their conduct as 
 warriors, is without fear or reproach, and they can 
 never be driven to abandon their hunting grounds. 
 
 Like most savages, they are firm believers in 
 dreams, and in the power and efficacy of charms 
 and amulets, or medicines, as they term them. 
 Some of their braves, also, who have had numerous 
 hairbreadth 'scapes, like the old Nez Perce chief, 
 in the battle of Pierre's Hole, are believed to wear 
 a charmed life, and to be bullet proof. Of these 
 gifted beings, marvellous anecdotes are related, 
 which are most potently believed by their fellow- 
 savages, and sometimes almost credited by the 
 white hunters. 
 
118 
 
 RIVAL TRAPPERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Rival trapping parties — Manoeuvring — A desperate game — Van- 
 derburgh and the Blackfeet — Deserted camp fire — A dark defile 
 — An Indian ambush — A fierce mele"e — fatal consequences — 
 Fitzpatrick and Bridger — Trappers' precautions — Meeting with 
 the Blackfeet — More fighting — Anecdote of a young Mexican 
 and an Indian girl. 
 
 While Captain Bonneville and his men are so- 
 journing among the Nez Perces, on Salmon river, 
 we will inquire after the fortunes of those doughty- 
 rivals of the Rocky Mountain and American 
 Fur Companies, who started off for the trapping 
 grounds to the north-northwest. 
 
 Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the former company, 
 as we have already shown, having received their 
 supplies, had taken the lead, and hoped to have the 
 first sweep of the hunting ground. Vanderburgh 
 and Dripps, however, the two resident partners of 
 the opposite company, by extraordinary exertions, 
 were enabled soon to put themselves upon their 
 traces, and pressed forward with such speed as to 
 overtake them just as they had reached the heart 
 of the beaver country. In fact, being ignorant of 
 the best trapping grounds, it was their object to 
 follow on, and profit by the superior knowledge of 
 the other party. 
 
RIVAL TRAPPERS. 
 
 119 
 
 Nothing could equal the chagrin of Fitzpatrick 
 and Bridger, at being dogged by their inexperienced 
 rivals ; especially after their offer to divide the coun- 
 try with them. They tried in every way to blind 
 and baffle them; to steal a march upon them, or 
 lead them on a wrong scent ; but all in vain. Van- 
 derburgh made up by activity and intelligence, for 
 his ignorance of the country : was always wary, 
 always on the alert; discovered every movement 
 of his rivals, however secret, and was not to be 
 eluded or misled. 
 
 Fitzpatrick, and his colleague, now lost all pa- 
 tience : since the others persisted in following them, 
 they determined to give them an unprofitable chase, 
 and to sacrifice the hunting season, rather than 
 share the products with their rivals. They, accord- 
 ing, took up their line of march down the course 
 of the Missouri, keeping the main Blackfoot trail, 
 and tramping doggedly forward, without stopping to 
 set a single trap. The others beat the hoof after 
 them for some time, but by degrees began to per- 
 ceive that they were on a wildgoosechase, and 
 that they were getting into a country perfectly bar- 
 ren to the trapper. They now came to a halt, and 
 bethought themselves how to make up for lost time, 
 and to profit by the remainder of the season. It 
 was thought best to divide their forces and try dif- 
 ferent trapping grounds. While Dripps went in one 
 direction, Vanderburgh, with about fifty men, pro- 
 ceeded in another. The latter, in his headlong 
 march, had got into the very heart of the Blackfoot 
 country, yet seems to have been unconscious of his 
 
120 
 
 DESERTED CAMP FIRE. 
 
 danger. As his scouts were out one day, they came 
 upon the traces of a recent band of savages. There 
 were the deserted fires still smoking, surrounded by 
 the carcasses of buffaloes just killed. It was evi- 
 dent a party of Blackfeet had been frightened from 
 their hunting camp, and had retreated, probably to 
 seek reinforcements. The scouts hastened back to 
 the camp, and told Vanderburgh what they had 
 seen. He made light of the alarm, and, taking 
 nine men with him, galloped off to reconnoitre for 
 himself. He found the deserted hunting camp just 
 as they had represented it ; there lay the carcasses 
 of buffaloes, partly dismembered ; there were the 
 smouldering fires, still faintly sending up their 
 wreaths of smoke : every thing bore traces of recent 
 and hasty retreat ; and gave reason to believe that 
 the savages were still lurking in the neighborhood. 
 With needless daring, Vanderburgh put himself 
 upon their trail, to trace them to their place of con- 
 cealment. It led him over prairies, and through 
 skirts of woodland, until it entered a dark and dan- 
 gerous ravine. Vanderburgh pushed in, without 
 hesitation, followed by his little band. They soon 
 found themselves in a gloomy dell, between steep 
 banks overhung with trees ; where the profound 
 silence was only broken by the tramp of their own 
 horses. 
 
 Suddenly the horrid war-whoop burst on their 
 ears, mingled with the sharp report of rifles, and a 
 legion of savages sprang from their concealments, 
 yelling, and shaking their buffalo robes, to frighten 
 the horses. Vanderburgh's horse fell, mortally 
 
THE FATAL DEFILE. 
 
 121 
 
 wounded by the first discharge. In his fall, he 
 pinned his rider to the ground ; who called in vain 
 upon his men to assist in extricating him. One 
 was shot down and scalped at a few paces distance : 
 most of the others were severely woUnded, and 
 sought their safety in flight. The savages ap- 
 proached to despatch the unfortunate leader, as he 
 lay struggling beneath his horse. He had still his 
 rifle in his hand, and his pistols in his belt. The 
 first savage that advanced received the contents of 
 the rifle in his breast, and fell dead upon the spot ; 
 but before Vanderburgh could draw a pisjol, a blow 
 from a tomahawk laid him prostrate, and he was 
 despatched by repeated wounds. 
 
 Such was the fate of Major Henry Vanderburgh : 
 one of the best and worthiest leaders of the Ameri- 
 can Fur Company ; who, by his manly bearing 
 and dauntless courage, is said to have made himself 
 universally popular among the bold-hearted rovers 
 of the wilderness. 
 
 Those of the little band who escaped, fled in 
 consternation to the camp, and spread the most 
 direful reports of the force and ferocity of the 
 enemy. The party, being without a head, were in 
 complete confusion and dismay, and made a pre- 
 cipitate retreat, without attempting to recover the 
 remains of their butchered leader. They made no 
 halt until they reached an encampment of the Pends 
 Oreilles, or Hanging-ears, where they offered a 
 reward for the recovery of the body, but without 
 success ; it never could be found. 
 
 In the meantime Fitzpatrick and Bridger, of the 
 vol. i. 11 
 
122 
 
 trappers' precautions. 
 
 Rocky Mountain Company, fared but little better 
 than their rivals. In their eagerness to mislead 
 them, they had betrayed themselves into danger, 
 and got into a region infested with the Blackfeet. 
 They soon found that foes were on the watch for 
 them ; but they were experienced in Indian warfare, 
 and were not to be surprised at night, nor drawn 
 into an ambush in the daytime. As the evening 
 advanced, the horses were all brought in and 
 picketed, and a guard stationed round the camp. 
 At the earliest streak of day one of the leaders 
 would mount his horse, and gallop off full speed for 
 about half a mile ; then look round for Indian trails, 
 to ascertain whether there had been any lurkers 
 round the camp : returning slowly, he would recon- 
 noitre every ravine and thicket, where there might 
 be an ambush. This done, he would gallop off in 
 an opposite direction and repeat the same scrutiny. 
 Finding all things safe, the horses would be turned 
 loose to graze ; but always under the eye of a 
 guard. 
 
 A caution equally vigilant was observed in the 
 march, on approaching any defile or place where 
 an enemy might lie in wait ; and scouts were always 
 kept in the advance, or along the ridges and rising 
 grounds on the flanks. 
 
 At length, one day, a large band of Blackfeet 
 appeared in the open field, but in the vicinity of 
 rocks and cliffs. They kept at a wary distance, 
 but made friendly signs. The trappers replied in 
 the same way, but likewise kept aloof. A small 
 party of Indians now advanced, bearing the pipe 
 
BRIDGER AND THE BLACKFEET. 123 
 
 of peace : they were met by an equal number of 
 white men, and they formed a group, midway be- 
 tween the two bands, where the pipe was circulated 
 from hand to hand, and smoked with all due cere- 
 mony. An instance of natural affection took place 
 at this pacific meeting. Among the free trappers, 
 in the Rocky Mountain band, was a spirited young 
 Mexican, named Loretto ; who, in the course of his 
 wanderings, had ransomed a beautiful Blackfoot 
 girl from a band of Crows, by whom she had been 
 captured. He had made her his wife, after the 
 Indian style, and she had followed his fortunes ever 
 since, with the most devoted affection. 
 
 Among the Blackfeet warriors who advanced 
 with the calumet of peace, she recognised a brother. 
 Leaving her infant with Loretto, she rushed forward 
 and threw herself upon her brother's neck; who 
 clasped his long lost sister to his heart, with a 
 warmth of affection but little compatible with the 
 reputed stoicism of the savage. 
 
 While this scene was taking place, Bridger left 
 the main body of trappers, and rode slowly towards 
 the group of smokers, with his rifle resting across 
 the pommel of his saddle. The chief of the Black- 
 feet stepped forward to meet him. From some 
 unfortunate feeling of distrust, Bridger cocked his 
 rifle just as the chief was extending his hand in 
 friendship. The quick ear of the savage caught 
 the click of the lock ; in a twinkling, he grasped 
 the barrel, forced the muzzle downward, and the 
 contents were discharged into the earth at his feet. 
 His next movement was to wrest the weapon from 
 
124 LORETTO AND HIS INDIAN BRIDE. 
 
 the hand of Bridger, and fell him with it to the 
 earth. He might have found this no easy task, had 
 not the unfortunate leader received two arrows in 
 his back during the struggle. 
 
 The chief now sprang into the vacant saddle and 
 galloped off to his band. A wild hurry-scurry- 
 scene ensued ; each party took to the banks, the 
 rocks, and trees, to gain favorable positions, and an 
 irregular firing was kept up on either side, without 
 much effect. The Indian girl had been hurried off 
 by her people, at the outbreak of the affray. She 
 would have returned, through the dangers of the 
 fight, to her husband and her child, but was pre- 
 vented by her brother. The young Mexican saw 
 her struggles and her agony, and heard her piercing 
 cries. With a generous impulse, he caught up the 
 child in his arms, rushed forward, regardless of 
 Indian shaft or rifle, and placed it in safety upon 
 her bosom. Even the savage heart of the Black- 
 foot chief was reached by this noble deed. He 
 pronounced Loretto a madman for his temerity, but 
 bade him depart in peace. The young Mexican 
 hesitated : he urged to have his wife restored to 
 him, but her brother interfered, and the countenance 
 of the chief grew dark. The girl, he said, belonged 
 to his tribe — she must remain with her people. 
 Loretto would still have lingered, but his wife im- 
 plored him to depart, lest his life should be endan- 
 gered. It was with the greatest reluctance thav he 
 returned to his companions. 
 
 The approach of night put an end to the skir- 
 mishing fire of the adverse parties, and the savages 
 
LORETTO AND HIS INDIAN BRIDE. 125 
 
 drew off without renewing their hostilities. We 
 cannot but remark, that both in this affair, and in 
 that at Pierre's Hole, the affray commenced by a 
 hostile act on the part of white men, at the moment 
 when the Indian warrior was extending the hand of 
 amity. In neither instance, as far as circumstances 
 have been stated to us by different persons, do we 
 see any reason to suspect the savage chiefs of per- 
 fidy in their overtures of friendship. They ad- 
 vanced in the confiding way, usual among Indians, 
 when they bear the pipe of peace, and consider 
 themselves sacred from attack. If we violate the 
 sanctity of this ceremonial, by any hostile move- 
 ment on our part, it is we that incur the charge of 
 faithlessness ; and we doubt not, that in both these 
 instances, the white men have been considered by 
 the Blackfeet as the aggressors, and have, in conse- 
 quence, been held up as men not to be trusted. 
 
 A word to conclude the romantic incident of 
 Loretto and his Indian bride. A few months sub- 
 sequent to the event just related, the young Mexi- 
 can settled his accounts with the Rocky Mountain 
 Company, and obtained his discharge. He then 
 left his comrades and set off to rejoin his wife and 
 child among her people ; and we understand that, 
 at the time we are writing these pages, he" resides 
 at a trading-house established of late by the Ameri- 
 can Fur Company, in the Blackfoot country, where 
 he acts as an interpreter, and has his Indian girl 
 with him. 
 
 11* 
 
126 
 
 A WINTER CANTONMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 A winter camp in the wilderness — Medley of trappers, hunters, and 
 Indians — Scarcity of game — New arrangements in the camp — 
 Detachments sent to a distance — Carelessness of the Indians 
 when encamped — Sickness among the Indians — Excellent char- 
 acter of the Nez Percys — The captain's effort as a pacificator — 
 A Nez Percy's argument in favor of war — Robberies by the Black- 
 feet — Long suffering of the Nez Percys — A hunter's elysium 
 among the mountains — More robberies — The captain preachos 
 up a crusade — The effect upon his hearers. 
 
 For the greater part of the month of November, 
 Captain Bonneville remained in his temporary post 
 on Salmon river. He was now in the full enjoy- 
 ment of his wishes; leading a hunter's life in the 
 heart of the wilderness, with all its wild populace 
 around him. Beside his own people, motley in 
 character and costume : creole, Kentuckian, Indian, 
 half-breed, hired trapper, ana 1 free trapper : he was 
 surrounded by encampments of Nez Perces and 
 Flatheads, with their droves of horses covering the 
 hills and plains. It was, he declares, a wild and 
 bustling scene. The hunting parties of white men 
 and red men, continually sallying forth and return- 
 ing ; the groups at the various encampments, some 
 cooking, some working, some amusing themselves 
 at different games ; the neighing of horses, the 
 braying of asses, the resounding strokes of the axe, 
 
INDIAN HORSES. 
 
 127 
 
 the sharp report of the rifle, the whoop, the halloo, 
 and the frequent burst of laughter, all in the midst 
 of a region suddenly roused from perfect silence 
 and loneliness by this transient hunters' sojourn^ 
 realized, he says, the idea of a " populous solitude." 
 
 The kind and genial character of the captain had, 
 evidently, its influence on the opposite races thus 
 fortuitously congregated together. The most peP 
 feet harmony prevailed between them. The In- 
 dians, he says, were friendly in their dispositions, 
 and honest to the most scrupulous degree, in their 
 intercourse with the white men. It is true, they 
 were somewhat importunate in their curiosity, and 
 apt to be continually in the way, examining every 
 thing with keen and prying eye, and watching every 
 movement of the white men. All this, however, 
 was borne with great good-humor by the captain, 
 and through his example, by his men. Indeed, 
 throughout air his transactions, he shows himself 
 the friend of the poor Indians, and his conduct 
 towards them is above all praise. 
 
 The Nez Perces, the Flatheads, and the Hang- 
 ing-ears, pride themselves upon the number of their 
 horses, of which they possess more in proportion, 
 than any other of the mountain tribes within the 
 buffalo range. Many of the Indian warriors and 
 hunters, encamped around Captain Bonneville, pos- 
 sess from thirty to forty horses each. Their horses 
 are stout, well built ponies, of great wind, and 
 capable of enduring the severest hardship and fa- 
 tigue. The swiftest of them, however, are those 
 obtained from the whites, while sufficiently young 
 
128 DISTRIBUTION OF HUNTING PARTIES. 
 
 to become acclimated and inured to the rough ser- 
 vice of the mountains. 
 
 By degrees, the populousness of this encamp- 
 jnent began to produce its inconveniences. The 
 immense droves of horses, owned by the Indians, 
 consumed the herbage of the surrounding hills ; 
 while, to drive them to any distant pasturage, in a 
 neighborhood abounding with lurking and deadly 
 enemies, would be to endanger the loss, both of man 
 and beast. Game, too, began to grow scarce. It 
 was soon hunted and frightened out of the vicinity, 
 and though the Indians made a wide circuit through 
 the mountains, in the hope of driving the buffalo 
 towards the cantonment, their expedition was un- 
 successful. It was plain that so large a party 
 could not subsist themselves there, nor in any one 
 place, throughout the winter. Captain Bonneville, 
 therefore, altered his whole arrangements. He de- 
 tached fifty men towards the south, to winter upon 
 Snake river, and to trap about its waters in the 
 spring, with orders to rejoin him in the month of 
 July, at Horse creek, in Green river valley, which 
 he had fixed upon as the general rendezvous of his 
 company for the ensuing year. 
 
 Of all his late party, he now retained with him 
 merely a small number of free trappers, with whom 
 he intended to sojourn among the Nez Perces and 
 Flatheads, and adopt the Indian mode of moving 
 with the game and grass. Those bands, in effect, 
 shortly afterwards broke up their encampments 
 and set off for a less beaten neighborhood. Captain 
 Bonneville remained behind for a few days, that 
 
INDIAN HORSES IN CAMP. 
 
 129 
 
 he might secretly prepare caches, in which he de- 
 posited every thing that was not required for cur- 
 rent use. Thus lightened of all superfluous incum- 
 brance, he set off on the 20th of November to rejoin 
 his Indian allies. He found them encamped in a 
 secluded part of the country, at the head of a small 
 stream. Considering themselves out of all danger 
 in this sequestered spot, from their old enemies, the 
 Blackfeet, their encampment manifested the most 
 negligent security. Their lodges were scattered in 
 every direction, and their horses covered every hill 
 for a great distance round, grazing upon the upland 
 bunch grass, which grew in great abundance, and 
 though dry, retained its nutritious properties, instead 
 of losing them, like other grasses, in the autumn. 
 
 When the Nez Perces, Flatheads, and Pends 
 Oreilles are encamped in a dangerous neighbor- 
 hood, says Captain Bonneville, the greatest care is 
 taken of their horses, those prime articles of Indian 
 wealth, and objects of Indian depredation. Each 
 warrior has his horse tied by one foot at night, to a 
 stake planted before his lodge. Here they remain 
 until broad daylight ; by that time, the young men 
 of the camp are already ranging over the surround- 
 ing hills. Each family then drives its horses to 
 some eligible spot, where they are left to graze 
 unattended. A young Indian repairs occasionally 
 to the pasture, to give them water, and to see that 
 all is well. So accustomed are the horses to this 
 management, that they keep together in the pasture 
 where they have been left. As the sun sinks be- 
 hind the hills, they may be seen moving from all 
 
130 
 
 INDIAN HORSES IN CAMP. 
 
 points towards the camp, where they surrender 
 themselves, to be tied up for the night. Even in 
 situations of danger, the Indians rarely set guards 
 over their camp at night, intrusting that office en- 
 tirely to their vigilant and well trained dogs. 
 ' In an encampment, however, of such fancied 
 security as that in which Captain Bonneville found 
 his Indian friends, much of these precautions with 
 respect to their horses are omitted. They merely 
 drive them, at nightfall, to some sequestered little 
 dell, and leave them there, at perfect liberty, until 
 the morning. 
 
 One object of Captain Bonneville in wintering 
 among these Indians, was to procure a supply of 
 horses against the spring. They were, however, 
 extremely unwilling to part with any, and it was 
 with great difficulty that he purchased, at the rate 
 of twenty dollars each, a few for the use of some 
 of his free trappers, who were on foot, and depend- 
 ant on him for their equipment. 
 
 In this encampment, Captain Bonneville remained 
 from the 21st of November to the 9th of December. 
 During this period, the thermometer ranged from 
 thirteen to forty-two degrees. There were occa- 
 sional falls of snow ; but it generally melted away 
 almost immediately, and the tender blades of new 
 grass began to shoot up among the old. On the 
 7th of December, however, the thermometer fell to 
 seven degrees. 
 
 The reader will recollect that, on distributing his 
 forces, when in Green river valley, Captain Bonne- 
 ville had detached a party, headed by a leader of 
 
SICKNESS AMONG THE INDIANS. 
 
 131 
 
 he name of Matthieu, with all the weak and dis- 
 abled horses, to sojourn about Bear river, meet the 
 Shoshonie bands, and afterwards to rejoin him at 
 his winter camp on Salmon river. 
 
 More than sufficient time had elapsed, yet Mat- 
 thieu failed to make his appearance, and uneasiness 
 began to be felt on his account. Captain Bonne- 
 ville sent out four men, to range the country through 
 which he would have to pass, and endeavor to get 
 some information concerning him ; for his route lay 
 across the great Shake river plain, which spreads 
 itself out like an Arabian desert, and on which a 
 cavalcade could be descried at a great distance. 
 The scouts soon returned, having proceeded no 
 further than the edge of the plain ; pretending that 
 their horses were lame, but it was evident they had 
 feared to venture, with so small a force, into these 
 exposed and dangerous regions. 
 
 A disease, which Captain Bonneville supposed 
 to be pneumonia, now appeared among the Indians 
 and made great ravages ; carrying off numbers of 
 them, after an illness of three or four days. The 
 worthy captain administered to them as a physician, 
 prescribing profuse sweatings and copious bleed- 
 ings, and uniformly with success, if the patient was 
 subsequently treated with proper care. In extraor- 
 dinary cases, the poor savages called in the aid of 
 their own doctors or conjurors, who officiated with 
 great noise and mummery, but with little benefit. 
 Those who died during this epidemic, were buried 
 in graves, after the manner of the whites, but with- 
 out any regard to the direction of the head. It is a 
 
132 THE CAPTAIN A PACIFICATOR. 
 
 fact worthy of notice, that, while this malady made 
 such ravages among the natives 3 not a single white 
 man had the slightest symptom of it. 
 
 A. familiar intercourse of some standing with the 
 Pierced-nose and Flathead Indians, had now con- 
 vinced Captain Bonneville of their amicable and 
 inoffensive character; he began to take a strong 
 interest in them, and conceived the idea of becom 
 ing a pacificator, and healing the deadly feud be- 
 tween them and the Blackfeet, in which they were 
 so deplorably the sufferers. He proposed the mat- 
 ter to some of the leaders, and urged that they 
 should meet the Blackfeet chiefs in a grand pacific 
 conference, offering to send two of his men to the 
 enemy's camp with pipe, tobacco, and flag of truce, 
 to negotiate the proposed meeting. 
 
 The Nez Perces and Flathead sages, upon this, 
 held a council of war of two days duration, in which 
 there was abundance of hard smoking and long 
 talking, and both eloquence and tobacco were nearly 
 exhausted. At length they came to a decision to 
 reject the worthy captain's proposition, and upon 
 pretty substantial grounds, as the reader may judge. 
 
 " War," said the chiefs, " is a bloody business, 
 and full of evil ; but it keeps the eyes of the chiefs 
 always open, and makes the limbs of the young 
 men strong and supple. In war, every one is on 
 the alert. If we see a trail, we know it must be 
 an enemy ; if the Blackfeet come to us, we know 
 it is for war, and we are ready. Peace, on the 
 other hand, sounds no alarm ; the eyes of the chiefs 
 are closed in sleep, and the young men are sleek 
 
INDIAN REASONS FOR WAR. 133 
 
 and lazy. The horses stray into the mountains ; the 
 women and their little babes go about alone. But 
 the heart of a Blackfoot is a lie, and his tongue is a 
 trap. If he says peace, it is to deceive ; he comes 
 to us as a brother : he smokes the pipe with us ; but 
 when he sees us weak, and off of our guard, he 
 will slay and steal. We will have no such peace ; 
 let there be war !" 
 
 With this reasoning, Captain Bonneville was fain 
 to acquiesce ; but, since the sagacious Flatheads 
 and their allies were content to remain in a state of 
 warfare, he wished them, at least, to exercise the 
 boasted vigilance which war was to produce, and 
 to keep their eyes open. He represented to them 
 the impossibility, that two such considerable clans 
 could move about the country without leaving trails 
 by which they might be traced. Besides, among 
 the Blackfeet braves were several Nez Perces, who 
 had been taken prisoners in early youth, adopted 
 by their captors, and trained up and imbued with 
 warlike and predatory notions ; these had lost all 
 sympathies with their native tribe, and would be 
 prone to lead the enemy to their secret haunts. 
 He exhorted them, therefore, to keep upon the 
 alert, and never to remit their vigilance, while 
 within the range of so crafty and cruel a foe. All 
 these counsels were lost upon his easy and simple 
 minded hearers. A careless indifference reigned 
 throughout their encampments, and their horses 
 were permitted to range the hills at night in perfect 
 freedom. Captain Bonneville had his own horses 
 
 brought in at night, and properly picketed and 
 vol. i. 12 
 
134 
 
 DEPREDATIONS. 
 
 guarded. The evil he apprehended soon took 
 place. In a single night, a swoop was made 
 through the neighboring pastures by the Blackfeet, 
 and eighty-six of the finest horses carried off. A 
 whip and a rope were left in a conspicuous situa- 
 tion by the robbers, as a taunt to the simpletons 
 they had unhorsed. 
 
 Long before sunrise, the news of this calamity 
 spread like wildfire through the different encamp- 
 ments. Captain Bonneville, whose own horses 
 remained safe at their pickets, watched in moment- 
 ary expectation of an outbreak of warriors, Pierced- 
 nose and Flathead, in furious pursuit of the maraud- 
 ers ; but no such thing — they contented themselves 
 with searching diligently over hill and dale, to 
 glean up such horses as had escaped the hands of 
 the marauders, and then resigned themselves to 
 their loss with the most exemplary quiescence. 
 
 Some, it is true, who were entirely unhorsed, set 
 out on a begging visit to their cousins, as they call 
 them, the Lower Nez Perces, who inhabit the lower 
 country about the Columbia, and possess horses in 
 abundance. To these they repair when in diffi- 
 culty, and seldom fail, by dint of begging and bar- 
 tering, to get themselves once more mounted on 
 horseback. 
 
 Game had now become scarce in the neighbor- 
 hood of the camp, and it was necessary, according 
 to Indian custom, to move off to a less beaten 
 ground. Captain Bonneville proposed the Horse 
 prairie ; but his Indian friends objected, that many 
 of the Nez Percys had gone to visit their cousins, 
 
A HUNTER'S ELYSIUM. 135 
 
 and that the whites were few in number, so that 
 their united force was not sufficient to venture upon 
 the buffalo grounds, which were infested by bands 
 of Blackfeet. 
 
 They now spoke of a place at no great distance, 
 which they represented as a perfect hunter's ely- 
 sium. It was on the right branch, or head stream 
 of the river, locked up among cliffs and precipices, 
 where there was no danger from roving bands, and 
 where the Blackfeet dare not enter. Here, they 
 said, the elk abounded, and the mountain sheep 
 were to be seen trooping upon the rocks and hills. 
 A little distance beyond it, also, herds of buffalo 
 were to be met with, out of the range of danger. 
 Thither they proposed to move their camp. 
 
 The proposition, pleased the captain, who was 
 desirous, through the Indians, of becoming ac- 
 quainted with all the secret places of the land. 
 Accordingly, on the 9th of December, they struck 
 their tents, and moved forward by short stages, as 
 many of the Indians were yet feeble from the late 
 malady. 
 
 Following up the right fork of the river, they 
 came to where it entered a deep gorge of the moun- 
 tains, up which, lay the secluded region so much 
 vaunted by the Indians. Captain Bonneville halted, 
 and encamped for three days, before entering the 
 gorge. In the meantime, he detached five of his 
 free trappers to scour the hills and kill as many elk 
 as possible, before the main body should enter, as 
 they would then be soon frightened away by the 
 various Indian hunting parties. 
 
136 
 
 BLACKFOOT MARAUDING. 
 
 While thus encamped, they were still liable to 
 the marauds of the Blackfeet, and Captain Bonne- 
 ville admonished his Indian friends to be upon their 
 guard. The Nez Perces, however, notwithstand- 
 ing their recent loss, were still careless of their 
 horses ; merely driving them to some secluded 
 spot, and leaving them there for the night, without 
 setting any guard upon them. The consequbnce 
 was a second swoop, in which forty-one were car- 
 ried off. This was borne with equal philosophy 
 with the first, and no effort was made either to 
 recover the horses, or to take vengeance on the 
 thieves. 
 
 The Nez Perces, however, grew more cautious 
 with respect to their remaining horses, driving them 
 regularly to the camp every evening, and fastening 
 them to pickets. Captain Bonneville, however, told 
 them that this was not enough. It was evident 
 they were dogged by a daring and persevering 
 enemy, who w,as encouraged by past impunity; 
 they should, therefore, take more than usual pre- 
 cautions, and post a guard at night over their cavalry. 
 They could not, however, be persuaded to depart 
 from their usual custom. The horse once picketed, 
 the care of the owner was over for the night, and 
 he slept profoundly. None waked in the camp 
 but the gamblers, who, absorbed in their play, were 
 more difficult to be roused to external circumstances 
 than even the sleepers. 
 
 The Blackfeet are bold enemies, and fond of 
 hazardous exploits. The band that were hovering 
 about the neighborhood, finding they had such pacific 
 
AN ENEMY IN THE CAMP. 
 
 137 
 
 people to deal with, redoubled their daring. The 
 horses being now picketed before the lodges, a 
 number of Blackfeet scouts penetrated in the early 
 part of the night, into the very centre of the camp. 
 Here they went about among the lodges, as calmly 
 and deliberately as if at home, quietly cutting loose 
 the horses that stood picketed by the lodges of 
 their sleeping owners. One of these prowlers, 
 more adventurous than the rest, approached a fire, 
 round which a group of Nez Percys were gambling 
 with the most intense eagerness. Here he stood 
 for some time, muffled up in his robe, peering over 
 the shoulders of the players, watching the changes 
 of their countenances and the fluctuations of the 
 game. So completely engrossed were they, that 
 the presence of this muffled eavesdropper was un- 
 noticed, and having executed his bravado, he retired 
 undiscovered. 
 
 Having cut loose as many horses as they could 
 conveniently carry off, the Blackfeet scouts rejoined 
 their comrades, and all remained patiently round 
 the camp. By degrees, the horses, finding them- 
 selves at liberty, took their route towards their 
 customary grazing ground. As they emerged from 
 the camp, they were silently taken possession of, 
 until, having secured about thirty, the Blackfeet 
 sprang oh their backs and scampered off. The 
 clatter of hoofs startled the gamblers from their 
 game. They gave the alarm, which soon roused 
 the sleepers from every lodge. Still all was quies- 
 cent ; no marshalling of forces, no saddling of steed 
 and dashing off in pursuit, no talk of retribution for 
 
 12* 
 
138 
 
 THE CAPTAIN'S WAR SPEECH. 
 
 their repeated outrages. The patience of Captain 
 Bonneville was at length exhausted. He had played 
 the part of a pacificator without success ; he now 
 altered his tone, and resolved, if possible, to rouse 
 their war spirit. 
 
 Accordingly, convoking their chiefs, he inveighed 
 against their craven policy, and urged the necessity 
 of vigorous and retributive measures, that would 
 check the confidence and presumption of their 
 enemies, if not inspire them with awe. For this 
 purpose, he advised that a war party should be im- 
 mediately sent off on the trail of the marauders, to 
 follow them, if necessary, into the. very heart of the 
 Blackfoot country, and not to leave them until they 
 had taken signal vengeance. Beside this, he re- 
 commended the organization of minor war parties, 
 to make reprisals to the extent of the losses sus- 
 tained. " Unless you rouse yourselves from your 
 apathy," said he, " and strike some bold and de- 
 cisive blow, you will cease to be considered men, 
 or objects of manly warfare. The very squaws 
 and children of the Blackfeet will be sent against 
 you, while their warriors reserve themselves for 
 nobler antagonists/' 
 
 This harangue had evidently a momentary effect 
 upon the pride of the hearers. After a short pause, 
 however, one of the orators arose. It was bad, 
 he said, to go to war for mere revenge. The 
 Great Spirit had given them a heart for peace, not 
 for war. They had lost horses, it was true, but 
 they could easily get others from their cousins, the 
 Lower Nez Perces, without incurring any risk; 
 
ITS EFFECT. 
 
 139 
 
 whereas, in war they should lose men, who were 
 not so readily replaced. As to their late losses, an 
 increased watchfulness would prevent any more 
 misfortunes of the kind. He disapproved, there- 
 fore, of all hostile measures; and all the other 
 chiefs concurred in his opinion. 
 
 Captain Bonneville again took up the point. " It 
 is true," said he, " the Great Spirit has given you a 
 heart to love your friends ; but he has also given 
 you an arm to strike your enemies. Unless you 
 do something speedily to put an end to this con- 
 tinual plundering, I must say farewell. As yet, I 
 have sustained no loss ; thanks to the precautions 
 which you have slighted : but my property is too 
 unsafe here ; my turn will come next ; I and my 
 people will share the contempt you are bringing 
 upon yourselves, and will be thought, like you, 
 poor-spirited beings, who may at any time be plun- 
 dered with impunity." 
 
 The conference broke up with some signs of 
 excitement on the part of the Indians. Early the 
 next morning, a party of thirty men set off in pursuit 
 of the foe, and Captain Bonneville hoped to hear a 
 good account of the Blackfeet marauders. To his 
 disappointment, the war party came lagging back on 
 the following day, leading a few old, broken-down, 
 and sorry horses, which the freebooters had not 
 been able to urge to sufficient speed. This effort 
 exhausted the martial spirit, and satisfied the 
 wounded pride of the Nez Perces, and they re- 
 lapsed into their usual state of passive indifference. 
 
140 
 
 STORY OF KOSATO. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 STORY OF KOSATO, THE RENEGADE BLACKFOOT. 
 
 If the meekness and longsuffering of the Pierced- 
 noses grieved the spirit of Captain Bonneville, 
 there was another individual in the camp, to whom 
 they were still more annoying. This was a Black- 
 foot renegado, named Kosato, a fiery, hot-blooded 
 youth, who, with a beautiful girl of the same tribe, 
 had taken refuge among the Nez Perces. Though 
 adopted into the tribe, he still retained the fierce, 
 warlike spirit of his race, and loathed the peaceful, 
 inoffensive habits of those around him. The hunt- 
 ing of the deer, the elk, and the buffalo, which was 
 the height of their ambition, was too tame to satisfy 
 his wild and restless nature. His heart burned for 
 the foray, the ambush, the skirmish, the scamper, 
 and all the haps and hazards of roving and preda- 
 tory warfare. 
 
 The recent hoverings of the Blackfeet about the 
 camp, their nightly prowls, and daring and success- 
 ful marauds, had kept him in a fever and a flutter ; 
 like a hawk in a cage, who hears his late com- 
 panions swooping and screaming in wild liberty 
 
STORY OF KOSATO. 
 
 141 
 
 above him. The attempt of Captain Bonneville to 
 rouse the war spirit of the Nez Perce s, and prompt 
 them to retaliation, was ardently seconded by K.o- 
 sato. For several days he was incessantly devising 
 schemes of vengeance, and endeavoring to set on 
 foot an expedition that should carry dismay and 
 desolation into the Blackfeet towns. All his art 
 was exerted to touch upon those fierce springs of 
 human action with which he was most familiar. 
 He drew the listening savages around him by his 
 nervous eloquence ; taunted them with recitals of 
 past wrongs and insults ; drew glowing pictures 
 of triumphs and trophies within their reach ; re- 
 counted tales of daring and romantic enterprise ; 
 of secret marchings ; covert lurkings ; midnight 
 surprisals ; sackings, burnings, plunderings, scalp- 
 ings : together with the triumphant return, and the 
 feasting and rejoicing of the victors. These wild 
 tales were intermingled with the beating of the 
 drum ; the yell, the war-whoop and the war-dance, 
 so inspiring to Indian valor. All, however, were 
 lost upon the peaceful spirits of his hearers : not a 
 Nez Perce was to be roused to vengeance, or stimu- 
 lated to glorious war. In the bitterness of his heart, 
 the Blackfoot renegado repined at the mishap which 
 had severed him from a race of congenial spirits, 
 and driven him to take refuge among beings so 
 destitute of martial fire. p 
 
 The character and conduct of this man attracted 
 the attention of Captain Bonneville, and he was 
 anxious to hear the reason why he had deserted 
 his tribe, and why he looked back upon them with 
 
142 
 
 STORY OF KOSATO. 
 
 such deadly hostility. Kosato told him his own 
 story briefly : — it gives a picture of the deep, strong 
 passions that work in the bosoms of these miscalled 
 stoics. 
 
 " You see my wife," said he : " she is good ; she 
 is beautiful — I love her. — Yet, she has been the 
 cause of all my troubles. She was the wife of my 
 chief. I loved her more than he did ; and she 
 knew it. We talked together ; we laughed to- 
 gether : we were always seeking each other's so- 
 ciety ; but we were as innocent as children. The 
 chief grew jealous, and commanded her to speak 
 with me no more. His heart became hard toward 
 her ; his jealousy grew more furious. He beat her 
 without cause and without mercy ; and threatened 
 to kill her outright, if she even looked at me. Do 
 you want traces of his fury ? Look at that scar ! 
 His rage against me was no less persecuting. War 
 parties of the Crows were hovering round us ; our 
 young men had seen their trail. All hearts were 
 roused for action ; my horses were before my lodge. 
 Suddenly the chief came, took them to his own 
 pickets, and called them his own. What could I 
 do ? — he was a chief. I durst not speak, but my 
 heart was burning. I joined no longer in the coun- 
 cil, the hunt, or the war-feast. What had I to do 
 there ? an unhorsed, degraded warrior. I kept by 
 myself, and thought of nothing but these wrongs 
 and outrages. 
 
 w I was sitting one evening upon a knoll that over- 
 looked the meadow where the horses were pastured. 
 I saw the horses that were once mine grazing among 
 
STORY OF KOSATO. 
 
 143 
 
 those of the chief. This maddened me, and I sat 
 brooding for a time over the injuries I had suffered, 
 and the cruelties which she I loved had endured for 
 my sake, until my heart swelled and grew sore, and 
 my teeth were clenched. As" I looked down upon the 
 meadow, I saw the chief walking among his horses. 
 I fastened my eyes on him as a hawk's ; my blood 
 boiled ; I drew my breath hard. He went among 
 the willows. In an instant I was on my feet ; my 
 hand was on my knife — I flew rather than ran — 
 before he was aware, I sprang upon him, and with 
 two blows laid him dead at my feet. I covered 
 his body with earth, and strewed bushes over the 
 place ; then hastened to her I lovecr*, told her what 
 I had done, and urged her to fly with me. She 
 only answered me with tears. I reminded her of 
 the wrongs I had suffered, and of the blows and 
 stripes she had endured from the deceased ; I had 
 done nothing but an act of justice. I again urged 
 her to fly ; but she only wept the more, and bade 
 me go. My heart was heavy, but my eyes were 
 dry. I folded my arms. ' 'Tis well,' said I ; ' Ko- 
 sato will go alone to the desert. None will be with 
 him but the wild beasts of the prairie. The seekers 
 of blood may follow on his trail. They may come 
 upon him when he sleeps, and glut their revenge ; 
 but you will be safe. Kosato will go alone.' 
 
 " I turned away. She sprang after me, and 
 strained me in her arms. ' No,' cried she, ' Kosato 
 shall not go alone ! Wherever he goes, I will go — 
 he shall never part from me.' 
 
 " We hastily took in our hands such things as 
 
144 
 
 STORY OF KOSATO. 
 
 we most needed, and stealing quietly from the 
 village, mounted the first horses we encountered. 
 Speeding day and night, we soon reached this tribe. 
 They received us with welcome, and we have dwelt 
 with them in peace. They are good and kind; 
 they are honest ; but their hearts are the hearts of 
 women." 
 
 Such was the story of Kosato, as related by him 
 to Captain Bonneville. It is of a kind that often 
 occurs in Indian life ; where love elopements from 
 tribe to tribe are as frequent as among the novel- 
 read heroes and heroines of sentimental civilization, 
 and often give rise to bloody and lasting feuds. 
 
THE MOUNTAIN GORGE. 
 
 145 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The party enters the mountain gorge — A wild fastness among hills 
 — Mountain mutton — Peace and plenty — The amorous trapper 
 — A piebald wedding — A free trapper's wife — her gala equip- 
 ments — Christmas in the wilderness. 
 
 On the 19th of December, Captain Bonneville and 
 his confederate Indians, raised their camp, and en- 
 tered the narrow gorge made by the north fork of 
 Salmon river. Up this lay the secure and plen- 
 teous hunting region so temptingly described by 
 the Indians. 
 
 Since leaving Green river, the plains had inva- 
 riably been of loose sand or coarse gravel, and the 
 rocky formation of the mountains of primitive lime- 
 stone. The rivers, in general, were skirted with 
 willows and bitter cotton-wood trees, and the prairies 
 covered with wormwood. In the hollow breast of 
 the mountains which they were now penetrating, the 
 surrounding heights were clothed with pine ; while 
 the declivities of the lower hills afforded abundance 
 of bunch grass for the horses. 
 
 As the Indians had represented, they were now 
 in a natural fastness of the mountains, the ingress 
 and egress of which was by a deep gorge, so nar- 
 row, rugged, and difficult, as to prevent secret ap- 
 proach or rapid retreat, and to admit of easy defence. 
 
 vol. i. 13 
 
146 
 
 GOOD CHEER MATRIMONY. 
 
 The Blackfeet, therefore, refrained from venturing 
 in after the Nez Perces, awaiting a better chance, 
 when they should once more emerge into the open 
 country. 
 
 Captain Bonneville soon found that the Indians 
 had not exaggerated the advantages of this region. 
 Beside numerous gangs of elk, large flocks of the 
 ahsahta or bighorn, the mountain sheep, were to be 
 seen bounding among the precipices. These simple 
 animals were easily circumvented and destroyed. 
 A few hunters may surround a flock and kill as 
 many as they please. Numbers were daily brought 
 into camp, and the flesh of those which were young 
 and fat, was extolled as superior to the finest 
 mutton. 
 
 Here, then, there was a cessation from toil, from 
 hunger, and alarm. Past ills and dangers were 
 forgotten. The hunt, the game, the song, the story, 
 the rough though good-humored joke, made time 
 pass joyously away, and plenty and security reigned 
 throughout the camp. 
 
 Idleness and ease, it is said, lead to love, and love 
 to matrimony, in civilized life, and the same process 
 takes place in the wilderness. Filled with good 
 cheer and mountain mutton, one of the free trappers 
 began to repine at the solitude of his lodge, and to 
 experience the force of that great law of nature, " it 
 is not meet for man to live alone." 
 
 After a night of grave cogitation, he repaired to 
 Kowsoter, the Pierced-nose chief ; and unfolded to 
 him the secret workings of his bosom. 
 
 " I want," said he, " a wife. Give me one from 
 
A PIEBALD WEDDING. 
 
 147 
 
 among your tribe. Not a young, giddy-pated girl, 
 that will think of nothing but flaunting and finery, 
 but a sober, discreet, hard-working squaw ; one that 
 will share my lot without flinching, however hard it 
 may be ; that can take care of my lodge, and be a 
 companion and a helpmate to me in the wilderness." 
 Kowsoter promised to look round among the females 
 of his tribe, and procure such a one as he desired. 
 Two days were requisite for the search. At the 
 expiration of these, Kowsoter called at his lodge, 
 and informed him that he would bring his bride to 
 him in the course of the afternoon. He kept his 
 word. At the appointed time he approached, lead- 
 ing the bride, a comely copper-colored dame, attired 
 in her Indian finery. Her father, mother, brothers 
 by the half dozen, and cousins by the score, all fol- 
 lowed on to grace the ceremony, and greet the new 
 and important relative. 
 
 The trapper received his new and numerous 
 family connexion with proper solemnity ; he placed 
 his bride beside him, and, filling the pipe, the great 
 symbol of peace, with his best tobacco, took two or 
 three whiffs, then handed it to the chief, who trans- 
 ferred it to the father of the bride, from whence it 
 was passed on from hand to hand and mouth to 
 mouth of the whole circle of kinsmen round the 
 fire, all maintaining the most profound and becoming 
 silence. 
 
 After several pipes had been filled and emptied 
 in this solemn ceremonial, the chief addressed the 
 bride ; detailing, at considerable length, the duties 
 of a wife; which, among Indians, are little less 
 
148 
 
 A FREE TRAPPER'S WIFE. 
 
 onerous than those of the packhorse ; this done, he 
 turned to her friends, and congratulated them upon 
 the great alliance she had made. They showed a 
 due sense of their good fortune, especially when the 
 nuptial presents came to be distributed among the 
 chiefs and relatives, amounting to about one hun- 
 dred and eighty dollars. The company soon retired, 
 and now the worthy trapper found, indeed, that he 
 had no green girl to deal with ; for the knowing 
 dame at once assumed the style and dignity of a 
 trapper's wife, taking possession of the lodge as her 
 undisputed empire ; arranging every thing according 
 to her own taste and habitudes ; and appearing as 
 much at home, and on as easy terms with the trap- 
 per, as if they had been man and wife for years. 
 
 We have already given a picture of a free trapper 
 and his horse, as furnished by Captain Bonneville : 
 we shall here subjoin, as a companion picture, his 
 description of a free trapper's wife, that the reader 
 may have a correct idea of the kind of blessing the 
 worthy hunter in question had invoked to solace him 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 " The free trapper, while a bachelor, has no 
 greater pet than his horse ; but the moment he takes 
 a wife, (a sort of brevet rank in matrimony occa- 
 sionally bestowed upon some Indian fair one, like 
 the heroes of ancient chivalry, in the open field,) he 
 discovers that he has a still more fanciful and capri- 
 cious animal on which to lavish his expenses. 
 
 " No sooner does an Indian belle experience this 
 promotion, than all her notions at once rise and ex- 
 pand to the dignity of her situation ; and the purse 
 
A FREE TRAPPER'S WIFE. 
 
 149 
 
 of her lover, and his credit into the bargain, are 
 tasked to the utmost to fit her out in becoming 
 style. The wife of a free trapper to be equipped 
 and arrayed like any ordinary and undistinguished 
 squaw? Perish the grovelling thought! In the 
 first place, she must have a horse for her own 
 riding ; but no jaded, sorry, earth-spirited hack ; 
 such as is sometimes assigned by an Indian hus- 
 band for the transportation of his squaw and her 
 papooses : the wife of a free trapper must have the 
 most beautiful animal she can lay her eyes on. And 
 then, as to his decoration : headstall, breast-bands, 
 saddle and crupper, are lavishly embroidered with 
 beads, and hung with thimbles, hawks' bells, and 
 bunches of ribands. From each side of the saddle . 
 hangs an esquimoot, a sort of pocket, in which she 
 bestows the residue of her trinkets and nicknacks, 
 which cannot be crowded on the decoration of her 
 horse or herself. Over this she folds with great 
 care, a drapery of scarlet and bright-colored cali- 
 coes, and now considers the caparison of her steed 
 complete. 
 
 " As to her own person, she is even still more 
 extravagant. Her hair, esteemed beautiful in pro- 
 portion to its length, is carefully plaited, and made 
 to fall with seeming negligence over either breast. 
 Her riding hat is stuck full of party-colored feathers ; 
 her robe, fashioned somewhat after that of the 
 whites, is of red, green, and sometimes gray cloth, 
 but always of the finest texture that can be procured. 
 Her leggins and moccasins are of the most beautiful 
 and expensive workmanship, and, fitting neatly to 
 
 13* 
 
150 
 
 A FREE TRAPPER'S WIPE. 
 
 the foot and ankle, which, with the Indian women 
 are generally well formed and delicate, look ex- 
 tremely pretty. Then as to jewelry : in the way of 
 finger-rings, ear-rings, necklaces, and other female 
 glories, nothing within reach of the trapper's means 
 is omitted, that can tend to impress, the beholder 
 with an idea of the lady's high estate. To finish 
 the whole, she selects from among her blankets of 
 various dyes, one of some glowing color, and throw- 
 ing it over her shoulders with a native grace, vaults 
 into the saddle of her gay prancing steed, and is 
 ready to follow her mountaineer ' to the last gasp 
 with love and loyalty.' " 
 
 Such is the general picture of the free trapper's 
 wife, given by Captain Bonneville ; how far it ap- 
 plied in its details to the one in question, does not 
 altogether appear, though it would seem from the 
 outset of her connubial career, that she was ready 
 to avail herself of all the pomp and circumstance of 
 her new condition. It is worthy of mention, that 
 wherever there are several wives of free trappers in 
 a camp, the keenest rivalry exists between them, to 
 the sore detriment of their husband's purses. Their 
 whole time is expended, and their ingenuity tasked 
 to eclipse each other in dress and decoration. The 
 jealousies and heartburnings thus occasioned among 
 these, so styled, children of nature, are equally in- 
 tense with those of the rival leaders of style and 
 fashion in the luxurious abodes of civilized life. 
 
 The genial festival of Christmas, which through- 
 out all Christendom lights up the fireside of home 
 with mirth and jollity, followed hard upon the wed- 
 
CHRISTMAS IN THE WILDERNESS. 151 
 
 ding just described. Though far from kindred and 
 friends, Captain Bonneville and his handful of free 
 trappers were not disposed to suffer the festival to 
 pass unenjoyed; they were in a region of good cheer, 
 and were disposed to be joyous ; so it was deter- 
 mined to " light up the yule clog," and celebrate a 
 merry Christmas in the heart of the wilderness. 
 
 On Christmas-eve, accordingly, they began their 
 rude f£tes and rejoicings. In the course of the 
 night, the free trappers surrounded the lodge of the 
 Pierced-nose chief, and in lieu of Christmas carols, 
 saluted him with a feudejoie. 
 
 Kowsoter received it in a truly Christian spirit, 
 and after a speech, in which he expressed his high 
 gratification at the honor done him, invited the whole 
 company to a feast on the following day. His invi- 
 tation was gladly accepted. A Christmas dinner in 
 the wigwam of an Indian chief! There was novelty 
 in the idea. Not one failed to be present. The 
 banquet was served up in primitive style : skins of 
 various kinds, nicely dressed for the occasion, were 
 spread upon the ground ; upon these were heaped 
 up abundance of venison, elk meat, and mountain 
 mutton ; with various bitter roots, which the Indians 
 use as condiments. 
 
 After a short prayer, the company all seated 
 themselves crosslegged, in Turkish fashion, to the 
 banquet, which passed off with great hilarity. Af- 
 ter which, various games of strength and agility, by 
 both white men and Indians, closed the Christmas 
 festivities. 
 
152 
 
 A HUNT AFTER HUNTERS. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A hunt after hunters — Hungry times — A voracious repast — Wintry 
 weather — Godin's river — Splendid winter scene on the great lava 
 plain of Snake river — Severe travelling and tramping in the 
 snow — Manoeuvres of a solitary Indian horseman — Encampment 
 on Snake river — Banneck Indians — The Horse chief— his 
 charmed life. 
 
 The continued absence of Matthieu and his party- 
 had, by this time, caused great uneasiness in the 
 mind of Captain Bonneville ; and, finding there was 
 no dependance to be placed upon the perseverance 
 and courage of scouting parties, in so perilous a 
 quest, he determined to set out himself on the 
 search, and to keep on until he should ' ascertain 
 something of the object of his solicitude. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 26th December he left the 
 camp, accompanied by thirteen stark trappers and 
 hunters, all well mounted and armed for dangerous 
 enterprise. On the following morning they passed 
 out at the head of the mountain gorge, and sallied 
 forth into the open plain. As they confidently 
 expected a brush with the Blackfeet, or some other 
 predatory horde, they moved with great circum- 
 spection, and kept vigilant watch in their encamp- 
 ments. 
 
 In the course of another day they left the main 
 
LURKING INDIANS. 
 
 153 
 
 branch of Salmon river, and proceeded south to- 
 wards a pass called John Day's defile. It was 
 severe and arduous travelling. The plains were 
 swept by keen and bitter blasts of wintry wind; 
 the ground was generally covered with snow, game 
 was scarce, so that hunger generally prevailed in 
 the camp, while the want of pasturage soon began 
 to manifest itself in the declining vigor of the 
 horses. 
 
 The party had scarcely encamped on the after- 
 noon of the 28th, when two of the hunters who had 
 sallied forth in quest of game came galloping back 
 in great alarm. While hunting they had perceived 
 a party of savages, evidently manoeuvring to cut 
 them off from the camp ; and nothing had saved 
 them from being entrapped but the speed of their 
 horses. 
 
 These tidings struck dismay into the camp. 
 Captain Bonneville endeavored to reassure his men 
 by representing the position of their encampment, 
 and its capability of defence. He then ordered the 
 horses to be driven in and picketed, and threw up a 
 rough breastwork of fallen trunks of trees, and the 
 vegetable rubbish of the wilderness. Within this 
 barrier was maintained a vigilant watch throughout 
 the night, which passed away without alarm. At 
 early dawn they scrutinized the surrounding plain, 
 to discover whether any enemies had been lurking 
 about during the night : not a foot print, however, 
 was to be discovered in the coarse gravel with 
 which the plain was covered. 
 
 Hunger now began to cause more uneasiness 
 
154 
 
 BUFFALO BEEF. 
 
 than the apprehensions of surrounding enemies. 
 After marching a few miles ihey encamped at the 
 foot of a mountain, in hopes of finding buffalo. It 
 was not until the next day that they discovered a 
 pair of fine bulls on the edge of the plain, among 
 rocks and ravines. Having now been two days 
 and a half without a mouthful of food, they took 
 especial care that these animals should not escape 
 them. While some of the surest marksmen ad- 
 vanced cautiously with their rifles into the rough 
 ground, four of the best mounted horsemen took 
 their stations in the plain, to run the bulls down 
 should they only be maimed. 
 
 The buffalo were wounded, and set off in head- 
 long flight. The half-famished horses were too 
 weak to overtake them on the frozen ground, but 
 succeeded in driving them on the ice, where they 
 slipped and fell, and were easily despatched. The 
 hunters loaded themselves with beef for present and 
 future supply, and then returned and encamped at 
 the last night's fire. Here they passed the re- 
 mainder of the day, cooking and eating with a 
 voracity proportioned to previous starvation ; for- 
 getting in the hearty revel of the moment, the 
 certain dangers with which they were environed. 
 
 The cravings of hunger being satisfied, they now 
 began to debate about their further progress. The 
 men were much disheartened by the hardships they 
 had already endured. Indeed, two who had been 
 in the rear guard, taking advantage of their posi- 
 tion, had deserted and returned to the lodges of the 
 Nez Perces. The prospect ahead was enough to 
 
A FREEZING MARCH. 
 
 55 
 
 stagger the stoutest heart. They were m the dead- 
 of winter. As far as the eye could reach the wild 
 landscape was wrapped in snow; which was evi- 
 dently deepening as they advanced. Over this 
 they would have to toil, with the icy wind blowing 
 in their faces : their horses might give out through 
 want of pasturage ; and they themselves must ex- 
 pect intervals of horrible famine like that they had 
 already experienced. 
 
 With Captain Bonneville, however, perseverance 
 was a matter of pride ; and having undertaken this 
 enterprise, nothing could turn him back until it was 
 accomplished : though he declares that, had he anti- 
 cipated the difficulties and sufferings which attended 
 it, he should have flinched from the undertaking. 
 
 Onward, therefore, the little band urged their 
 way, keeping along the course of a stream called 
 John Day's creek. The cold was so intense that 
 they had frequently to dismount and travel on foot, 
 lest they should freeze in their saddles. The days, 
 which, at this season, are short enough even in the 
 open prairies, were narrowed to a few hours by the 
 high mountains, which allowed the travellers but a 
 brief enjoyment of the cheering rays of the sun. 
 The snow was, generally, at least twenty inches in 
 depth, and in many places much more : those who 
 dismounted had to beat their way with toilsome 
 steps. Eight miles were considered a good day's 
 journey. The horses were almost famished; for 
 the herbage was covered by the deep snow, so that 
 they had nothing to subsist upon but scanty whisps 
 of the dry bunch grass which peered above the 
 
156 godin's river — THE three butes. 
 
 surface, and the small branches and twigs of frozen 
 willows and wormwood. 
 
 In this way they urged their slow and painful 
 course to the south, down John Day's creek, until 
 it lost itself in a swamp. Here they encamped upon 
 the ice among stiffened willows, where they were 
 obliged to beat down and clear away the snow to 
 procure pasturage for their horses. 
 
 Hence, they toiled on to Godin river ; so called 
 after an Iroquois hunter in the service of Sublette ; 
 who was murdered there by the Blackfeet. Many 
 of the features of this remote wilderness are thus 
 named after scenes of violence and bloodshed that 
 occurred to the early pioneers. It was an act of 
 filial vengeance on the part of Godin's son, Antoine, 
 that, as the reader may recollect, brought on the 
 recent battle at Pierre's Hole. 
 
 From Godin's river Captain Bonneville and his fol- 
 lowers came out upon the plain of the Three Butes ; 
 so called from three singular and isolated hills that 
 rise from the midst. It is a part of the great desert 
 of Snake river, one of the most remarkable tracts 
 beyond the mountains. Could they have experi- 
 enced a respite from their sufferings and anxieties, 
 the immense landscape spread out before them was 
 calculated to inspire admiration. Winter has its 
 beauties and glories, as well as summer ; and Cap- 
 tain Bonneville had the soul to appreciate them. 
 
 Far away, says he, over the vast plains, and 
 up the steep sides of the lofty mountains, the 
 snow lay spread in dazzling whiteness : and when- 
 ever the sun emerged in the morning above the 
 
A WINTRY LANDSCAPE. 
 
 157 
 
 giant peaks, or burst forth from among clouds in 
 his mid-day course, mountain and dell, glazed rock 
 and frosted tree, glow edand sparkled with surpass- 
 ing lustre. The tall pines seemed sprinkled with a 
 silver dust, and the willows, studded with minute 
 icicles reflecting the prismatic rays, brought to mind 
 the fairy trees conjured up by the caliph's story- 
 teller, to adorn his vale of diamonds. 
 
 The poor wanderers, however, nearly starved 
 with hunger and cold, were in no mood to enjoy the 
 glories of these brilliant scenes ; though they stamped 
 pictures on their memory, which have been recalled 
 with delight in more genial situations. 
 
 Encamping at the west Bute, they found a place 
 swept by the winds, s^J.hat it was bare of snow, 
 and there was abundance of bunch grass. Here 
 the horses were turned loose to graze throughout 
 the night. Though for once they had ample pas- 
 turage, yet the keen winds were so intense, that, in 
 the morning, a mule was found frozen to death. 
 The trappers gathered round and mourned over 
 him as over a cherished friend. They feared their 
 half-famished horses would soon share his fate, for 
 there seemed scarce blood enough left in their veins 
 to withstand the freezing cold. To beat the way 
 further through the snow with these enfeebled ani- 
 mals, seemed next to impossible ; and despondency 
 began to creep over their hearts, when, fortunately, 
 they discovered a trail made by some hunting party. 
 Into this they immediately entered, and proceeded 
 with less difficulty. Shortly afterward, a fine buf- 
 falo bull came bounding across the snow, and was 
 
 vol. i. 14 
 
158 THE WARY HORSEMAN. 
 
 instantly brought down by the hunters. A fire was 
 soon blazing and crackling, and an ample repast 
 soon cooked, and sooner despatched, after which, 
 they made some further progress and then en- 
 camped. One of the men reached the camp nearly 
 frozen to death ; but good cheer and a blazing fire 
 gradually restored life, and put his blood in circu- 
 lation. 
 
 Having now a beaten path, they proceeded the 
 next morning with more facility ; indeed, the snow 
 decreased in depth as they receded from the moun- 
 tains, and the temperature became more mild. In 
 the course of the day, they discovered a solitary 
 horseman hovering at a distance before them on the 
 plain. They spurred on to overtake him ; but he 
 was better mounted on a fresher steed, and kept at 
 a wary distance, reconnoitring them with evident 
 distrust : for the wild dress of the free trappers, 
 their leggins, blankets, and cloth caps garnished 
 with fur and topped off with feathers ; even their 
 very elflocks and weather-bronzed complexions, 
 gave them the look of Indians rather than white 
 men, and made him mistake them for a war party 
 of some hostile tribe. 
 
 After much manceuvring, the wild horseman was 
 at length brought to a parley ; but even then he 
 conducted himself with the caution of a knowing 
 prowler of the prairies. Dismounting from his 
 horse, and using him as a breastwork, he levelled his 
 gun across his back, and, thus prepared for defence, 
 like a wary cruiser upon the high seas, he permitted 
 himself to be approached within speaking distance. 
 
ENCAMPMENT ON SNAKE RIVER. 159 
 
 He proved to be an Indian of the Banneck tribe, 
 belonging to a band at no great distance. It was 
 some time before he could be persuaded that he was 
 conversing with a party of white men, and induced 
 to lay aside his reserve and join them. He then 
 gave them the interesting intelligence, that there 
 were two companies of white men encamped in the 
 neighborhood. This was cheering news to Captain 
 Bonneville ; who hoped to find in one of these com- 
 panies the long sought party of Matthieu. Pushing 
 forward, therefore, with renovated spirits, he reached 
 Snake river by nightfall and there fixed his en- 
 campment. 
 
 Early the next morning (13th January, 1833), 
 diligent search was made about the neighborhood 
 for traces of the reported parties of white men. 
 An encampment was soon discovered, about four 
 miles further up the river ; in which Captain Bonne- 
 ville, to his great joy, found two of Matthieu's men, 
 from whom he learnt that the rest of his party would 
 be there in the course of a few days. It was a 
 matter of great pride and self-gratulation to Captain 
 Bonneville, that he had thus accomplished his dreary 
 and doubtful enterprise ; and he determined to pass 
 some time in this encampment, both to await the 
 return of Matthieu, and to give needful repose both 
 to men and horses. 
 
 It was, in fact, one of the most eligible and 
 delightful wintering grounds in that whole range 
 of country. The Snake river here wound its devi- 
 ous way between low banks through the great plain 
 of the Three Butes ; and was bordered by wide and 
 
160 ENCAMPMENT ON SNAKE RIVER. 
 
 fertile .meadows. It was studded with islands, 
 which, like the alluvial bottoms, were covered with 
 groves of cotton-wood, thickets of willow, tracts 
 of good lowland grass, and abundance of green 
 rushes. The adjacent plains, were so vast in extent, 
 that no single band of Indians could drive the buf- 
 falo out of them ; nor was the snow of sufficient 
 depth to give any serious inconvenience. Indeed, 
 during the sojourn of Captain Bonneville in this 
 neighborhood, which was in the heart of winter, he 
 found the weather, with the exception of a few cold 
 and stormy days, generally mild and pleasant ; freez- 
 ing a little at night, but invariably thawing with the 
 morning's sun — resembling the spring weather in 
 the middle part of the United States. 
 
 The lofty range of the Three Tetons, those great 
 landmarks of the Rocky mountains, rising in the 
 east, and circling away to the north and west of the 
 great plain of Snake river ; and the mountains of 
 Salt river and Portneuf towards the south, catch 
 the earliest falls of snow. Their white robes 
 lengthen as the winter advances, and spread them- 
 selves far into the plain, driving the buffalo in herds 
 to the banks of the river in quest of food ; where 
 they are easily slain in great numbers. 
 
 Such were the palpable advantages of this winter 
 encampment ; added to which, it was secure from 
 the prowlings and plunderings of any petty band of 
 roving Blackfeet : the difficulties of retreat render- 
 ing it unwise for those crafty depredators to venture 
 an attack, unless with an overpowering force. 
 
 About ten miles below the encampment lay the 
 
THE BANNECK INDIANS. 
 
 161 
 
 Banneck Indians ; numbering about one hundred 
 and twenty lodges. They are brave and cunning 
 warriors, and deadly foes of the Blackfeet ; whom 
 they easily overcome in battles where their forces 
 are equal. They are not vengeful and enterprising 
 in warfare, however ; seldom sending war parties 
 to attack the Blackfeet towns, but contenting them- 
 selves with defending their own territories and 
 homes. About one-third of their warriors are armed 
 with fuzees ; the rest with bows and arrows. 
 
 As soon as the spring opens, they move down 
 the right bank of Snake river, and encamp at the 
 heads of the Boisee and Payette. Here their 
 horses wax fat on good pasturage, while the tribe 
 revels in plenty upon the flesh of deer, elk, bear, 
 and beaver. They then descend a little further,' 
 and are met by the Lower Nez Perces, with whom 
 they trade for horses ; giving in exchange beaver, 
 buffalo, and buffalo robes. Hence they strike upon 
 the tributary streams on the left bank of Snake 
 river, and encamp at the rise of the Portneuf and 
 Blackfoot streams, in the buffalo range. Their 
 horses, although of the Nez Perc6 breed, are in- 
 ferior to the parent, stock, from being ridden at too 
 early an age ; being often bought when but two 
 years old, and immediately put to hard work. They 
 have fewer horses, also, than most of these migra- 
 tory tribes. 
 
 At the time that Captain Bonneville came into 
 the neighborhood of these Indians, they were all in 
 mourning for their chief, surnamed The Horse. 
 This chief was said to possess a charmed life, or 
 
 14* 
 
162 
 
 THE HORSE CHIEF. 
 
 rather, to be invulnerable to lead; no bullet having 
 ever hit him, though he had been in repeated battles, 
 and often shot at by the surest marksmen. He had 
 shown great magnanimity in his intercourse with 
 the white men. One of the great men of his family 
 had been slain in an attack upon a band of trappers 
 passing through the territories of his tribe. Ven- 
 geance had been sworn by the Bannecks ; but The 
 Horse interfered, declaring himself the friend of 
 white men, and, having great influence and authority 
 among his people, he compelled them to forego all 
 vindictive plans, and to conduct themselves amica- 
 bly whenever they came in- contact with the traders. 
 
 This chief had bravely fallen in resisting an at- 
 tack made by the Blackfeet upon his tribe, while 
 encamped at the head of Godin river. His fall 
 in nowise lessened the faith of his people in his 
 charmed life ; for they declared that it was not a 
 bullet which laid him low, but a bit of horn which 
 had been shot into him by some Blackfoot marks- 
 man; aware, no doubt, of the inefficacy of lead. 
 Since his death, there was no one with sufficient 
 influence over the tribe to restrain the wild and 
 predatory propensities of the young men. The 
 consequence was, they had become troublesome 
 and dangerous neighbors ; openly friendly, for the 
 sake of traffic, but disposed to commit secret depre- 
 dations, and to molest any small party that might 
 fall within their reach. 
 
MATTHIEU — HIS MISADVENTURES. 163 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Misadventures of Matthieu and his party — Return to the caches at 
 Salmon river — Battle between Nez Percys and Blackfeet — He- 
 roism of a Nez Perce 1 woman — enrolled among the braves. 
 
 On the 3d of February, Matthieu, with the residue 
 of his band, arrived in camp. He had a disastrous 
 story to relate. After parting with Captain Bonne- 
 ville in Green river valley, he had proceeded to the 
 westward, keeping to the north of the Eutaw moun- 
 tains, a spur of the great Rocky chain. Here he 
 experienced the most rugged travelling for his 
 horses, and soon discovered that there was but little 
 chance of meeting the Shoshonie bands. He now 
 proceeded along Bear river, a stream much fre- 
 quented by trappers ; intending to shape his course 
 to Salmon river, to rejoin Captain Bonneville. 
 
 He was misled, however, either through the igno- 
 rance or treachery of an Indian guide, and conducted 
 into a wild valley, where he lay encamped during 
 the autumn and the early part of the winter, nearly 
 buried in snow, and almost starved. Early in the 
 season he detached five men, with nine horses, to 
 proceed to the neighborhood of the Sheep rock, on 
 Bear river, where game was plenty, and there to 
 procure a supply for the camp. They had not pro- 
 
164 ENCOUNTER WITH SAVAGES. 
 
 ceeded far on their expedition, when their trail was 
 discovered by a party of nine or ten Indians, who 
 immediately commenced a lurking pursuit, dogging 
 them secretly for five or six days. So long as their 
 encampments were well chosen, and a proper watch 
 maintained, the wary savages kept aloof; at length, 
 observing that they were badly encamped, in a 
 situation where they might be approached with 
 secrecy, the enemy crept stealthily along under 
 cover of the river bank, preparing to burst suddenly 
 upon their prey. 
 
 They had not advanced within striking distance, 
 however, before they were discovered by one of the 
 trappers. He immediately, but silently, gave the 
 alarm to his companions. They all sprang upon 
 their horses, and prepared to retreat to a safe posi- 
 tion. One of the party, however, named Jennings, 
 doubted the correctness of the alarm, and, before 
 he mounted his horse, wanted to ascertain the fact. 
 His companions urged him to mount, but in vain ; 
 he was incredulous and obstinate. A volley of fire- 
 arms by the savages dispelled his doubts ; but so 
 overpowered his nerves, that he was unable to get 
 into his saddle. His comrades, seeing his peril and 
 confusion, generously leapt from their horses to 
 protect him. A shot from a rifle brought him to 
 the earth ; in his agony, he called upon the others 
 not to desert him. Two of them, Le Roy and Ross, 
 after fighting desperately, were captured by the 
 savages ; the remaining two vaulted into their sad- 
 dles, and saved themselves by headlong flight, being 
 pursued for nearly thirty miles. They got safe back 
 
to Matthieu's camp, where their story inspired such 
 dread of lurking Indians, that the hunters could not 
 be prevailed upon to undertake another foray in 
 quest of provisions. They remained, therefore, 
 almost starving in their camp ; npw and then killing 
 an old or disabled horse for food, while the elk and 
 the mountain sheep roamed unmolested among the 
 surrounding mountains. 
 
 The disastrous surprisal of this hunting party, is 
 cited by Captain Bonneville to show the importance 
 of vigilant watching and judicious encampments in 
 the Indian country. Most of these kind of disasters 
 to traders and trappers arise from some careless 
 inattention to the state of their arms and ammunition, 
 the placing of their horses at night, the position of 
 their camping ground, and the posting of their night 
 watches. The Indian is a vigilant and crafty foe ; 
 by no means given to harebrained assaults ; he sel- 
 dom attacks when he finds his foe well prepared 
 and on the alert. Caution is at least as efficacious 
 a protection against him as courage. 
 
 The Indians who made this attack were at first 
 supposed to be Blackfeet ; until Captain Bonneville 
 found, subsequently, in the camp of the Bannecks a 
 horse, saddle, and bridle, which he recognised as 
 having belonged to one of the hunters. The Ban- 
 necks, however, stoutly denied having taken these 
 spoils in fight, and persisted in affirming that the 
 outrage had been perpetrated by a Blackfoot band. 
 
 Captain Bonneville remained on Snake river 
 nearly three weeks after the arrival of Matthieu and 
 his party. At length, his horses having recovered 
 
166 SNAKE RIVER PLAIN IN WINTER. 
 
 strength sufficient for a journey, he prepared to 
 return to the Nez Perces, or rather to visit his 
 caches on Salmon river ; that he might take thence 
 goods and equipments for the opening season. Ac- 
 cordingly, leaving sixteen men at Snake river, he 
 set out, on the 19th February, with sixteen others, 
 on his journey to the caches. 
 
 Fording the river, he proceeded to the borders of 
 the deep snow, when he encamped under the lea of 
 immense piles of burnt rock. On the 21st, he was 
 again floundering through the snow, on the great 
 Snake river plain, where it lay to the depth of thirty 
 inches. It was sufficiently encrusted to bear a 
 pedestrian ; but the poor horses broke through the 
 crust, and plunged and strained at every step. So 
 lacerated were they by the ice, that it was necessary 
 to change the front every hundred yards, and put a 
 different one in the advance, to break the way. The 
 open prairies were swept by a piercing and biting 
 wind from the northwest. At night, they had to 
 task their ingenuity to provide shelter and to keep 
 from freezing. In the first place, they dug deep 
 holes in the snow, piling it up in ramparts to wind- 
 ward, as a protection against the blast. Beneath 
 these, they spread buffalo skins ; upon which they 
 stretched themselves in full dress, with caps, cloaks, 
 and moccasins, and covered themselves with nu- 
 merous blankets; notwithstanding all which, they 
 were often severely pinched with the cold. 
 
 On the 28th of February, they arrived on the 
 banks of Godin river. This stream emerges from 
 the mountains opposite an eastern branch of the 
 
SALT WEED. 
 
 167 
 
 Malade river, running southeast, forms a deep and 
 swift current about twenty yards wide, passing 
 rapidly through a defile to which it gives its name, 
 and then enters the great plain, where, after mean- 
 dering about forty miles, it is finally lost in the 
 region of the Burnt Rocks. 
 
 On the banks of this river, Captain Bonneville 
 was so fortunate as to come upon a buffalo trail. 
 Following it up, he entered the defile, where he re- 
 mained encamped for two days, to allow the hunters 
 time to kill and dry a supply of buffalo beef. In 
 this sheltered defile, the weather was moderate, and 
 grass was already sprouting more than an inch in 
 height. There was abundance, too, of the salt 
 weed; which grows most plentiful in clayey and 
 gravelly barrens. It resembles pennyroyal, and 
 derives its name from a partial saltness. It is a 
 nourishing food for the horses in the winter, but 
 they reject it the moment the young grass affords 
 sufficient pasturage. 
 
 On the 6th of March, having cured sufficient meat, 
 the party resumed their march, and moved on with 
 comparative ease, excepting where they had to make 
 their way through snow drifts which had been piled 
 up by the wind. 
 
 On the 11th, a small cloud of smoke was observed 
 rising in a deep part of the defile. An encampment 
 w r as instantly formed, and scouts sent out to recon- 
 noitre. They returned with intelligence that it 
 was a hunting party of Flatheads, returning from 
 the buffalo range laden with meat. Captain Bonne- 
 ville joined them the next day, and persuaded them 
 
168 ADVENTURE OF THE TEN LODGES. 
 
 « 
 
 to proceed with his party a few miles below, to the 
 caches, whither he proposed also to invite the Nez 
 Perces, whom he hoped to find somewhere in this 
 neighborhood. In fact, on the 13th, he was rejoined 
 by that friendly tribe, who, since he separated from 
 them on Salmon river, had likewise been out to hunt 
 the buffalo, but had continued to be haunted and 
 harassed by their old enemies the Blackfeet, who, 
 as usual, had contrived to carry off many of their 
 horses. 
 
 In the course of this hunting expedition, a small 
 band of ten lodges separated from the main body, in 
 search of better pasturage for their horses. About 
 the 1st of March, the scattered parties of Blackfoot 
 banditti united to the number of three hundred 
 fighting men, and determined upon some signal 
 blow. Proceeding to the former camping ground 
 of the Nez Perces, they found the lodges deserted ; 
 upon which, they hid themselves among the willows 
 and thickets, watching for some straggler, who might 
 guide them to the present "whereabout" of their 
 intended victims. As fortune would have it, Kosato, 
 the Blackfoot renegado, was the first to pass along, 
 accompanied by his blood-bought bride. He was on 
 his way from the main body of hunters to the little 
 band of ten lodges. The Blackfeet knew and 
 marked him as he passed ; their eyes glared with 
 vindictive fury ; he was within bowshot of their 
 ambuscade ; yet, much as they thirsted for his 
 blood, they forbore to launch a shaft ; sparing him 
 for the moment, that he might lead them to their 
 prey. Secretly following his trail, they discovered 
 
AN INDIAN HEROINE. 
 
 169 
 
 the lodges of the unfortunate Nez Perces, and as- 
 sailed them with tremendous shouts and yellings. 
 The Nez Perce's numbered only twenty men, but 
 nine of whom were armed with fusees. They 
 showed themselves, however, as brave and skilful 
 in war as they had been mild and longsuffering in 
 peace. Their first care was to dig holes inside of 
 their lodges; thus ensconced, they fought despe- 
 rately, laying several of the enemy dead upon the 
 ground ; while they, though some of them were 
 wounded, lost not a single warrior. 
 
 During the heat of the battle, a woman of the 
 Nez Perces, seeing her warrior badly wounded and 
 unable to fight, seized his bow and arrows, and 
 bravely and successfully defended his person, con- 
 tributing to the safety of the whole party. 
 
 In another part of the field of action, a Nez Perce 
 had crouched behind the trunk of a fallen tree, and 
 kept up a galling fire from his covert. A Blackfoot 
 seeing this, procured a round log, and placing it 
 before him as he lay prostrate, rolled it forward 
 towards the trunk of the tree behind which his 
 enemy lay crouched. It was a moment of breath- 
 less interest : whoever first showed himself would 
 be in danger of a shot. The Nez Perce" put 
 an end to the suspense. The moment the logs 
 touched, he sprang upon his feet, and quick as light- 
 ning, discharged the contents of his fusee into the 
 back of his antagonist. By this time, the Blackfeet 
 had got possession of the horses ; several of their 
 warriors lay dead on the field, and the Nez Perce's, 
 ensconced in their lodges, seemed resolved to defend 
 
 vol. i. 15 
 
170 
 
 KOSATO AND HIS BRIDE. 
 
 themselves to the last gasp. It so happened that 
 the chief of the Blackfeet party was a renegade 
 from the Nez Perces ; but, unlike Kosato, he had 
 no vindictive rage against his native tribe, but was 
 rather disposed, now he had got the booty, to spare 
 all unnecessary effusion of blood. He held a long 
 parley, therefore, with the besieged, and finally 
 drew off his warriors, taking with him seventy 
 horses. It appeared, afterwards, that the bullets 
 of the Blackfeet had been entirely expended in the 
 course of the battle, so that they were obliged to 
 make use of stones as substitutes. 
 
 At the outset of the fight, Kosato, the renegade, 
 fought with fury rather than valor : animating the 
 others by word as well as deed. A wound in the 
 head from a rifle-ball laid him senseless on the 
 earth. There his body remained when the battle 
 was over, and the victors were leading off the horses. 
 His wretched wife was hanging over him with fran- 
 tic lamentations. The conquerors paused and urged 
 her to leave the lifeless renegado, and return with 
 them to her kindred. She refused to listen to their 
 solicitations, and they passed on. As she sat watch- 
 ing the features of Kosato, and giving way to pas- 
 sionate grief, she thought she perceived him to 
 breathe. She was not mistaken. The ball, which 
 had been nearly spent before it struck him, had 
 stunned instead of killing him. By the ministry of 
 his faithful wife, he gradually recovered ; reviving 
 to a redoubled love for her, and hatred of his native 
 tribe. 
 
As to the female who had so bravely defended 
 her husband, she was elevated by the tribe to a rank 
 far above her sex, and, beside other honorable dis- 
 tinctions, was thenceforward permitted to take a 
 part in the war dances of the braves ! 
 
172 
 
 OPENING OF THE CACHES. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Opening of the caches — Detachments of Cerre* and Hodgkiss — 
 Salmon river mountains — Superstition of an Indian trapper — 
 Godin's river — Preparations for trapping — An alarm — An inter- 
 ruption — A rival band — Phenomena of Snake river plain — Vast 
 clefts and chasms — Ingulfed streams — Sublime scenery — A 
 grand buffalo hunt. 
 
 Captain Bonneville found his caches perfectly- 
 secure, and having secretly opened them, he selected 
 such articles as were necessary to equip the free 
 trappers, and to supply the inconsiderable trade 
 with the Indians, after which he closed them again. 
 The free trappers being newly rigged out and sup- 
 plied, were in high spirits, and swaggered gayly 
 about the camp. To compensate all hands for past 
 sufferings, and to give a cheerful spur to further 
 operations, Captain Bonneville now gave the men 
 what, in frontier phrase, is termed " a regular blow 
 out." It was a day of uncouth gambols, and frolics, 
 and rude feasting. The Indians joined in the sports 
 and games with hearty good- will, and all was mirth 
 and good fellowship. 
 
 It was now the middle of March, and Captain 
 Bonneville made preparations to open the spring 
 campaign. He had pitched upon Malade river for 
 his main trapping ground for the season. This is 
 
SALMON RIVER MOUNTAINS. 
 
 173 
 
 a stream which rises among the great bed of moun- 
 tains north of the Lava plain, and after a winding 
 course, falls into Snake river. Previous to his de- 
 parture, the captain despatched Mr. Cerre with a 
 few men, to visit the Indian villages and purchase 
 horses; he furnished his clerk, Mr. Hodgkiss, also, 
 with a small stock of goods, to keep up a trade with 
 the Indians during the spring, for such peltries as 
 they might collect, appointing the caches on Sal- 
 mon river as the point of rendezvous, where they 
 were to rejoin him on the 15th of June following. 
 
 This done, he set out for Malade river with a 
 band of twenty-eight men, composed of hired and 
 free trappers, and Indian hunters, together with 
 eight squaws. Their route lay up along the right 
 fork of Salmon river, as it passes through the deep 
 defile of the mountains. They travelled very slowly, 
 not above five miles a day, for many of the horses 
 were so weak that they faltered and staggered as 
 they walked. Pasturage, however, was now grow- 
 ing plentiful. There was abundance of fresh grass, 
 which in some places had attained such height as 
 to wave in the wind. The native flocks of the 
 wilderness, the mountain sheep, as they are called 
 by the trappers, were continually to be seen upon 
 the hills between which they passed, and a good 
 supply of mutton was provided by the hunters, as 
 they were advancing towards a region of scarcity. 
 
 In the course of his journey, Captain Bonneville 
 had occasion to remark an instance of the many 
 notions, and almost superstitions, which prevail 
 among the Indians, and among some of the white 
 
 15* 
 
— 
 
 174 SUPERSTITION OF A TRAPPER. 
 
 men, with respect to the sagacity of the beaver. 
 The Indian hunters of his party were in the habit of 
 exploring all the streams along which they passed, 
 in search of beaver lodges," and occasionally set 
 their traps with some success. One of them, how- 
 ever, though an experienced and skilful trapper, 
 was invariably unsuccessful. Astonished and mor- 
 tified at such unusual bad luck, he at length con- 
 ceived the idea, that there was some odor about 
 his person, of which the beaver got scent, and re- 
 treated at his approach. He immediately set about 
 a thorough purification. Making a rude sweating 
 house on the banks of the river, he would shut 
 himself up until in a reeking perspiration, and then 
 suddenly emerging, would plunge into the river. A 
 number of these sweatings and plungings having, as 
 he supposed, rendered his person perfectly " inodor- 
 ous," he resumed his trapping with renovated hope. 
 
 About the beginning of April, they encamped 
 upon Godin's river, where they found the swamp 
 full of " muskrat houses." Here, therefore, Captain 
 Bonneville determined to remain a few days and 
 make his first regular attempt at trapping. That 
 his maiden campaign might open with spirit, he 
 promised the Indians and free trappers an extra 
 price for every muskrat they should take. All now 
 set to work for the next day's sport. The utmost 
 animation and gayety prevailed throughout the 
 camp. Every thing looked auspicious for their 
 spring campaign. The abundance of muskrats in 
 the swamp, was but an earnest of the nobler game 
 they were to find when they should reach the Ma- 
 
AN ALARM — A REVERSE. 
 
 175 
 
 lade river, and have a capital beaver country all to 
 themselves, where they might trap at their leisure, 
 without molestation. 
 
 In the midst of their gayety, a hunter came gal- 
 loping into the camp, shouting, or rather yelling, 
 " A trail ! a trail ! — lodge poles ! lodge poles !" 
 
 These were words full of meaning to a trapper's 
 ear. They intimated that there was some band in 
 the neighborhood, and probably a hunting party, as 
 they had lodge poles for an encampment. The 
 hunter came up and told his story. He had dis- 
 covered a fresh trail, in which the traces made by 
 the dragging of lodge poles were distinctly visible. 
 The buffalo, too, had just been driven out of the 
 neighborhood, which showed that the hunters had 
 already been on the range. 
 
 The gayety of the camp was at an end ; all pre- 
 parations for muskrat trapping were suspended, and 
 all hands sallied forth to examine the trhii Their 
 worst fears were soon confirmed. Infallible signs 
 showed the unknown party, in the advance, to be 
 white men ; doubtless, some rival band of trappers ! 
 Here was competition when least expected; and 
 that, too, by a party already in the advance, who 
 were driving the game before them. Captain 
 Bonneville had now a taste of the sudden transi- 
 tions to which a trapper's life is subject. The 
 buoyant confidence in an uninterrupted hunt was at 
 an end ; every countenance lowered with gloom and 
 disappointment. 
 
 Captain Bonneville immediately despatched two 
 spies to overtake the rival party, and endeavor to 
 
176 
 
 A RIVAL BAND. 
 
 learn their "plans ; in the meantime, he turned his 
 back upon the swamp and its muskrat houses, and 
 followed on at " long camps," which, in trapper's 
 language, is equivalent to long stages. On the 6th 
 of April, he met his spies returning. They had 
 kept on the trail like hounds, until they overtook 
 the party at the south end of Godin's defile. Here 
 they found them comfortably encamped, twenty-two 
 prime trappers, all well appointed, with excellent 
 horses in capital condition, led by Milton Sublette, 
 and an able coadjutor, named Jarvie, and in full 
 march for the Malade hunting ground. 
 
 This was stunning news. The Malade river 
 was the only trapping ground within reach ; but to 
 have to compete there with veteran trappers, per- 
 fectly at home among the mountains, and admirably 
 mounted, while they were so poorly provided with 
 horses and trappers, and had but one man in their 
 party acquainted with the country — it was out of 
 the question ! 
 
 The only hope that now remained, was that the 
 snow, which still lay deep among the mountains of 
 Godin river, and blocked up the usual pass to the 
 Malade country, might detain the other party, until 
 Captain Bonneville's horses should get once more 
 into good condition in their present ample pasturage. 
 
 The rival parties now encamped together ; not out 
 of companionship, but to keep an eye upon each 
 other. Day after day passed by, without any pos- 
 sibility of getting to the Malade country. Sublette 
 and Jarvie endeavored to force their way across the 
 mountain ; but the snows lay so deep as to oblige 
 
DANGEROUS CHASMS. 
 
 177 
 
 them to turn back. In the meantime, the captain's 
 horses were daily gaining strength, and their hoofs 
 improving, which had been worn and battered by- 
 mountain service. The captain, also, was increas- 
 ing his stock of provisions, so that the delay was all 
 in his favor. 
 
 To any one who merely contemplates a map of 
 the country, this difficulty of getting from Godin 
 to Malade river will appear inexplicable, as the 
 intervening mountains terminate in the great Snake 
 river plain, so that, apparently, it would be perfectly 
 easy to proceed round their bases. 
 
 Here, however, occur some of the striking phe- 
 nomena of this wild and sublime region. The 
 great lower plain which extends to the feet of these 
 mountains, is broken up near their bases into crests 
 and ridges, resembling the surges of the ocean 
 breaking on a rocky shore. 
 
 In a line with the mountains, the plain is gashed 
 with numerous and dangerous chasms, from four to 
 ten feet wide, and of great depth. Captain Bonne- 
 ville attempted to sound some of these openings, 
 but without any satisfactory result. A stone drop- 
 ped into one of them reverberated against the sides 
 for apparently a very great depth, and, by its sound, 
 indicated the same kind of substance with the sur- 
 face, as long as the strokes could be heard. The 
 horse, instinctively sagacious in avoiding danger, 
 shrinks back in alarm from the least of these 
 chasms ; pricking up his ears, snorting and pawing, 
 until permitted to turn away. 
 
 We have been told by a person well acquainted 
 
178 EXTENT OF THE LAVA PLAIN. 
 
 with the country, that it is sometimes necessary to 
 travel fifty and sixty miles, to get round one of 
 these tremendous ravines. Considerable streams, 
 like that of Godin's river, that run with a bold, free 
 current, lose themselves in this plain; some of 
 them end in swamps, others suddenly disappear ; 
 finding, no doubt, subterranean outlets. 
 
 Opposite to these chasms, Snake river makes 
 two desperate leaps over precipices, at a short dis- 
 tance from each other ; one twenty, the other forty 
 feet in height. 
 
 The volcanic plain in question, forms an area of 
 about sixty miles in diameter, where nothing meets 
 the eye but a desolate and awful waste; where no 
 grass grows nor water runs, and where nothing is 
 to be seen but lava. Ranges of mountains skirt this 
 plain, and, in Captain Bonneville's opinion, were 
 formerly connected, until rent asunder by some con- 
 vulsion of nature. Far to the east, the Three 
 Tetons lift their heads sublimely, and dominate this 
 wide sea of lava ; — one of the most striking features 
 of a wilderness where every thing seems on a scale 
 of stern and simple grandeur. 
 
 We look forward with impatience for some able 
 geologist to explore this sublime, but almost un- 
 known region. 
 
 It was not until the 25th of April, that the two 
 parties of trappers broke up their encampments, 
 and undertook to cross over the southwest end of 
 the mountain by a pass explored by their scouts. 
 From various points of the mountain, they com- 
 manded boundless prospects of the lava plain, 
 
BOISEE RIVER. 
 
 179 
 
 stretching away in cold and gloomy barrenness as 
 far as the eye could reach. On the evening of 
 the 26th, they reached the plain west of the moun- 
 tain, watered by the Malade, the Boisee, and other 
 streams, which comprised the contemplated trap- 
 ping ground. 
 
 The country about the Boisee (or Woody) river, 
 is extolled by Captain Bonneville as the most en- 
 chanting he had seen in the far west : presenting 
 the mingled grandeur and beauty of mountain and 
 plain ; of bright running streams and vast grassy 
 meadows, waving'to the breeze. 
 
 We shall not follow the captain throughout his 
 trapping campaign, which lasted until the begin- 
 ning of June ; nor detail all the manoeuvres of the 
 rival trapping parties, and their various schemes to 
 outwit and out-trap each other. Suffice it to say, 
 that after having visited and camped about various 
 streams with various success, Captain Bonneville 
 set forward early in June for the appointed rendez- 
 vous at the caches. On the way, he treated his 
 party to a grand buffalo hunt. The scouts had 
 reported numerous herds in a plain beyond an in- 
 tervening height. There was an immediate halt ; 
 the fleetest horses were forthwith mounted, and the 
 party advanced to the summit of the hill. From 
 hence, they beheld the great plain below absolutely 
 swarming with buffalo. Captain Bonneville now 
 appointed the place where he would encamp ; and 
 towards which the hunters were to drive the game. 
 He cautioned the latter to advance slowly, reserving 
 the strength and speed of the horses, until within 
 
180 GRAND BUFFALO HUNT. 
 
 a moderate distance of the herds. Twenty-two 
 horsemen descended cautiously into the plain, con- 
 formably to these directions. " It was a beautiful 
 sight," says the captain, "to see the runners, as 
 they are called, advancing in column, at a slow trot, 
 until within two hundred and fifty yards of the out- 
 skirts of the herd, then dashing on at full speed, 
 until lost in the immense multitude of buffaloes 
 which were scouring the plain in every direction." 
 All was now tumult and wild confusion. In the 
 meantime, Captain Bonneville and the residue of the 
 party moved on to the appointed camping ground ; 
 thither the most expert runners succeeded in driv- 
 ing numbers of buffalo, which were killed hard by 
 the camp, and the flesh transported thither without 
 difficulty. In a little while the whole camp looked 
 like one great slaughter-house ; the carcasses were 
 skilfully cut up, great fires were made, scaffolds 
 erected for drying and jerking beef, and an ample 
 provision made for future subsistence. On the 
 15th of June, the precise day appointed for the 
 rendezvous, Captain Bonneville and his party ar- 
 rived safely at the caches. 
 
 Here he was joined by the other detachments of 
 his main party, all in good health and spirits. The 
 caches were again opened, supplies of various kinds 
 taken out, and a liberal allowance of aquavita dis- 
 tributed throughout the camp, to celebrate with 
 proper conviviality this merry meeting. 
 
INTRIGUE OF KOSATO. 
 
 ■f- . 
 
 181 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Meeting with Hodgkiss— Misfortunes of the Nez Percys— Schemes 
 of Kosato, the renegado — his foray into the Horse prairie — Inva- 
 sion of Blackfeet — Blue John, and his forlorn hope — their gene- 
 rous enterprise — their fate — Consternation and despair of the 
 village — Solemn obsequies — Attempt at Indian trade— Hudson's 
 Bay Company's monopoly — Arrangements for autumn — Break- 
 ing up of an encampment. 
 
 Having now a pretty strong party, well armed and 
 equipped, Captain Bonneville no longer felt the 
 necessity of fortifying himself in the secret places 
 and fastnesses of the mountains ; but sallied forth 
 boldly into the Snake river plain, in search of his 
 clerk, Hodgkiss, who had remained with the Nez 
 Perces. He found him on the 24th of June, and 
 learnt from him another chapter of misfortunes 
 which had recently befallen that ill-fated race. 
 
 After the departure of Captain Bonneville, in 
 March, Kosato, the renegade Blackfoot, had re- 
 covered from the wound received in battle ; and 
 with his strength revived all his deadly hostility to 
 his native tribe. He now resumed his efforts to 
 stir up the Nez Perce's to reprisals upon their old 
 enemies ; reminding them incessantly of all the 
 outrages and robberies they had recently experi- 
 enced, and assuring them that such would continue 
 
 vol. i. 16 
 
182 HIS BAND OF BRAVES. 
 
 to be their lot, until they proved themselves men 
 by some signal retaliation. 
 
 The impassioned eloquence of the desperado, at 
 length produced an effect; and a band of braves 
 enlisted under his guidance, to penetrate into the 
 Blackfoot country, harass their villages, carry off 
 their horses, and commit all kinds of depredations. 
 
 Kosato pushed forward on his foray, as far as the 
 Horse prairie ; where he came upon a strong party 
 of Blackfeet. Without waiting to estimate their 
 force, he attacked them with characteristic fury, 
 and was bravely seconded by his followers. The 
 contest, for a time, was hot and bloody : at length, 
 as is customary with these two tribes, they paused, 
 and held a long parley, or rather a war of words. 
 
 " What need," said the Blackfoot chief, taunt- 
 ingly, " have the Nez Perces to leave their homes, 
 and sally forth on war parties, when they have 
 danger enough at their own doors ? If you want 
 fighting, return to your villages ; you will have 
 plenty of it there. The Blackfeet warriors have 
 hitherto made war upon you as children. They 
 are now coming as men. A great force is at hand ; 
 they are on their way to your towns, and are de- 
 termined to rub out the very name of the Nez 
 Perces from the mountains. Return, I say, to your 
 towns, and fight there, if you wish to live any longer 
 as a people." 
 
 Kosato took him at his word ; for he knew the 
 character of his native tribe. Hastening back with 
 his band to the Nez Perces village, he told all that 
 he had seen and heard ; and urged the most prompt 
 
BLUE JOHN. 
 
 183 
 
 and strenuous measures for defence. The Nez 
 Perces, however, heard him with their accustomed 
 phlegm : the threat of the Blackfeet had been often 
 made, and as often ha4 proved a mere bravado ; 
 such they pronounced it to be at present, and, of 
 course, took no precautions. 
 
 They were soon convinced that it was no empty 
 menace. In a few days, a band of three hundred 
 Blackfeet warriors appeared upon the hills. All 
 now was consternation in the village. The force 
 of the Nez Perces was too small to cope with the 
 enemy in open fight; many of the young men 
 having gone to their relatives on the Columbia to 
 procure horses. The sages met in hurried council. 
 What was to be done to ward off this impending 
 blow which threatened annihilation ? In this mo- 
 ment of imminent peril and alarm, a Pierced-nose 
 chief, named Blue John by the whites, stepped for- 
 ward and suggested a desperate plan, which he 
 offered to conduct in person. It was, to approach 
 secretly with a small, but chosen band, through a de- 
 file which led to the encampment of the enemy, and, 
 by a sudden onset, to drive off the horses. Should 
 this blow be successful, the spirit and strength of 
 the invaders would be broken, and the Nez Perces, 
 having horses, would be more than a match for 
 them. Should it fail, the village would not be 
 worse off than at present, when destruction ap- 
 peared inevitable. 
 
 Twenty-nine of the choicest warriors instantly 
 volunteered to follow Blue John in this hazardous 
 enterprise. They prepared for it with the solemnity 
 
184 
 
 BLUE JOHN. 
 
 and devotion peculiar to the tribe. Blue John con- 
 sulted his medicine, or talismanic charm, such as 
 every chief keeps in his lodge as a supernatural 
 protection. The oracle assured him that his enter- 
 prise would be completely successful, provided no 
 rain should fall before he had passed through the 
 defile ; but should it rain, his band would be utterly 
 cut off. 
 
 The day was clear and bright ; and Blue John 
 anticipated that the skies would be propitious. He 
 departed in high game spirit with his forlorn hope ; 
 and never did band of braves make a more gallant 
 display : horsemen and horses painted and deco- 
 rated and equipped in the fiercest and most glaring 
 style ; glittering with arms and ornaments, and flut- 
 tering with feathers. 
 
 The weather continued serene, until they reached 
 the defile ; but just as they were entering it, a black 
 cloud rose over the mountain crest, and there was 
 a sudden shower. The warriors turned to their 
 leader as if to read his opinion of this unlucky 
 omen ; but the countenance of Blue John remained 
 unchanged, and they all continued to press forward. 
 It was their hope to make their way, undiscovered, 
 to the very vicinity of the Blackfoot camp : but 
 they had not proceeded far in the defile, when they 
 met a scouting party of the enemy. They attacked 
 and drove them among the hills, and were pursuing 
 them with great eagerness, when they heard shouts 
 and yells behind them, and beheld the main body 
 of the Blackfeet advancing. 
 
 The second chief wavered a little at the sight, 
 
BLUE JOHN 
 
 185 
 
 and proposed an instant retreat. " We came to 
 fight !" replied Blue John, sternly. Then giving 
 his war-whoop, he sprang forward to the conflict. 
 His braves followed him. They made a headlong 
 and desperate charge upon the enemy ; not with the 
 hope of victory, but the determination to sell their 
 lives dearly. A frightful carnage, rather than a 
 regular battle, succeeded. The forlorn band laid 
 heaps of their enemies dead at their feet, but were 
 overwhelmed with numbers, and pressed into a 
 gorge of the mountain, where they continued to 
 fight until they were cut to pieces. One, only, of 
 the thirty survived. He sprang on the horse of a 
 Blackfoot warrior whom he had slain, and escaping 
 at full speed, brought home the baleful tidings to 
 his village. 
 
 Who can paint the horror and desolation of the 
 inhabitants ? The flower of their warriors laid low, 
 and a ferocious enemy at their doors. The air was 
 rent by the shrieks and lamentations of the women, 
 who, casting off their ornaments, and tearing their 
 hair, wandered about, frantically bewailing the dead, 
 and predicting destruction to the living. The re- 
 maining warriors armed themselves for obstinate 
 defence ; but showed by their gloomy looks and 
 sullen silence, that they considered defence hope- 
 less. To their surprise, the Blackfeet refrained 
 from pursuing their advantage : perhaps satisfied 
 with the blood already shed, or disheartened by the 
 loss they had themselves sustained. At any rate, 
 they disappeared from the hills, and. it was soon as- 
 certained that they had returned to the Horse prairie. 
 
 16* 
 
186 LAMENTATION OVER THE SLAIN. 
 
 The unfortunate Nez Perces now began once 
 more to breathe. A few of their warriors, taking 
 packhorses, repaired to the defile to bring away the 
 bodies of their slaughtered brethren. They found 
 them mere headless trunks ; and the wounds with 
 which they were covered, showed how bravely they 
 had fought. Their hearts, too, had been torn out 
 and carried off; a proof of their signal valor : for 
 in devouring the heart of a foe renowned for 
 bravery, or who has distinguished himself in battle, 
 the Indian victor thinks he appropriates to himself 
 the courage of the deceased. 
 
 Gathering the mangled bodies of the slain, and 
 strapping them across their packhorses, the warriors 
 returned, in dismal procession, to the village. The 
 tribe came forth to meet them ; the women with 
 piercing cries and wailings ; the men with downcast 
 countenances, in which gloom and sorrow seemed 
 fixed as if in marble. The mutilated and almost 
 undistinguishable bodies were placed in rows upon 
 the ground, in the midst of the assemblage ; and the 
 scene of heart-rending anguish and lamentation that 
 ensued, would have confounded those who insist on 
 Indian stoicism. 
 
 Such was the disastrous event that had over- 
 whelmed the Nez Perces tribe, during the absence 
 of Captain Bonneville : and he was informed that 
 Kosato, the renegade, who, being stationed in the vil- 
 lage, had been prevented from going on the forlorn 
 hope, was again striving to rouse the vindictive 
 feelings of his adopted brethren, and to prompt them 
 to revenge the slaughter of their devoted braves. 
 
Hudson's bay trader. 
 
 187 
 
 During his sojourn on the Snake river plain, 
 Captain Bonneville made one of his first essays at 
 the strategy of the fur trade. There was at this 
 time an assemblage of Nez Perces, Flatheads, and 
 Cottonois Indians, encamped together upon the 
 plain ; well provided with beaver, which they had 
 collected during the spring. These they were wait- 
 ing to traffic with a resident trader of the Hudson's 
 Bay Company, who was stationed among them, and 
 with whom they were accustomed to deal. As it 
 happened, the trader was almost entirely destitute 
 of Indian goods ; his spring supply not having yet 
 reached him. Captain Bonneville had secret intel- 
 ligence that the supplies were on the way, and 
 would soon arrive ; he hoped, however, by a prompt 
 move, to anticipate their arrival and secure the 
 market to himself. Throwing himself, therefore, 
 among the Indians, he opened his packs of mer- 
 chandise, and displayed the most tempting wares ; 
 bright cloths, and scarlet blankets, and glittering 
 ornaments, and every thing gay and glorious in the 
 eyes of warrior or squaw : all, however, was in 
 vain. The Hudson's Bay trader was a perfect 
 master of his business ; thoroughly acquainted with 
 the Indians he had to deal with, and held such con- 
 trol over them, that none dared to act openly in 
 opposition to his wishes : nay, more — he came nigh 
 turning the tables upon the captain, and shaking the 
 allegiance of some of his free trappers, by distri- 
 buting liquors among them. The latter, therefore, 
 was glad to give up a competition, where the war 
 was likely to be carried into his own camp. 
 
188 
 
 Hudson's bay trader. 
 
 In fact, the traders of the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany have advantages over all competitors in the 
 trade beyond the Rocky mountains. That huge 
 monopoly centres within itself not merely its own 
 hereditary and long established power and influ- 
 ence ; but also those of its ancient, rival, but now 
 integral part, the famous Northwest Company. It 
 has thus its races of traders, trappers, hunters, and 
 voyageurs, born and brought up in its service, and 
 inheriting from preceding generations a knowledge 
 and aptitude in every thing connected with Indian 
 life, and Indian traffic. In the process of years, 
 this company has been enabled to spread its ramifi- 
 cations in every direction ; its system of intercourse 
 is founded upon a long and intimate knowledge of 
 the character and necessities of the various tribes ; 
 and of all the fastnesses, defiles, and favorable hunt- 
 ing grounds of the country. Their capital, also, 
 and the manner in which their supplies are distri- 
 buted at various posts, or forwarded by regular cara- 
 vans, keep their traders well supplied, and enable 
 them to furnish their goods to the Indians at a 
 cheap rate. Their men, too, being chiefly drawn 
 from the Canadas, where they enjoy great influence 
 and control, are engaged at the most trifling wages, 
 and supported at little cost : the provisions which 
 they take with them being little more than Indian 
 corn and grease. They are brought, also, into 
 the most perfect discipline and subordination, es- 
 pecially when their leaders have once got them 
 to their scene of action in the heart of the wil- 
 derness. 
 
COTTONOIS INDIANS. 
 
 189 
 
 These circumstances combine to give the leaders 
 of the Hudson's Bay Company a decided advantage 
 over all the American companies that come within 
 their range ; so that any close competition with 
 them is almost hopeless. 
 
 Shortly after Captain Bonneville's ineffectual at- 
 tempt to participate in the trade of the associated 
 camp, the supplies of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 arrived ; and the resident trader was enabled to 
 monopolize the market. 
 
 It was now the beginning of July; in the latter 
 part of which month, Captain Bonneville had ap- 
 pointed a rendezvous at Horse creek, in Green river 
 valley, with some of the parties^ which he had de- 
 tached in the preceding year. He now turned his 
 thoughts in that direction, and prepared for the 
 journey. 
 
 The Cottonois were anxious for him to proceed 
 at once to their country ; which, they assured him, 
 abounded in beaver. The lands of this tribe lie 
 immediately north of those of the Flathead s, and 
 are open to the inroads of the Blackfeet. It is true, 
 the latter professed to be their allies ; but they had 
 been guilty of so many acts of perfidy, that the 
 Cottonois had, latterly, renounced their hollow 
 friendship, and attached themselves to the Flat- 
 heads and Nez Perces. These they had accom- 
 panied in their migrations, rather than remain alone 
 at home, exposed to the outrages of the Blackfeet. 
 They were now apprehensive that these marauders 
 would range their country during their absence, and 
 destroy the beaver : this was their reason for urging 
 
190 
 
 HUNTING ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 Captain Bonneville to make it his autumnal hunt- 
 ing ground. The latter, however, was not to be 
 tempted : his engagements required his presence at 
 the rendezvous in Green river valley ; and he had 
 already formed his ulterior plans. 
 
 An unexpected difficulty now arose. The free 
 trappers suddenly made a stand, and declined to 
 accompany him. It was a long and a weary jour- 
 ney : the route lay through Pierre's Hole, and 
 other mountain passes infested by the Blackfeet, 
 and recently the scenes of sanguinary conflicts. 
 They were not disposed to undertake such unne- 
 cessary toils and dangers, when they had good and 
 secure trapping grounds nearer at hand, on the 
 head waters of Salmon river. 
 
 As these were free and independent fellows, 
 whose will and whim were apt to be law — who 
 had the whole wilderness before them, " where to 
 choose," and the trader of a rival company at hand, 
 ready to pay for their services — it was necessary to 
 bend to their wishes. Captain Bonneville fitted 
 them out, therefore, for the hunting ground in ques- 
 tion ; appointing Mr. Hodgkiss to act as their 
 partisan, or leader, and fixing a rendezvous where 
 he should meet them in the course of the ensuing 
 winter. The brigade consisted of twenty-one free 
 trappers, and four or five hired men as camp- 
 keepers. This was not the exact arrangement of a 
 trapping party ; which, when accurately organized, 
 is composed of two-thirds trappers, whose duty 
 leads them continually abroad in pursuit of game, 
 and one-third camp-keepers ; who cook, pack, and 
 
DISPERSION OF THE CAMPS. 191 
 
 unpack ; set up the tents, take care of the horses, 
 and do all other duties usually consigned by the 
 Indians to their women. This part of the service 
 is apt to be fulfilled by French Creoles from Canada 
 and the valley of the Mississippi. 
 
 In the meantime, the associated Indians having 
 completed their trade, and received their supplies, 
 were all ready to disperse in various directions. As 
 there was a formidable band of Blackfeet just over 
 a mountain to the northeast, by which Hodgkiss 
 and his free trappers would have to pass ; and as it 
 was known that those sharp-sighted marauders had 
 their scouts out, watching every movement of the 
 encampments, so as to cut off stragglers, or weak 
 detachments, Captain Bonneville prevailed upon 
 the Nez Perces to accompany Hodgkiss and his 
 party, until they should be beyond the range of the 
 enemy. 
 
 The Cottonois, and the Pends Oreilles, deter- 
 mined to move together at the same time ; and to 
 pass close under the mountain infested by the 
 Blackfeet ; while Captain Bonneville, with his party, 
 was to strike in an opposite direction to the south- 
 southeast, bending his course for Pierre's Hole, on 
 his way to Green river. 
 
 Accordingly, on the 6th of July, all the camps 
 were raised at the same moment ; each party taking 
 its separate route. The scene was wild and pic- 
 turesque : the long lines of traders, trappers, and 
 Indians, with their rugged, and fantastic dresses 
 and accoutrements ; their varied weapons, their 
 
192 DISPERSION OF THE CAMPS. 
 
 innumerable horses, some under the saddle, some 
 burthened with packages, others following in droves; 
 all stretching in lengthening caravans across the vast 
 landscape, and making for different points of the 
 plains and mountains. 
 
PRECAUTIONS ON THE MARCH. 
 
 193 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Precautions in dangerous defiles — Trappers' mode of defence on a 
 prairie — A mysterious visiter — Arrival in Green river valley — 
 Adventures of the detachments — The forlorn partisan — His tale 
 of disasters. 
 
 As the route of Captain Bonneville lay through 
 what was considered the most perilous part of all 
 this region of dangers, he took all his measures 
 with military skill, and observed the strictest cir- 
 cumspection. When on the march, a small scout- 
 ing party was always thrown in the advance, to 
 reconnoitre the whole country through which they 
 were to pass. The encampments were selected 
 with the greatest care, and a continual watch was 
 kept up night and day. The horses were brought 
 in and picketed at night, and at daybreak a party 
 was sent out to scour the neighborhood for half a 
 mile round, beating up every grove and thicket that 
 could give shelter to a lurking foe. When all was 
 reported safe, the horses were cast loose and turned 
 out to graze. Were such precautions generally 
 observed by traders and hunters, we should not so 
 often hear of parties being surprised by the Indians. 
 
 Having stated the military arrangements of the 
 captain, we may here mention a mode of defence 
 
 on the open prairie, which we have heard from a 
 vol. i 17 
 
194 PRECAUTIONS ON A PRAIRIE. 
 
 veteran in the Indian trade. "When a party of 
 trappers is on a journey with a convoy of goods or 
 peltries, every man has three packhorses under his 
 care ; each horse laden with three packs. Every 
 man is provided with a picket with an iron head, a 
 mallet, and hobbles, or leathern fetters for the horses. 
 The trappers proceed across the prairie in a long 
 line ; or sometimes three parallel lines, sufficiently 
 distant from each other to prevent the packs from 
 interfering. At an alarm, when there is no covert 
 at hand, the line wheels so as to bring the front to 
 the rear and form a circle. All then dismount, 
 drive their pickets into the ground in the centre, 
 fasten the horses to them, and hobble their fore 
 legs, so that, in case of alarm, they cannot break 
 away. They then unload them, and dispose of 
 their packs as breastworks on the periphery of the 
 circle ; each man having nine packs behind which 
 to shelter himself. In this promptly formed fort-- 
 ress, they await the assault of the enemy, and are 
 enabled to set large bands of Indians at defiance. 
 
 The first night of his march, Captain Bonneville 
 encamped upon Henry's fork ; an upper branch of 
 Snake river, called after the first American trader 
 that erected a fort beyond the mountains. About 
 an hour after all hands had come to a halt, the clat- 
 ter of hoofs was heard, and a solitary female, of 
 the Nez Perce tribe, came galloping up. She was 
 mounted on a mestang or half wild horse, which she 
 managed with a long rope hitched round the under 
 jaw by way of bridle. Dismounting, she walked 
 silently into the midst of the camp, and there seated 
 
THE MYSTERIOUS VISITER. 
 
 195 
 
 herself on the ground, still holding her horse by the 
 long halter. 
 
 The sudden and lonely apparition of this woman, 
 and her calm, yet resolute demeanor, awakened 
 universal curiosity. The hunters and trappers 
 gathered round, and gazed on her as something 
 mysterious. She remained silent, but maintained 
 her air of calmness and self-possession. Captain 
 Bonneville approached and interrogated her as to 
 the object of her mysterious visit. Her answer 
 was brief but earnest — " I love the whites — I will 
 go with them." She was forthwith invited to a 
 lodge, of which she readily took possession, and 
 from that time forward was considered one of the 
 camp. 
 
 In consequence, very probably, of the military 
 precautions of Captain Bonneville, he conducted 
 his party in safety through this hazardous region. 
 No accident of a disastrous kind occurred, ex- 
 cepting the loss of a horse, which, in passing 
 along the giddy edge of the precipice, called the 
 Cornice, a dangerous pass between Jackson's and 
 Pierre's Hole, fell over the brink and was dashed 
 to pieces. 
 
 On the 13th of July, (1833,) Captain Bonneville 
 arrived at Green river. As he entered the valley, 
 he beheld it strewed in every direction with the 
 carcasses of buffaloes. It was evident that Indians 
 had recently been there, and in great numbers. 
 Alarmed at this sight, and fearing that all was not 
 well, he came to a halt, and as soon as it was dark, 
 sent out spies to his place of rendezvous on Horse 
 
196 
 
 MEETING OF THE BANDS. 
 
 creek, where he had expected to meet with' his 
 detached parties of trappers on the following day. 
 Early in the morning, the spies made their appear- 
 ance in the camp, and with them came three trappers 
 of one of his bands, from the rendezvous, who told 
 him his people were all there expecting him. As 
 to the slaughter among the buffaloes, it had been 
 made by a friendly band of Shoshonies, who had 
 fallen in with one of his trapping parties, and ac- 
 companied them to the rendezvous. Having im- 
 parted this intelligence, the three worthies from the 
 rendezvous broached a small keg of " alcohol" 
 which they had brought with them, to enliven this 
 merry meeting. The liquor went briskly round ; 
 all absent friends were toasted, and the party moved 
 forward to the rendezvous in high spirits. 
 
 The meeting of associated bands, who have been 
 separated from each other on these hazardous en- 
 terprises, is always interesting; each having its tale 
 of perils and adventures to relate. Such was the 
 case with the various detachments of Captain 
 Bonneville's company, thus brought together on 
 Horse creek. Here was the detachment of fifty 
 men which he had sent from Salmon river, in the 
 preceding month of November, to winter on Snake 
 river. They had met with many crosses and losses 
 in the course of their spring hunt, not so much from 
 Indians as from white men. They had come in 
 competition with rival trapping parties, particularly 
 one belonging to the Rocky Mountain Fur Com- 
 pany ; and they had long stories to relate of their 
 manoeuvres to forestall or distress each other. In 
 
the unlucky partisan. 
 
 197 
 
 fact, in these virulent and sordid competitions, the 
 trappers of each party were more intent upon injur- 
 ing their rivals, than benefiting themselves ; break- 
 ing each other's traps, trampling and tearing to 
 pieces the beaver lodges, and doing every thing in 
 their power to mar the success of the hunt. We 
 forbear to detail these pitiful contentions. 
 
 The most lamentable tale of disasters, however, 
 that Captain Bonneville had to hear, was from a 
 partisan, whom he had detached in the preceding 
 year, with twenty men, to hunt through the out- 
 skirts of the Crow country, and on the tributary 
 streams of the Yellowstone; from whence he was 
 to proceed and join him in his winter quarters on 
 Salmon river. This partisan appeared at the ren- 
 dezvous without his party, and a sorrowful tale of 
 disasters had he to relate. In hunting the Crow 
 country, he fell in with a village of that tribe ; 
 notorious rogues, jockeys, and horse stealers, and 
 errant scamperers of the mountains. These de- 
 coyed most of his men to desert, and carry off 
 horses, traps, and accoutrements ; and when he 
 attempted to retake the deserters, the Crow war- 
 riors ruffled up to him, declared the deserters were 
 their good friends, had determined to remain among 
 them, and should not be molested. The poor par- 
 tisan, therefore, was fain to leave his vagabonds 
 among these birds of their own feather, and, being 
 too weak in numbers to attempt the dangerous pass 
 across the mountains to meet Captain Bonneville 
 on Salmon river, he made, with the few that re- 
 mained faithful to him, for the neighborhood of 
 
 17* 
 
198 ARICKARA SPIES. 
 
 Tullock's fort, on the Yellowstone, under the pro- 
 tection of which he went into winter quarters. 
 
 He soon found out that the neighborhood of the 
 fort was nearly as bad as the neighborhood of the 
 Crows. His men were continually stealing away 
 thither, with whatever beaver skins they could 
 secrete or lay their hands on. These they would 
 exchange with the hangers-on of the fort for whis- 
 key, and then revel in drunkenness and debauchery 
 
 The unlucky partisan made another move. As- 
 sociating with his party a few free trappers, whom 
 he met with in this neighborhood, he started off 
 early in the spring to trap on the head waters of 
 Powder river. In the course of the journey, his 
 horses were so much jaded in traversing a steep 
 mountain, that he was induced to turn them loose 
 to graze during the night. The place was lonely ; 
 the pass was rugged ; there was not the sign of an 
 Indian in the neighborhood ; not a blade of grass 
 that had been turned by a footstep. But who can 
 calculate on security in the midst of the Indian 
 country, where the foe lurks in silence and secrecy, 
 and seems to come and go on the wings of the 
 wind? The horses had scarce been turned loose, 
 when a couple of Arickara (or Rickaree) warriors 
 entered the camp. They affected a frank and 
 friendly demeanor ; but their appearance and move- 
 ments awakened the suspicions of some of the 
 veteran trappers, well versed in Indian wiles. Con- 
 vinced that they were spies sent on some sinister 
 errand, they took them into custody, and set to 
 work to drive in the horses. It was too late — the 
 
A ROBBERY. 
 
 199 
 
 horses were already gone. In fact, a war party of 
 Arickaras had been hovering on their trail for seve- 
 ral days, watching with the patience and persever- 
 ance of Indians, for some moment of negligence 
 and fancied security, to make a successful swoop. 
 The two spies had evidently been sent into the 
 camp to create a diversion, while their confederates 
 carried off the spoil. 
 
 The unlucky partisan, thus robbed of his horses, 
 turned furiously on his prisoners, ordered them to 
 be bound hand and foot, and swore to put them to 
 death unless his property were restored. The rob- 
 bers, who soon found that their spies were in cap- 
 tivity, now made their appearance on horseback, 
 and held a parley. The sight of them, mounted on 
 the very horses they had stolen, set the blood of* 
 the mountaineers in a ferment ; but it was useless 
 to attack them, as they would have but to turn their 
 steeds and scamper out of the reach of pedestrians. 
 A negotiation was now attempted. The Arickaras 
 offered what they considered fair terms ; to barter 
 one horse, or even two horses, for a prisoner. The 
 mountaineers spurned at their offer, and declared 
 that, unless all the horses were relinquished, the 
 prisoners should be burnt to death. To give force 
 to their threat, a pyre of logs and fagots was 
 heaped up and kindled into a blaze. 
 
 The parley continued; the Arickaras released 
 one horse and then another, in earnest of their pro- 
 position ; finding, however, that nothing short of 
 the relinquishment of all their spoils would pur- 
 chase the lives of the captives, they abandoned 
 
200 
 
 AN ATROCIOUS PUNISHMENT. 
 
 them to. their fate, moving off with many parting 
 words and lamentable howlings. The prisoners 
 seeing them depart, and knowing the horrible fate 
 that awaited them, made a desperate effort to es- 
 cape. They partially succeeded, but were severely 
 wounded and retaken ; then dragged to the blazing 
 pyre, and burnt to death in the sight of their re- 
 treating comrades. 
 
 Such are the savage cruelties that white men 
 learn to practise, who mingle in savage life ; and 
 such are the acts that lead to terrible recrimination 
 on the part of the Indians. Should we hear of any 
 atrocities committed by the Arickaras upon captive 
 white men, let this signal and recent provocation 
 be borne in mind. Individual cases of the kind 
 dwell in the recollections of whole tribes ; and it is 
 a point of honor and conscience to revenge them. 
 
 The loss of his horses completed the ruin of the 
 unlucky partisan. It was out of his power to 
 prosecute his hunting, or to maintain his party ; the 
 only thought now was how to get back to civilized 
 life. At the first water course, his men built canoes 
 and committed themselves to the stream. Some en- 
 gaged themselves at various trading establishments 
 at which they touched, others got back to the settle- 
 ments. As to the partisan, he found an opportunity 
 to make his way to the rendezvous at Green river 
 valley; which he reached in time to render to 
 Captain Bonneville this forlorn account of his 
 misadventures. 
 
THE GREEN RIVER GATHERING. 201 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Gathering in Green river valley— Visitings and feastings of leaders 
 — Rough wassailing among the trappers — Wild blades of the 
 mountains — Indian belles — Potency of bright beads and red 
 blankets — Arrival of supplies — Revelry and extravagance — Mad 
 wolves — The lost Indian. 
 
 The Green river valley was at this time the scene 
 of one of those general gatherings of traders, trap- 
 pers, and Indians, that we have already mentioned. 
 The three rival companies, which, for a year past 
 had been endeavoring to out-trade, out-trap, and 
 outwit each other, were here encamped in close 
 proximity, awaiting their annual supplies. About 
 four miles from the rendezvous of Captain Bonne- 
 ville was that of the American Fur Company, hard 
 by which, was that also of the Rocky Mountain Fur 
 Company. 
 
 After the eager rivalry and almost hostility dis- 
 played by these companies in their late campaigns, 
 it might be expected that, when thus brought in 
 juxtaposition, they would hold themselves warily 
 and sternly aloof from each other, and, should they 
 happen to come in contact, brawl and bloodshed 
 would ensue. 
 
 No such thing ! Never did rival lawyers, after a 
 wrangle at the bar, meet with more social good- 
 
 i 
 
202 
 
 a trapper's jubilee. 
 
 humor at a ci'rcuit dinner. The hunting season 
 over, all past tricks and manoeuvres are forgotten, 
 all feuds and bickerings buried in oblivion. From 
 the middle of June to the middle of September, all 
 trapping is suspended ; for the beavers are then shed- 
 ding their furs, and their skins are of little value. 
 This, then, is the trapper's holiday, when he is all 
 for fun and frolic, and ready for a saturnalia among 
 the mountains. 
 
 At the present season, too, all parties were in 
 good-humor. The year had been productive. Com- 
 petition, by threatening to lessen their profits, had 
 quickened their wits, roused their energies, and 
 made them turn every favorable chance to the best 
 advantage ; so that, on assembling at their respect- 
 ive places of rendezvous, each company found itself 
 in possession of a rich stock of peltries. 
 
 The leaders of the different companies, there- 
 fore, mingled on terms of perfect good fellowship; 
 interchanging visits, and regaling each other in the 
 best style their respective camps afforded. But the 
 rich treat for the worthy captain was to see the 
 " chivalry " of the various encampments, engaged in 
 contests of skill at running, jumping, wrestling, 
 shooting with the rifle, and running horses. And 
 then their rough hunters' feastings and carousals 
 They drank together, they sang, they laughed, they 
 whooped; they tried to outbrag and outlie each other 
 in stories of their adventures and achievements 
 Here the free trappers were in all their glory ; they 
 considered themselves the " cocks of the walk," and 
 always carried the highest crests. Now and theft 
 
PRODIGALS OP THE WILDERNESS. 203 
 
 familiarity was pushed too far, and would effervesce 
 into a brawl, and a "rough and tumble" fight ; but 
 it all ended in cordial reconciliation and maudlin 
 endearment. 
 
 The presence of the Shoshonie tribe contributed 
 occasionally to cause temporary jealousies and feuds. 
 The Shoshonie beauties became objects of rivalry 
 among some of the amorous mountaineers. Happy 
 was the trapper who could muster up a red blanket, 
 a string of gay beads, or a paper of precious ver- 
 milion, with which to win the smiles of a Shoshonie 
 fair one. 
 
 The caravans of supplies arrived at the valley 
 just at this period of gallantry and good fellowship. 
 Now commenced a scene of eager competition and 
 wild prodigality at the different encampments. 
 Bales were hastily ripped open, and all their motley 
 contents poured forth. A mania for purchasing 
 spread itself throughout the several bands, — muni- 
 tions for war, for hunting, for gallantry, were seized 
 upon with equal avidity — rifles, hunting knives, 
 traps, scarlet cloth, red blankets, garish beads, and 
 glittering trinkets, were bought at any price, and 
 scores run up without any thought how they were 
 ever to be rubbed off. The free trappers, especially, 
 were extravagant in their purchases. For a free 
 mountaineer to pause at any paltry consideration of 
 dollars and cents, in the attainment of any object 
 that might strike his fancy, would stamp him with 
 the mark of the beast in the estimation of his com- 
 rades. For a trader to refuse one of these free and 
 flourishing blades a credit, whatever unpaid scores 
 
204 
 
 MAD WOLVES. 
 
 might stare him in the face, would be a flagrant 
 affront scarcely to be forgiven. 
 
 Now succeeded another outbreak of revelry and 
 extravagance. The trappers were newly fitted out 
 and arrayed ; and dashed about with their horses 
 caparisoned in Indian style. The Shoshonie beau- 
 ties also flaunted about in all the colors of the rain- 
 bow. Every freak of prodigality was indulged to its 
 full extent, and in a little while most of the trappers, 
 having squandered away all their wages, and per- 
 haps run knee deep in debt, were ready for another 
 hard campaign in the wilderness. 
 
 During this season of folly and frolic, there was 
 an alarm of mad wolves in the two lower camps. 
 One or more of these animals entered the camps 
 for three nights successively, and bit several of the 
 people. 
 
 Captain Bonneville relates the case of an Indian, 
 who was a universal favorite in the lower camp. 
 He had been bitten by one of these animals. Being 
 out with a party shortly afterwards, he grew silent 
 and gloomy, and lagged behind the rest as if he 
 wished to leave them. They halted and urged him 
 to move faster, but he entreated them not to ap- 
 proach him, and, leaping from his horse, began to 
 roll frantically on the earth, gnashing his teeth and 
 foaming at the mouth. Still he retained his senses, 
 and warned his companions not to come near him, 
 as he should not be able to restrain himself from 
 biting them. They hurried off to obtain relief ; but 
 on their return he was nowhere to be found. His 
 horse and his accoutrements remained upon the 
 
THE LOST INDIAN. 
 
 205 
 
 spot. Three or four days afterwards, a solitary- 
 Indian, believed to be the same, was observed 
 crossing a valley, and pursued ; but he darted away 
 into the fastnesses of the mountains, and was seen 
 no more. 
 
 Another instance we have from a different person 
 who was present in the encampment. One of the 
 men of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company had 
 been bitten. He set out shortly afterwards, in com- 
 pany with two white men, on his return to the settle- 
 ments. In the course of a few days he shewed 
 symptoms of hydrophobia, and became raving to- 
 wards night. At length, breaking away from his 
 companions he rushed into a thicket of willows, 
 vhere they left him to his fate ! 
 
 18 
 
206 EXPLORING SCHEMES. 
 
 / 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 > 
 
 Schemes of Captain Bonneville — The Great Salt lake — Expedition 
 to explore it — Preparations for a journey to the Bighorn. 
 
 Captain Bonneville now found himself at the 
 head of a hardy, well seasoned, and well appointed 
 company of trappers, all benefited by at least one 
 year's experience among the mountains, and capa- 
 ble of protecting themselves from Indian wiles and 
 stratagems, and of providing for their subsistence 
 wherever game was to be found. He had, also, an 
 excellent troop of horses, in prime condition and fit 
 for hard service. He now determined, therefore, 
 to strike out into some of the bolder parts of his 
 scheme. One of these was to carry his expeditions 
 into some of the unknown tracts of the far west, 
 beyond what is generally termed the buffalo range. 
 This would have something of the merit and charm 
 of discovery, so dear to every brave and adventur- 
 ous spirit. Another favorite project with him was 
 to establish a trading post on the lower part of the 
 Columbia river, near the Multnomah valley, and to 
 endeavor to retrieve for his country some of the lost 
 trade of Astoria. 
 
 The first of the above mentioned views was, at 
 present, uppermost in his mind — the exploring of 
 
THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 207 
 
 Unknown regions. Among the grand features of 
 the stupendous wilderness about which he was 
 roaming, is one which appears to have made a vivid 
 impression on his mind, and to have been clothed 
 by his imagination with vague and ideal charms. 
 This is a great lake of salt water, which laves the 
 feet of the mountains, but extends far to the west- 
 southwest, into one of those vast and elevated plat- 
 eaus of land, which range high above the level of 
 the Pacific. 
 
 Captain Bonneville gives a striking account of the 
 lake when seen from the land. As you ascend the 
 mountains about its shores, says he, you behold this 
 immense body of water spreading itself before you, 
 and stretching further and further, in one wide and 
 far reaching expanse, until the eye, wearied with 
 continued and strained attention, rests in the blue 
 dimness of distance, upon lofty ranges of mountains, 
 confidently asserted to rise from the bosom of the 
 waters. Nearer to you, the smooth and unruffled 
 surface is studded with little islands, where the 
 mountain sheep roam in considerable numbers. 
 What extent of lowland may be encompassed by 
 the high peaks beyond, must remain for the present 
 matter of mere conjecture ; though from the form 
 of the summits, and the breaks which may be dis- 
 covered among them, there can be little doubt that 
 they are the sources of streams calculated to water 
 large tracts, which are probably concealed from 
 view from the rotundity cf the lake's surface. At 
 some future day, in all probability, the rich harvest 
 of beaver fur, which may be reasonably anticipated 
 
208 THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 
 
 in such a spot, will tempt adventurers to reduce all 
 this doubtful region to the palpable certainty of a 
 beaten track. At present, however, destitute of 
 the means of making boats, the trapper stands. upon 
 the shore, and gazes upon a promised land which 
 his feet are never to tread. 
 
 Such is the somewhat fanciful view which Cap- 
 tain Bonneville gives of this great body of water. 
 He has evidently taken part of his ideas concerning 
 it from the representations of others, who have 
 somewhat exaggerated its features. It is reported 
 to be about one hundred and fifty miles long, and 
 fifty miles broad. The ranges of mountain peaks 
 which Captain Bonneville speaks of, as rising from 
 its bosom, are probably the summits of mountains 
 beyond it, which may be visible at a vast distance, 
 when viewed from an eminence, in the transparent 
 atmosphere of these lofty regions. Several large 
 islands certainly exist in the lake ; one of which is 
 said to be mountainous, but not by any means to 
 the extent required to furnish the series of peaks 
 above mentioned. 
 
 Captain Sublette, in one of his early expeditions 
 across the mountains, is said to have sent four men 
 in a skin canoe, to explore the lake, who professed 
 to have navigated all around it ; but to have suffered 
 excessively from thirst, the water of the lake being 
 extremely salt, and there being no fresh streams 
 running into it. 
 
 Captain Bonneville doubts this report, or that the 
 men accomplished the circumnavigation, because, 
 he says, the lake receives several large streams 
 
THE GREAT SALT LAKE. 
 
 209 
 
 from the mountains which bound it to the east. 
 In the spring, when these streams are swollen 
 by rain and by the melting of the snows, the 
 lake rises several feet above its ordinary level; 
 during the summer, it gradually subsides again, 
 leaving a sparkling zone of the finest salt upon its 
 shores. 
 
 The elevation of the vast plateau on which this 
 lake is situated, is estimated by Captain Bonneville 
 at one and three-fourths of a mile above the level 
 of the ocean. The admirable purity and transpa- 
 rency of the atmosphere in this region, allowing 
 objects to be seen, and the report of fire-arms to 
 be heard, at an astonishing distance ; and its ex- 
 treme dryness, causing the wheels of waggons to 
 fall to pieces, as instanced in former passages of 
 this work, are proofs of the great altitude of the 
 Rocky mountain plains. That a body of salt 
 water should exist at such a height, is cited as 
 a singular phenomenon by Captain Bonneville, 
 though the salt lake of Mexico is not much infe- 
 rior in elevation.* 
 
 To have this lake properly explored, and all its 
 secrets revealed, was the grand scheme of the cap- 
 tain for the present year ; and while it was one in 
 which his imagination evidently took a leading part, 
 he believed it would be attended with great profit, 
 
 * The lake of Tezcuco which surrounds the city of Mexico, the 
 largest and lowest of the five lakes on the Mexican plateau, and 
 the one most impregnated with saline particles, is seven thousand 
 four hundred and sixty-eight feet, or nearly one mile and a half 
 above the level of the sea. 
 
 18* 
 
/ 
 
 210 TRANSPORTATION OF PELTRIES. 
 
 from the numerous beaver streams with which the 
 lake must be fringed. 
 
 This momentous undertaking he confided to his 
 lieutenant, Mr. Walker, in whose experience and 
 ability he had great confidence. He instructed him 
 to keep along the shores of the lake, and trap in all 
 the streams on his route. He was also to keep a 
 journal, and minutely to record the events of his 
 journey, and every thing curious or interesting, 
 making maps or charts of his route, and of the sur- 
 rounding country. 
 
 No pains nor expense were spared in fitting out 
 the party of which he was to take command, which 
 was composed of forty men. They had complete 
 supplies for a year, and were to meet Captain 
 Bormeville in the ensuing summer, in the valley of 
 Bear river, the largest tributary of the Salt lake, 
 which was to be his point of general rendezvous. 
 
 The next care of Captain Bonneville, was to 
 arrange for the safe transportation of the peltries 
 which he had collected, to the Atlantic states. The 
 conducting of the convoy was to be undertaken by 
 Mr. Cerre ; it was necessary to fix upon the route 
 by which he should proceed. 
 
 Mr. Robert Campbell, the partner of Sublette, 
 was at this time in the rendezvous of the Rocky 
 Mountain Fur Company, having brought up their 
 supplies. He was about to set off on his return, 
 with the peltries collected during the year, and in- 
 tended to proceed through the Crow country, to the 
 head of navigation on the Bighorn river, and to 
 
TRANSPORTATION OF PELTRIES. 211 
 
 descend in boats down that river, the Missouri, and 
 the Yellowstone, to St. Louis. 
 
 Captain Bonneville determined to forward his 
 peltries by the same route. To accompany Cerre 
 to the point of embarcation, and then to make an 
 autumnal hunt in the Crow country. 
 
212 
 
 THE CROW COUNTRY. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Crow country — A Crow paradise — Habits of the Crows — 
 Anecdotes of Rose, the renegade white man — his fights with the 
 Blackfeet — his elevation — his death — Arapooish, the Crow chief 
 — his eagle — Adventure of Robert Campbell — Honor among 
 Crows. 
 
 Before we accompany Captain Bonneville into the 
 Crow country, we will impart a few facts about this 
 wild region, and the wild people who inhabit it. We 
 are not aware of the precise boundaries, if there are 
 any, of the country claimed by the Crows ; it ap- 
 pears to extend from the Black hills to the Rocky 
 mountains, including a part of their lofty ranges, and 
 embracing many of the plains and valleys watered 
 by the Wind river, the Yellowstone, the Powder 
 river, the little Missouri, and the Nebraska. The 
 country varies in soil and climate ; there are vast 
 plains of sand and clay, studded with large red sand 
 hills : other parts are grand and picturesque : it 
 possesses warm springs, and coal mines, and 
 abounds with game. 
 
 But let us give the account of the country as ren- 
 dered by Arapooish, a Crow chief, to Mr. Robert 
 Campbell, of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company. 
 
 " The Crow country," said he, " is a good coun- 
 try. The Great Spirit has put it exactly in the right 
 
THE CROW COUNTRY. 
 
 213 
 
 place ; while you are in it you fare well ; whenever 
 you go out of it, which ever way you travel, you 
 will fare worse. 
 
 " If you go to the south, there you have to wander 
 over great barren plains ; the water is warm and 
 bad, and you meet the fever and ague. 
 
 " To the north it is cold the winters are long 
 and bitter, with no grass ; you cannot keep horses 
 there, but must travel with dogs. What is a coun- 
 try without horses ! 
 
 " On the Columbia they are poor and dirty, pad- 
 dle about in canoes, and eat fish. Their teeth are 
 worn out ; they are always taking fishbones out of 
 their mouths. Fish is poor food. 
 
 " To the east, they dwell in villages ; they live 
 well ; but they drink the muddy water of the Mis- 
 souri — that is bad. A Crow's dog would not drink 
 such water. 
 
 " About the forks of the Missouri is a fine coun- 
 try ; good water ; good grass ; plenty of buffalo. In 
 summer, it is almost as good as the Crow country ; 
 but in winter it is cold ; the grass is gone ; and there 
 is no salt weed for the horses. 
 
 " The Crow country is exactly in the right place. 
 It has snowy mountains and sunny plains ; all kinds 
 of climates and good things for every season. 
 When the summer heats scorch the prairies, you 
 can draw up under the mountains, where the air 
 is sweet and cool, the grass fresh, and the bright 
 streams come tumbling out of the snow banks. 
 There you can hunt the elk, the deer, and the ante- 
 lope, .when their skins are fit for dressing; there 
 
214 
 
 THE CROW COUNTRY. 
 
 you will find plenty of white bears and mountain 
 sheep. 
 
 " In the autumn, when your horses are fat and 
 strong from the mountain pastures, you can go down 
 into the plains and hunt the buffalo, or trap beaver 
 on the streams. And when winter comes on, you 
 can take shelter in the woody bottoms along the 
 rivers ; there you will find buffalo meat for your- 
 selves, and cotton-wood bark for your horses : or 
 you may winter in the Wind river valley, where 
 there is salt weed in abundance. 
 
 " The Crow country is exactly in the right place. 
 Every thing good is to be found there. There is 
 no country like the Crow country." 
 
 Such is the eulogium on his country by Arapooish. 
 
 We have had repeated occasions to speak of the 
 restless and predatory habits of the Crows. They 
 can muster fifteen hundred fighting men ; but their in- 
 cessant wars with the Blackfeet, and their vagabond, 
 predatory habits, are gradually wearing them out. 
 
 In a recent work, we related the circumstance of 
 a white man named Rose, an outlaw, and a design- 
 ing vagabond, who acted as guide and interpreter to 
 Mr. Hunt and his party, on their journey across the 
 mountains to Astoria ; who came near betraying 
 them into the hands of the Crows, and who remained 
 among the tribe, marrying one of their women, and 
 adopting their congenial habits.* A few anecdotes 
 of the subsequent fortunes of that renegado may not 
 be uninteresting, especially as they are connected 
 with the fortunes of the tribe. 
 
 * See Astoria, vol. i„ 
 
ROSE, THE OUTLAW. 
 
 215 
 
 Rose was powerful in frame and fearless in spirit : 
 and soon by his daring deeds took his rank among 
 the first braves of the tribe. He aspired to com- 
 mand, and knew it was only to be attained by 
 desperate exploits. He distinguished himself in 
 repeated actions with the Blackfeet. On one occa- 
 sion, a band of those savages had fortified them- 
 selves within a breastwork, and could not be harmed. 
 Rose proposed to storm the work. " Who will take 
 the lead ?" was the demand. " I !" cried he ; and 
 putting himself at their head, rushed forward. The 
 first Blackfoot that opposed him, he shot down with 
 his rifle, and, snatching up the war-club of his victim, 
 killed four others within the fort. The victory was 
 complete, and Rose returned to the Crow village 
 covered with glory, and bearing five Blackfoot 
 scalps, to be erected as a trophy before his lodge. 
 From this time, he was known among the Crows 
 by the name of Che-ku-kaats, or, " the man who 
 killed five." He became chief of the village, or 
 rather band, and for a time was the popular idol. 
 His popularity soon awakened envy among the 
 native braves ; he was a stranger, an intruder, a 
 white man. A party seceded from his command. 
 Feuds and civil wars succeeded that lasted for two 
 or three years, until Rose, having contrived to set 
 his adopted brethren by the ears, left them, and 
 went down the Missouri in 1823. Here he fell in 
 with one of the earliest trapping expeditions sent by 
 General Ashley across the mountains. It was con- 
 ducted by Smith, Fitzpatrick, and Sublette. Rose 
 enlisted with them as guide and interpreter. When 
 
216 ROSE, THE OUTLAW. 
 
 he got them among the Crows, he was exceedingly 
 generous with their goods ; making presents to the 
 braves of his adopted tribe, as became a high-minded 
 chief. 
 
 This, doubtless, helped to revive his popularity. 
 In that expedition, Smith and Fitzpatrick were rob- 
 bed of their horses in Green river valley; the- place 
 where the robbery took place still bears the name 
 of Horse creek. We are not informed whether the 
 horses were stolen through the instigation and ma- 
 nagement of Rose ; it is not improbable, for such 
 was the perfidy he had intended to practise on a 
 former occasion towards Mr. Hunt and his party. 
 
 The last anecdote we have of Rose is from an 
 Indian trader. When General Atkinson made his 
 military expedition up the Missouri, in 1825, to 
 protect the fur trade, he held a conference with the 
 Crow nation, at which Rose figured as Indian dig- 
 nitary and Crow interpreter. The military were 
 tationed at some little distance from the scene of 
 the "big talk;" while the general and the chiefs 
 were smoking pipes and making speeches, the 
 officers, supposing all was friendly, left the troops, 
 and drew near the scene of ceremonial. Some of 
 the more knowing Crows, perceiving this, stole 
 quietly to the camp, and, unobserved, contrived to 
 stop the touch-holes of the fieldpieces with dirt. 
 Shortly after, a misunderstanding occurred in the 
 conference : some of the Indians, knowing the can- 
 non to be useless, became insolent. A tumult arose. 
 In the confusion, Colonel O'Fallan snapped a pis- 
 tol in the face of a brave, and knocked him down 
 
ROSE, THE OUTLAW. 
 
 217 
 
 with the butt end. The Crows were all in a fury. 
 A chance medley fight was on the point of taking 
 place, when Rose, his natural sympathies as a white 
 man suddenly recurring, broke the stock of his 
 fusee over the head of a Crow warrior, and laid so 
 vigorously about him with the barrel, that he soon 
 put the whole throng to flight. Luckily, as no lives 
 had been lost, this sturdy ribroasting calmed the 
 fury of the Crows, and the tumult ended without 
 serious consequences. 
 
 What was the ultimate fate of this vagabond hero 
 is not distinctly known. Some report him to have 
 fallen a victim to disease, brought on by his licen- 
 tious life ; others assert that he was murdered in a 
 feud among the Crows. After all, his residence 
 among these ' savages, and the influence he ac- 
 quired over them, had, for a time, some beneficial 
 effects. He is said, not merely to have rendered 
 them more formidable to the Blackfeet, but to 
 have opened their eyes to the policy of cultivating 
 the friendship of the white men. 
 
 After Rose's death, his policy continued to be 
 cultivated, with indifferent success, by Arapooish, 
 the chief already mentioned, who had been his great 
 friend, and whose character he had contributed to 
 develope. This sagacious chief endeavored on every 
 occasion, to restrain the predatory propensities of 
 his tribe when directed against the white men. " If 
 we keep friends with them," said he, " we have 
 nothing to fear from the Blackfeet, and can rule the 
 mountains." Arapooish pretended to be a great 
 " medicine man ;" a character among the Indians 
 
 vol. i. 19