THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 9178 
 
 vze>7f

 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 and 
 EARLY WESTERN EXPLORATION
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 and 
 
 EARLY WESTERN 
 EXPLORATION 
 
 by 
 CLARENCE A. VANDIVEER 
 
 THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY 
 
 CLEVELAND, U.S.A: 1929
 
 Copyright, 1929, by 
 THE ARTHUR H. CLARK COMPANY
 
 
 TO 
 MY MOTHER 
 
 *& 
 
 884 
 
 96
 
 Contents 
 
 Preface 13 
 
 Beginnings of the Fur-trade 17 
 
 Exploration and Trade 27 
 
 English, Dutch, and French Rivalry ... 37 
 
 Explorations of Radisson and Groseilliers . . 47 
 
 Marquette and Joliet - Early Waterways and Portages 57 
 
 Adventures of LaSalle in Canada and the West . 65 
 
 LaSalle on the Mississippi 75 
 
 Beginning of the Hudson's Bay Company ... 87 
 
 Count Verendrye and the Discovery of the Rockies . 99 
 
 English Supremacy - Hearne's Explorations . . 109 
 
 The Northwest Fur Company 119 
 
 The First Crossing of the Continent . . . 129 
 
 Trade and Exploration on the Pacific Coast . . 141 
 
 American Independence - Trans-mississippi Explorations i 5 1 
 
 Explorations in the Southwest 161 
 
 John Jacob Astor and the Fur-trade . . . . 171 
 
 Return of the Astorians- the American Fur Company 185 
 British and American traders in Oregon and the 
 
 Rockies 193 
 
 Union of the Northwest and Hudson's Bay companies 207 
 
 Jedediah Smith's California Expeditions . . . 215 
 
 Travels of Bonneville and Walker .... 225 
 
 Wyeth's Enterprise -a Fur-trade Rendezvous . . 235 
 
 Free Traders and Trappers 245 
 
 Some Famous Free Trappers 255 
 
 French Voyageurs or Coureurs de bois . . . 265 
 
 /Forts of the Fur-trade 275 
 
 Life at the Fur Posts 287 
 
 Later Days 297 
 
 Index 3°5
 
 Illustrations 
 
 Interior View of Fort Garry .... Frontispiece 
 As it appeared in 1871 
 
 Exterior View of Fort Garry 93 
 
 From a photograph made in 1869 
 
 Fort Pierre 131 
 
 From an original drawing made by Alexander H. Murray in 1844 
 
 An early Fur-trading station 173 
 
 Fort Astoria near the mouth of the Columbia river in 181 3 
 
 Dr. John McLoughlin 197 
 
 From a miniature painted on ivory in 1838 or 1839 
 
 Fort Union 279 
 
 From an original drawing made by Alexander H. Murray in 18+5
 
 Preface 
 
 The story of the fur-trade is very largely the story of 
 pioneer America. The fur-trade was the agency through 
 which all the vast interior of the continent was ex- 
 plored and made known to the world. The trapper and 
 the trader were the real pioneers and trail blazers, 
 while the rude trading posts they established at various 
 strategic points were the genesis of many of our mod- 
 ern cities. The story of the fur-trade, we might say, is a 
 twice-told tale, and yet, it seems, never has it been told 
 in a concrete manner and within the pages of a single 
 volume. Writers in the past seem never to have grasped 
 the real significance of the work performed by those 
 buckskin-clad, rifle-bearing fur hunters, who in the 
 pursuit of their chosen calling, so unconsciously pre- 
 pared the land for the advance of civilization. 
 
 That the reading public might become more familiar 
 with the history of the fur-trade, of the early explora- 
 tions of the West, and of the significant part the events 
 herein narrated have played in the history of America 
 and Canada, the writer has attempted the present work. 
 He does not claim to have brought to light any new 
 facts, nor can he hope to have avoided all mistakes, for 
 in the preparation of a work such as this, there is a vast 
 amount of conflicting material to be weighed and sifted, 
 but in all cases he has endeavored to follow what he has 
 considered the best authorities. 
 
 The task of preparing this volume has been a pleas-
 
 14 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 ant one and I greatly hope the reader too will not be 
 disappointed, that he will not find it dry and uninter- 
 esting. It is a story of great deeds, of triumphs modestly 
 achieved, and of failures and disasters patiently borne. 
 There are heroes aplenty and the villian is not lacking 
 in the play. In dealing with a theme so romantic the 
 writer has endeavored to keep on safe ground and never 
 to substitute the fanciful for the real. The truth itself 
 is colorful enough for all purposes. 
 
 In preparing this work the author has had the benefit 
 of the kindly advice and aid of Mr. A. R. Harding, in 
 whose magazine the chapters first appeared as a serial, 
 and to Mr. George Bird Grinnell, whose generous en- 
 couragement led to their being brought out in book 
 form. 
 
 Clarence A. Vandiveer 
 November, 1928
 
 Chapter I 
 Beginnings of the Fur-trade
 
 Beginnings of the Fur-trade 
 
 While Pedro Menendez was industriously engaged 
 in murdering Ribaut's colonists along the Matanzas 
 and Saint Johns rivers, and thus putting an end forever 
 to French claims to the beautiful peninsula of Florida, 
 other Frenchmen were more successfully laying the 
 foundation of a permanent state far to the northward 
 along the misty shores of the broad Saint Lawrence. 
 Basque fishermen had for some years frequented the 
 coasts of maritime Canada to load their vessels with the 
 finny denizens which swarmed in those waters, and 
 they, from time to time, met up with roving bands of 
 indians eager to exchange their valuable furs and pel- 
 tries for the cheapest and poorest goods of European 
 manufacture, knives, beads and trinkets of little or no 
 value. Quite a lucrative trade soon sprang up between 
 the fishermen and the savages, and the former soon 
 learned that it was far easier and a great deal more 
 profitable to trade for furs than to fish for a living. 
 
 One after another of these erstwhile fishermen went 
 into the fur business, and rude trading posts began to 
 appear along the shores of Anticosti and elsewhere. In 
 this feeble fashion was begun that mighty traffic which 
 was later on to embrace our entire continent in its varied 
 ramifications; it was to lead to a series of explorations 
 which was to lay bare the secrets of all North America;
 
 18 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 it was to lead to wars and international complications; 
 it was to determine the growth of communities, states 
 and cities, and in fact for several centuries the history 
 of the fur-trade was to be the history of Canada, and to 
 a lesser extent the history of the English colonies as 
 well. 
 
 The first traders were a wild, lawless crowd, and car- 
 ried on in a most high-handed manner in their wilder- 
 ness strongholds. They cruised about in small vessels all 
 along the coasts of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in search 
 of walrus tusks, and their labors were well repaid. 
 These hardy rovers were quite content to leave the 
 Spaniards to chase the phantoms of golden cities, mines 
 of precious stones and fountains of perpetual youth in 
 the sunny lands of the South ; they preferred the slower, 
 less spectacular but far surer wealth the fur-trade of- 
 fered in the frozen and inhospitable regions of the more 
 northern coasts. 
 
 The trade continued to expand and the traders grew 
 in number year by year. It was a game of each fellow 
 for himself until 1588, in which year the French gov- 
 ernment granted to two adventurers a monopoly of the 
 trade for a period of twelve years. This monopoly, the 
 first of the many, aroused such a howl of protest that it 
 was promptly revoked. Nevertheless, ten years later, the 
 French government granted to one LaRoche a monop- 
 oly of the fur-trade, along with all kinds of titles and 
 powers in the land which Cartier, Roberval and others 
 had explored and claimed for France. LaRoche failed 
 in everything he attempted and landed in a debtor's 
 prison, while the miserable crew of forty-one men he 
 had landed in Canada after suffering all kinds of mis- 
 fortunes in five years, had dwindled away to only eleven
 
 BEGINNINGS OF THE FUR-TRADE 19 
 
 men. They accumulated a valuable stock of furs, how- 
 ever, and these the commander of the expedition, sent 
 out for their rescue, seized for himself, but eventually 
 he was compelled to restore his ill-gotten gains to the 
 rightful owners. 
 
 Pontgrave, a merchant of Saint Malo, and a Captain 
 Chauvin of the navy, next tried their hands at trade and 
 colonization. They built a rude cluster of huts at Ta- 
 doussac at the mouth of the Saguenay, but this settle- 
 ment was broken up before the winter was over and the 
 survivors were living upon the charity of the savages. 
 
 At this juncture two strong personages made their 
 appearance upon the historical drama of both the old 
 and the new worlds: Henry of Navarre, the gallant 
 victor of Ivry and Arques, and Samuel de Champlain, 
 who like his master had won renown in the religious 
 wars which had so long plagued France. Under Henry's 
 rule France recovered from much of the evil effects of 
 civil strife and started once more on the road to pros- 
 perity; under Champlain, Canada was to be made into 
 a real colony for France. 
 
 Champlain was induced to join in the Canadian ven- 
 ture by one DeChaste, a friend of his who had linked 
 his fortunes with the Amerian trade. Champlain and 
 Pontgrave were each given a vessel and sent on a voyage 
 up the Saint Lawrence. Passing the ruins of Tadoussac 
 the voyagers pushed on up the broad expanse of the 
 lordly river until they saw Mount Royal rising grim 
 and sentinel-like above the surrounding forests. Cartier 
 had been to this place sixty-eight years before and had 
 found the busy indian town of Hochelaga occupying 
 the site upon which now stands Canada's greatest city, 
 but Champlain found the place deserted by its former
 
 20 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 savage tenants and silence reigning throughout the 
 gloomy forests. 
 
 Progress beyond Mount Royal was halted by the La- 
 chine rapids, and so the explorers turned the prows of 
 their vessels toward home. Arriving in France Cham- 
 plain found that DeChaste had died and that a new 
 company had been formed, headed by Sieur de Monts, 
 who was given viceregal powers and a monopoly of the 
 fur-trade, all previous grants being annulled in his 
 favor. Of course these grants were followed by a storm 
 of protests from the old traders, but DeMonts had the 
 good sense to associate many of these discontented men 
 with him in the new enterprise. Champlain and Pont- 
 grave were among those who took service under 
 DeMonts. 
 
 It was resolved to establish the headquarters of this 
 company south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in the 
 region now known as Nova Scotia. They gave the name 
 of Acadia to their proposed settlement- a name which 
 was to be associated with much of the strife between 
 the French and the English later on and to furnish the 
 materials for Longfellow's beautiful poem Evangeline, 
 of which every school boy is familiar. 
 
 DeMonts began operations in Acadia by seizing the 
 trading vessels of one Rossignal who was poaching, un- 
 intentionally perhaps, upon his territory. Pontgrave, 
 who commanded one of DeMonts's vessels, made a 
 prize of four more fur-traders at Canceau. Pontgrave 
 was now sent back northward to trade with the indians 
 at Tadoussac, while DeMonts and Champlain pushed 
 on to the northward on a tour of exploration. 
 
 Upon reaching the Bay of Funday Baron de Poutrin- 
 court, one of DeMonts's men, asked for and received a
 
 BEGINNINGS OF THE FUR-TRADE 21 
 
 grant of land for himself, which he gave the name of 
 Port Royal. DeMonts and Champlain chose an island 
 at the mouth of the Saint Croix for their winter quar- 
 ters. Here they were soon shut in by walls of snow and 
 ice while scurvy, that curse of the early explorers and 
 colonizers, raged with frightful consequences. Of the 
 seventy-nine men who had gone into winter quarters 
 only forty-four were alive when spring came. 
 
 Dissatisfied with this location the adventurers set out 
 in June to seek a more favorable site farther south. They 
 threaded the rocky and deeply indented shores of 
 Maine, passing the mouths of the Penobscot and the 
 Kennebec and sighting the distant White mountains, 
 finally entered Massachusetts Bay. They visited Ply- 
 mouth Bay where fifteen years later (in 1620) the Pil- 
 grim Fathers were to make their memorable landing. 
 
 But no place suited DeMonts and so they returned to 
 the Saint Croix, loaded up their possessions and trans- 
 ferred headquarters to Port Royal. Leaving Pontgrave 
 in charge of the station, DeMonts and Poutrincourt 
 went back to France for supplies and reinforcements. 
 Coming back the next year Poutrincourt found that the 
 station at Port Royal had been abandoned by all but 
 two men, provisions having given out, while the rest in 
 small boats were pushing on up the coast in search of 
 food. These men were soon found and again Port Royal 
 was occupied. DeMonts had remained in France, and 
 Poutrincourt soon returned to that country also to help 
 in smoothing over their affairs, which were not in the 
 best shape. Pontgrave and Champlain remained to 
 carry on the work of exploration and trade while an 
 able gentleman named Lescarbot took charge of Port 
 Royal.
 
 22 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 A description of one of these earliest trading posts 
 and an account of the life led by the traders will not be 
 out of place. Port Royal was a quadrangle of wooden 
 buildings enclosing a large court. An arched gateway 
 facing the water front gave ingress and egress and was 
 flanked with a bastion of palisades. Another bastion 
 mounted four cannon. The kitchen, forge and oven oc- 
 cupied the buildings between the bastions. Storehouses 
 and magazines occupied another side of the square. An- 
 other side was taken up by quarters for the men while 
 the remaining side was occupied by quarters for officers 
 and a dining hall. 
 
 Every effort was made by the commandant, Lescar- 
 bot, to test out the resources of the country. He planted 
 grain and vegetables, and labored in his garden until 
 far into the night. He kept up the spirits of his men by 
 creating the Ordre de bon temps, whose members vied 
 with one another in supplying luxuries for the table. 
 Each was to serve as quartermaster for one day, and of 
 course he tried to excel his predecessor in the variety 
 and excellence of the food served. Here in this wild 
 outpost of France and of the fur-trade, the traders and 
 their indian friends feasted and smoked away what 
 otherwise would have been a very lonely existence. The 
 long- winter evenings were whiled away in the drinking 
 of toasts and the singing of songs, and the naturally gay 
 disposition of the French gave vent to itself even though 
 the nearest civilized neighbors were the little handful 
 of Spaniards huddled together in far away Saint Au- 
 gustine. 
 
 Spring found the French eager to begin their trad- 
 ing, their building and their planting, but one fine 
 morning all this bustle and preparation was brought to
 
 BEGINNINGS OF THE FUR-TRADE 23 
 
 an abrupt end by the arrival of a French ship with news 
 that DeMonts's monopoly had been rescinded. Sorrow- 
 fully they abandoned Port Royal, and after filling their 
 ships with a cargo of fish they set sail for France. 
 
 Poutrincourt came back to Port Royal with a fresh 
 batch of traders and colonists. Illicit traders, French 
 and Dutch, also cruised the coasts, dealing cruelly and 
 lawlessly with the indians. Poutrincourt's son patrolled 
 the coast in an endeavor to break up this unlawful trade, 
 while he himself seems to have spent a considerable part 
 of his time in quarreling with the Jesuits Masse and 
 Baird, whom he had been compelled to bring with him 
 back to Canada. The arrival of these two priests marks 
 the beginning of that remarkable story of heroism, pri- 
 vation, suffering and martyrdom which marks the ca- 
 reer of the Jesuits in Canada; it also marks the begin- 
 ning of strife between the civil authorities, who inva- 
 riably were vitally interested in the fur-trade, and the 
 black-robed priests, whose interests were often quite at 
 variance with those of the traders. 
 
 Meanwhile Champlain had established himself on 
 the natural rock fortress of Quebec. He had long been 
 under the spell of the beautiful Saint Lawrence, whose 
 course he had already followed as far as the rapids at 
 Mount Royal, and when DeMonts was obliged to give 
 up Port Royal he sought to reestablish himself on the 
 Saint Lawrence, and therefore he sent Champlain to 
 establish a station at Quebec and endeavor to found a 
 permanent colony there. Pontgrave was to have charge 
 of the fur-trade, Champlain of the colonizing and ex- 
 ploring. Exploration and trade were thus inseparably 
 linked together from the very first. 
 
 Champlain's military eye had at once taken in the im-
 
 24 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 portance of the natural rock fortress that commands the 
 narrow part of the Saint Lawrence, and he at once 
 further strengthened the place with a wooden wall and 
 moat, within which enclosure he erected the buildings 
 necessary for his needs. Mutiny soon raised its ugly 
 head, but Champlain promptly hanged the leader and 
 sent three of his chief advisors back to France. The rest 
 he freely forgave. 
 
 We would like to know the incidents of that first long 
 winter spent within the walls of Quebec, but no record 
 of them has come down to us. We do know that mem- 
 bers of the miserable Algonquin tribes flocked inside 
 the walls clamoring for food and for protection against 
 the Iroquois, those tigerish warriors who dwelt to the 
 southward of Lake Ontario and of the Saint Lawrence, 
 who kept the northern tribes in a perpetual delirium of 
 fear, and who ere long the French, too, were to learn to 
 dread. Such were the beginnings of Quebec.
 
 Chapter II 
 Exploration and Trade
 
 Exploration and Trade 
 
 While the savages were starving and begging and 
 shivering outside the walls of Quebec sickness was rag- 
 ing among the French on the inside, and by the time 
 spring had come the garrison of twenty-eight had 
 dwindled down to eight. The experiences of the first 
 winter at Port Royal were repeated at Quebec, the same 
 story of sickness and death was repeated among the 
 English at Jamestown and Plymouth. It was part of the 
 price exacted by nature for the conquest of the wilder- 
 ness of North America. With the return of the birds, 
 the blossoms, the wild flowers and the warm sunshine, 
 came an added blessing in the shape of Pontgrave's sup- 
 ply ship at Tadoussac, to which place Champlain hur- 
 ried with the request that Pontgrave come to Quebec 
 with supplies for the relief of his men, and that further- 
 more he should take charge of the place while he him- 
 self should set forth to put into operation the expedi- 
 tions of discovery which he had planned and studied 
 over during the long sad winter at Quebec. 
 
 Champlain's first move was destined to link insep- 
 arably his name with one of the most beautiful lakes in 
 all North America. It was also to gain for him and for 
 France the undying hatred of the ferocious Iroquois. 
 Late in June, 1609, with a few hardy Frenchmen and a 
 crowd of indian allies, Champlain embarked upon an
 
 28 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 expedition to the head of the Riviere des Iroquois, now 
 known by the various names of Saint Johns, Sorel and 
 Richelieu. The indians told him that the river was quite 
 free of obstructions, and that boats might pass unhin- 
 dered quite to the lake at its source. He soon learned, as 
 many a future explorer was to learn, how utterly unre- 
 liable the word of an indian was. Champlain was eager 
 to see the lake of which he had heard so much; his 
 allies were just as eager to try out the virtues of the 
 white man's weapons upon their enemies, the Iroquois, 
 and they were resolved to be revenged upon them even 
 if they had to go as far as the villages of those people 
 on the Mohawk. There were delays and vexations a 
 plenty in this expedition up the Richelieu, but Cham- 
 plain surmounted them all and finally passed on into the 
 lake. We may well imagine his feelings as his flotilla 
 glided among the islands at the head of the lake and 
 finally out upon its open waters, with the wooded masses 
 of the Adirondacks on his right hand and the rocky 
 ridges of the Green mountains stretching away on the 
 left. 
 
 Proceeding cautiously along the west bank for several 
 days, they finally encountered a band of Iroquois at the 
 point where FortTiconderoga was afterward built. The 
 savages came on to battle bravely, but when they beheld 
 the steel-clad Frenchman and saw the stick that he 
 pointed toward them belch forth fire and smoke and two 
 of their chief men sink down dead, they were panic- 
 stricken and fled in confusion, abandoning their camp, 
 their boats and all they possessed. Champlain's allies 
 killed a few of their enemies, took a few prisoners and 
 quite a lot of booty. It was an easy victory, perhaps the 
 only one these indians had ever won over the Iroquois,
 
 EXPLORATION AND TRADE 29 
 
 and they were highly elated in consequence. They 
 danced and sang and tortured their captives with such 
 fiendish cruelty that Champlain turned away sick at 
 heart. 
 
 Despite their success in this "first battle of Ticon- 
 deroga" the allies retreated back to the Saint Lawrence. 
 Pontgrave, in the meantime, had been having trouble 
 with free-traders, those reckless fellows who from those 
 very earliest days of the trade on down to the very end, 
 continued to ply their profitable, though unlawful, 
 trade in spite of monopolies, orders of governors and 
 even of kings. Some of these free-lances had even at- 
 tacked Pontgrave, wounded him and held him as pris- 
 oner for a while, and many of the furs that had come to 
 Tadoussac and should have found their way into his 
 store-houses found their way into the vessels of his 
 rivals. 
 
 Troubles thickened about the traders and both Pont- 
 grave and Champlain returned to France, where they 
 found DeMonts in a life and death struggle to maintain 
 his rights. The assassination of Henry IV, in May, 
 1 6 10, was a further blow. The new king was a minor 
 and an imbecile, his mother, the regent, was a wicked, 
 unscrupulous woman and moreover a tool of the Jesuits, 
 and therefore could be counted upon to make things 
 unpleasant for all colonists and traders who displeased 
 the priests. 
 
 DeMonts was a man of grit. Perhaps he had more 
 grit than judgment, for he resolved to go ahead with his 
 plans without the royal sanction. 
 
 Champlain was soon back in Canada and ready for 
 new discoveries. He was anxious to find an overland 
 route to the great bay which Henry Hudson had discov-
 
 3 o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 ered in 1609. His indian allies were so well pleased with 
 the victory he had helped them win over the Iroquois 
 that they promised to lead him westward by way of the 
 Ottawa to the upper Great Lakes. He gained still more 
 favor with them when he helped them to utterly exter- 
 minate a party of Iroquois at the mouth of the Riche- 
 lieu in June, 1610. All things seemed to combine to 
 thwart and delay the explorer however. Rival traders 
 dogged his footsteps, usurping the trade at Tadoussac, 
 and so annoying him at every turn that he resolved to 
 establish himself at a point near the foot of the Lachine 
 rapids, where he might enjoy the trade of the Ottawa 
 and the upper Saint Lawrence free from the annoyance 
 of rivals. The position he chose was one of extreme 
 strategic importance for the fur-trade as well as for 
 other purposes, and the fact that Montreal, the metrop- 
 olis of the Canadian dominion, has since grown up 
 around the spot, vindicates the judgment of the ex- 
 plorer. 
 
 Clearing a considerable space of ground he fenced it 
 in and planted grain within the enclosure. A crowd of 
 greedy traders had followed him up, all eager to take 
 advantage of his pioneering and help share the harvest 
 of furs which the region offered. 
 
 Champlain was well received by the few scattering 
 indians he met, but the latter were disgusted with the 
 swarm of greedy traders that had followed him unbid- 
 den. Montreal, the metropolis of the early fur-trade, 
 thus had its beginnings. 
 
 After endless haggling and quibbling between trad- 
 ers and savages, the latter at last withdrew further up 
 the river. Champlain paid them a visit and was carried 
 back to Montreal in a birch-bark canoe.
 
 EXPLORATION AND TRADE 31 
 
 More visits to France, more difficulties with rival 
 traders, and more changes in the personnel of the com- 
 pany all conspired to hinder and delay Champlain's 
 plans for further exploration until the spring of 1613, 
 when once more he headed for the unknown. 
 
 From time to time reckless adventurers had pushed 
 on into the wilderness, joined bands of roving indians, 
 living their life, marrying their women, adopting their 
 dress and habits, and to all intents and purposes becom- 
 ing veritable savages themselves. These wild bush- 
 rangers made many valuable discoveries, but as their 
 explorations lacked official approval their reports were 
 either ignored or not believed. That little faith could 
 be placed in the word of some of these men may be 
 readily seen by the incident which we will now relate: 
 
 Among these wood-rangers who came to Champlain 
 with stories of remarkable finds was a young man 
 named Nicolas Vignau. This man told of being at the 
 head of the Ottawa where he had found a great lake 
 with a river flowing out of it to the northward, and 
 had descended this river to the sea where he found 
 the wreck of an English vessel. Champlain had 
 already heard rumors of such a wreck, and his brain 
 was fired with visions of a water route to Asia - 
 a fanciful vision which had lured so many explorers 
 to their doom. Embarking with an indian and four 
 Frenchmen, one of whom was Vignau, Champlain 
 ascended the Saint Lawrence to the Ottawa and thence 
 up that stream, portaging around rapids until they 
 could proceed no further. Wandering about among the 
 forests for some time, visiting indians and making in- 
 quiries everywhere, they failed to learn anything con- 
 cerning the sea of which they were in search. At last
 
 32 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 they came among indians with whom Vignau had once 
 lived, and from them learned that he had never been 
 farther than their villages, and that his story was a fab- 
 rication. Confronted with this evidence, Vignau broke 
 down and confessed to his imposture. Many a com- 
 mander would have hung the liar then and there and the 
 indians urged Champlain to do so, but he pardoned the 
 rascal and with a sad heart turned toward home. It is 
 impossible to fix a motive for the remarkable conduct 
 of Vignau in this matter. 
 
 Once more Champlain returned to France, this time 
 returning with a batch of Recollet friars, for unlike 
 most fur-traders, Champlain welcomed these religious 
 men into the country, but then we must remember that 
 Champlain was more of an explorer and colonizer than 
 he was a fur-trader. He was just as anxious to win the 
 souls of the indians as he was to secure their beaver 
 skins. Arriving at Quebec one of these priests, LeCaron, 
 was assigned as missionary to the Hurons ; another, Dol- 
 beau, was sent to the Montagnais; the rest remained at 
 Quebec. 
 
 All of the Algonquin tribes were eager to make an 
 alliance with the French against the Iroquois as a com- 
 mon foe, and Champlain thought this a wise plan to 
 follow. Could all the tribes be led to depend upon the 
 French soldiers for protection, upon the priests for 
 spiritual help, and upon the traders for their increasing 
 wants, he would be able to bind the tribes to France 
 with the strongest of bonds. 
 
 LeCaron was so anxious to reach the scene of his 
 labors that he pushed on in advance of the escort, and 
 thus was enabled to look upon the waters of Lake 
 Huron in advance of that leader. It is possible that one
 
 EXPLORATION AND TRADE 33 
 
 of Champlain's men, Etienne Brule, had seen the waters 
 of Huron as well as several others of the Great Lakes, 
 for he had traveled far and wide among the Indians of 
 those regions before Champlain and LeCaron had set 
 out on their expedition. Champlain's party passed on by 
 the place where, in company with Vignau he had left 
 the river when on his wild goose chase after the phan- 
 tom of a waterway to Asia, on past Lake Nipissing, and 
 from thence to Lake Huron. 
 
 After visiting among the Hurons at their villages 
 Champlain proceeded to Lake Simcoe and the Trent 
 river, crossing over into the Iroquois country, in what is 
 now northern New York, and attacked the enemy, but 
 they met with such a rough reception that they retreated 
 over to the Huron country again. Champlain was back 
 in Quebec again in June, 1616. 
 While Champlain and his allies were preparing to 
 attack the Iroquois Etienne Brule had gone to the coun- 
 try of the Andastes to enlist the aid of that tribe, but he 
 arrived too late to be of assistance to his chief. He spent 
 three years in wandering amid new scenes, and is said 
 to have descended the Susquehanna to the sea. Later 
 on he fell into the hands of the Iroquois and was fright- 
 fully tortured by them until he succeeded in so working 
 upon their superstitious natures that they finally turned 
 him loose. 
 
 Permanent stations were now firmly established at 
 Quebec, Montreal, Tadoussac and Three Rivers, and 
 while the fur-trade was brisk the colony did not pros- 
 per. The traders were interested only in the indians' 
 furs, the priests in the indians' souls, and neither cared 
 much to see white settlers brought into the country. 
 
 Later on the government refused permission to
 
 34 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 protestants to emigrate to Canada, and allowed only 
 catholics to come over. As the protestants had griev- 
 ances at home which caused them to wish to emigrate 
 to America and the catholics were desirous of remain- 
 ing in the home-land, the result was that few colonists 
 were available. With all this meddling and intermed- 
 dling of the government, the priesthood and the rivalry 
 of traders, no wonder the colony did not flourish. 
 
 Already clouds were appearing on the southern hor- 
 izon and Canada was soon to feel the need of men to 
 defend her. England's neglected colonies were growing 
 and prospering amazingly and were casting jealous eyes 
 toward the north. Already the Acadian settlements had 
 been broken up by English from Jamestown and in 1625 
 the English, under Kirk, laid siege to Quebec. The 
 brave Champlain held on till the last but was finally 
 obliged to give up, but peace in Europe gave the place 
 back to France, and Champlain came back to die within 
 the walls of the city he had founded.
 
 Chapter III 
 English, Dutch, and French Rivalry
 
 English, Dutch, and French Rivalry 
 
 While from the first France had been the leader in 
 the fur-trade business, yet adventurers of other nations 
 were busy along the same lines. English vessels prowled 
 along the coasts trading and quarreling with the natives, 
 for the Anglo-saxon was never able to win the friend- 
 ship of the indians as was his Gallic neighbor, they 
 seldom intermarried or cohabited with the natives, nor 
 did they take to the wild free life of the forests as did 
 the gay and reckless men of French blood. Not until the 
 founding of the Hudson's Bay Company of later years 
 did the English learn how to deal successfully with the 
 savages. 
 
 As far back as 1607, one year before Champlain had 
 raised the French flag over the rocky fortress of Quebec, 
 the English had built their first permanent settlement at 
 Jamestown in Virginia. These early settlers were gen- 
 tlemen, unused to toil or hardship of any kind, and as 
 thoroughly unfitted for the wilderness life as men 
 could well be. There ensued a "starving time," at the 
 close of which most of the incompetents were in their 
 graves. 
 
 The best man in the Virginia colony was Captain 
 John Smith. This able and energetic man kept the set- 
 tlers at work, preserved the peace with the neighbor- 
 ing savages and made extensive explorations along the
 
 38 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 coast. He left a record of his adventures and explora- 
 tions which is both interesting and valuable, although 
 some of his statements must be taken with a liberal 
 pinch of salt, for the worthy captain was not above ro- 
 mancing- a failing which seems to have been common 
 among early explorers and not altogether uncommon in 
 our own day. 
 
 The fur-trade in the early English colonies was a sort 
 of free-trade affair and no records were kept, but it 
 would seem that English traders, went farther afield 
 and penetrated deeper into the western wilds than has 
 been generally supposed. 
 
 Fourteen years after Jamestown, Plymouth was set- 
 tled by the pilgrims. These newcomers were seekers 
 after religious freedom, and not gold-hunters or fur- 
 traders. The colonists which continued to pour into the 
 country were of the same stamp and mould as their pred- 
 ecessors, being settlers in the true meaning of the word. 
 A few trappers and traders hung about the borders of 
 the expanding settlements, and a few forts and trading 
 posts were erected by them at various places, and some- 
 times these men came in contact with French traders 
 and much bad blood was engendered, but for the most 
 part the English were content to dwell in settled com- 
 munities in the river valleys or within hearing of the 
 beating of the salt waves along the coast. 
 
 The Dutch, too, instead of going among the indians 
 for their furs were content to sit comfortably in their 
 snug houses along the Hudson and let the red man 
 bring the furs to them there. The Hudson had been dis- 
 covered by Henry Hudson in the year 1609 and four 
 years later New Amsterdam (New York) was founded 
 on the island of Manhattan at the river's mouth. Still
 
 ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND FRENCH RIVALRY 39 
 
 later a trading post was built far up the river at Albany. 
 This remained an important station in the fur business 
 for many years. Wealthy merchants of Holland sent out 
 a small fleet in charge of such able navigators as Adrien 
 Block, Hendrick Corstianesen and Cornelius Mey, who 
 added much to the knowledge of geography on that 
 coast and brought back to Holland such flattering re- 
 ports that the merchants obtained a monopoly on the 
 trade of those regions for the period of three years. 
 
 In 162 1 the famous Dutch West India Company was 
 formed, and while great profits were realized from the 
 venture, little more was done toward extending opera- 
 tions into the interior. Like the English of those days 
 the Dutch were a maritime people, and their interests 
 were centered in territory accessible to navigable 
 waters. Dutch and French traders often came in con- 
 tact with one another around the headwaters of the 
 Hudson or in the valley of the Mohawk, for the latter 
 were sure to be everywhere where fur was to be ob- 
 tained. They also quarreled and fought with English 
 traders on the Connecticut. 
 
 Perhaps the question of supremacy in North Amer- 
 ica would have been fought out between the English, 
 the Dutch and the French years before it was had it not 
 been for the wall of the Iroquois confederacy which 
 lay between the Canadians and their neighbors to the 
 south. Champlain had incurred the undying enmity of 
 these people by his victory over them at the lake now 
 named for him, and later conflicts had widened the 
 breach. Englishman and Hollander, fortunately for 
 themselves, had made friends with this warlike people 
 and as it turned out, in their hands lay the balance of 
 power. Were it not for the Iroquois barrier, and, for
 
 40 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 the mistaken policy of France in regard to Canada, 
 North America might be French today instead of An- 
 glo-american. As it was, the French trader explored all 
 of interior America, marked out all the trails and por- 
 tages, only to be deprived of all the fruits of their labors 
 in the end by the prosaic sons of old Albion. The Hol- 
 landers on the banks of the Hudson and its tributaries 
 were also to suffer the same fate as the French. England 
 eventually absorbed all of New Amsterdam and the lit- 
 tle trading post on Manhattan, renamed in honor of the 
 Duke of York, grew in wealth and importance, but even 
 England was to lose her grip on this gateway of Amer- 
 ica, and in new hands and under a new flag the city was 
 destined to continue its marvelous growth until today 
 it more than rivals the proud old city on the banks of 
 the Thames. 
 
 Meanwhile, while the English were building per- 
 manent homes and contenting themselves largely in 
 agriculture and in maritime affairs, and the Dutch were 
 dozing and smoking and trading by turns at their com- 
 fortable little forts, the adventurous sons of France were 
 ranging the forests and threading the intricate water- 
 ways of the interior, building up their trade and push- 
 ing their explorations in all directions. In the Canadian 
 settlements the people were virtually slaves, they gained 
 no freedom in emigrating to America as did the Eng- 
 lish; instead, the hand of both church and state fell 
 harder upon them than in the home-land. The early 
 French traders had tried to keep free from the vassal- 
 age of the priesthood, but it had been forced upon them 
 nevertheless. A class now sprang up in Canada who 
 were determined to free themselves of this vassalage to 
 both church and state, and they did by avoiding the
 
 ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND FRENCH RIVALRY 41 
 
 mission stations and settlements and taking to the woods. 
 
 The men who thus sought to emancipate themselves 
 soon came to be known as coureurs de bois, rangers of 
 the woods, voyageurs into the unknown. These men fol- 
 lowed the indian in his wanderings, his war excursions, 
 and his hunting expeditions, shared his rude life in the 
 smoky wigwams, married indian women and raised 
 large families of half-breed children, and to all intents 
 and purposes becoming veritable indians themselves. 
 Their superior intellect and training, added to the 
 knowledge of woodcraft which they soon acquired, 
 made them a peculiar feature of Canadian life; reck- 
 lessly brave, ridiculously superstitious, oftimes devout, 
 sometimes savagely cruel, but at all times gay and light- 
 hearted, these coureurs de bois offered the best mate- 
 rial possible for wilderness campaigns, and whenever 
 their leaders could keep their wild natures within 
 bounds they proved invaluable servants, but they chafed 
 at restraint and became very frequently a menace to and 
 a thorn in the side of priests, civil authorities, and 
 licensed traders, whose sensibilities were shocked by the 
 wild excesses and drunken orgies these wild men in- 
 dulged in during their infrequent visits to the frontier 
 posts. They also carried on an illicit trade in liquor with 
 the savages, with the same sad results that has always 
 attended the sale of intoxicants to uncivilized peoples. 
 
 One of the most famous of these early woods rangers 
 was Jean Nicolet of Three Rivers, who in 1634 na ^ 
 ventured into the regions of the lakes where he heard 
 rumors of a great river, probably the Mississippi ; he 
 extended his observations as far westward as the strait 
 of Sault Sainte Marie, and possibly even beyond; he 
 also passed through the straits of Michillimackinac and
 
 42 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 into Lake Michigan. It is thought that Etienne Brule, 
 another of the wild fraternity of the woods, was in these 
 regions previous to Nicolet, but this remains in the 
 realm of guesswork. Hearing of a tribe of people in the 
 region of Green Bay, in Wisconsin, who resembled the 
 Chinese, Nicolet, like many a deluded explorer before 
 and since, thought that he was near the Orient, and so 
 he dressed himself up in a robe gaily decorated with 
 figures of flowers and birds and with pistol in each 
 hand presented himself in the village of those people, 
 but he found them to be indians differing little, if any, 
 from all others he had met, and whatever notions he 
 may have formed were dispelled. 
 
 The exclusive monopolies in fur-trading which the 
 French king granted, the system of tolls and bribery 
 and tribute which crooked officials, and there were 
 always many crooked officials in Canada, imposed upon 
 the people was responsible for much of the lawlessness 
 of the woods rangers. At one time it was even planned 
 to restrict all the western trade to the one post at Mon- 
 treal, and accordingly great annual fairs were held 
 there. 
 
 These annual fairs were lively affairs. On the day 
 after the arrival of the indians there would be a sort 
 of social affair in which the smoking of peace pipes and 
 the declaiming of much high-toned oratory were prom- 
 inent features. Next day trade was begun. These gather- 
 ings must have been picturesque affairs indeed. Picture 
 in your mind the rough, wooden stockade, the shaggy 
 forests nearby; the swift, rushing river with its beach 
 littered with gay birch-bark canoes; tall, sedate chiefs 
 stalking about, all decked out in paint and feathers; 
 white officials, stiff, proud, and well aware of their own
 
 ENGLISH, DUTCH, AND FRENCH RIVALRY 43 
 
 importance, decked out in gold braid and trimmings 
 almost as gaudy as the indians themselves; groups of 
 shy, gaping squaws, some young and pretty, others old, 
 wrinkled and hideous with the grime and smoke of 
 many camp fires; children naked as on the day they 
 were born, playing with the mangy village curs and 
 romping about in wild abandon; and last, but not least, 
 the coureurs de bois, in for a brief holiday from the 
 woods and ready to "paint the town red" just as soon as 
 liquor could be procured, a thing which the more or- 
 derly traders sought to avoid, their efforts being sec- 
 onded by the priests who were also sure to be present at 
 these annual gatherings, with a view to securing new 
 converts to Christianity and of forgiving any sins that 
 their older converts may have committed during the 
 year. Often these gatherings ended in the wildest of 
 orgies, in which white man and savage vied with one 
 another in scenes of the most disgusting and depraving 
 debauchery.
 
 Chapter IV 
 Explorations of Radisson and Groseilliers
 
 Explorations of Radisson and Groseilliers 
 
 The hand of authority meddled with everything in 
 French Canada, often with ruinous results. Attempts 
 were made to allow only licensed traders to operate, 
 and licenses were costly. Prices were to remain at fixed 
 figures, regardless of the law of supply and demand. As 
 a result of these rulings illicit traders were numerous, 
 while the officials, who very frequently shared in the 
 unlawful gains, winked at the offenders. When traders 
 had a surplus of beaver skins they burned them to create 
 a scarcity. By such methods was the trade carried on. 
 No wonder the French colony languished, while the 
 English colonies to the south, where trade was unham- 
 pered, grew by leaps and bounds. 
 
 Among those who laughed at the hampering and un- 
 just laws of governor and king were two daring and 
 capable men, whose achievements have never received 
 a tithe of the praise due them. Pierre Esprit Radisson 
 and his brother-in-law, Medard Chouart Groseilliers 
 had both seen service in wilderness trade and both were 
 fired with the spirit of adventure. Every rumor which 
 came from the far northwest but added fuel to the flame 
 of their zeal. Wealth, adventure and renown were the 
 prizes offered in exchange for effort, although neither 
 was blind to the possibilities of what might lie in store 
 for them. They knew for a certainty that hardship, toil,
 
 4 8 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 hunger and exposure were the lot of all explorers ; they 
 knew the danger from hostile indians with captivity, 
 torture and even death should they be so unfortunate as 
 to fall into their cruel hands, but while counting the 
 dangers they also counted the gains and were willing to 
 take the gambler's chance. 
 
 In June, 1658, Radisson and Groseilliers left Three 
 Rivers and turned their faces toward the unknown. 
 They stopped at Montreal long enough to raise a com- 
 pany of indians and voyageurs and then hurried on up 
 the river. The crew was inexperienced and disorderly 
 and gave the two adventurers much trouble. All efforts 
 to promote discipline or caution were brushed aside, 
 and they laughed and jeered at their cautious methods 
 and reproached them with cowardice. The grit of the 
 boasters was soon put to a test, for a band of Iroquois 
 apprised of their approach by the shouting and the fir- 
 ing of guns laid a skillful ambush for the party. When 
 the fighting was over the boastful French were retreat- 
 ing toward Montreal as fast as possible. Radisson and 
 Groseilliers and their indian allies were also moving 
 swiftly -not in the direction of Montreal, however, but 
 westward toward the setting sun. It would take more 
 than one war party of Iroquois to turn them back. 
 
 Autumn came to the north country, leaves were turn- 
 ing rapidly from emerald to yellow and crimson, there 
 was a keen, sharp tang in the air which warned of com- 
 ing snows and chilling blasts, and hurried our travelers 
 on to their proposed winter quarters at Green Bay. 
 Here they established themselves and lay snug while all 
 about them through the forests the wintry winds howled 
 and shrieked and piled up a wall of snow about the 
 walls of their rude shelter. Day after day they looked
 
 RADISSON AND GROSEILLIERS 49 
 
 out over the white world about them and longed for 
 spring and sunshine, and dreamed of the new lands they 
 were to discover. 
 
 Early in 1659 they crossed over what is now Wiscon- 
 sin and beheld "a mighty river, great, rushing, pro- 
 found and comparable to the Saint Lawrence" - it was 
 the mighty Mississippi. The Spaniard De Soto had 
 gazed upon the lower reaches of this great river many 
 years before but these two unknown French trappers are 
 the first white men, so far as we now know, to see it in 
 the north. Ten years later the Jesuit, Marquette, came 
 to it by way of Fox and Wisconsin rivers and was un- 
 justly credited with the discovery. The reason why the 
 expedition of Radisson and his companion has been 
 passed over in silence can be explained only by the fact 
 that both men fell into disfavor with the Canadian offi- 
 cials, both civil and ecclesiastic, and so honors were 
 withheld from them. Like some of our own fur-trade 
 explorers their expedition lacked the stamp of official 
 sanction, and so the honors were passed on to other men. 
 
 Fortunately Radisson left behind him papers and 
 memorandums which have been rescued from oblivion 
 and given their place in history. He has written much 
 in praise of the land he discovered, its resources and the 
 chances it had to offer to those who wished to found 
 free, happy and prosperous communities. Radisson was 
 a catholic, but an extremely liberal one for those days, 
 and he remarks that it would be far more desirable to 
 win souls for Christ from among the natives of this land 
 than to quarrel and wage war over differences in creed 
 "when wrongs are committed under pretense of re- 
 ligion." Radisson and Groseilliers were on the Missis- 
 sippi fully a decade before Marquette and Joliet, and
 
 5 o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 twenty years before LaSalle, but such is the strange 
 workings of fate that the later comers have become 
 famous while the real discoverers have scarcely yet 
 emerged from oblivion. 
 
 Just how far to the westward and southward our 
 travelers journeyed is a matter of mere guesswork. They 
 probably visited the Mandans on the Missouri, as some 
 of Radisson's descriptions seem to apply to those peo- 
 ple; he also speaks of mountains far in the interior 
 which would seem to indicate that he had at least been 
 apprised of the existence of the Rockies. While gather- 
 ing this store of knowledge concerning the western 
 country our heroes did not totally neglect the fur-trade 
 and when they finally went back to Montreal they car- 
 ried with them a most valuable cargo of fur. 
 
 On the return journey Radisson's indians were great- 
 ly frightened by rumors of Iroquois raiders, and it re- 
 quired all of the wits of the Frenchmen to keep their 
 followers from becoming panic stricken. At the rapids 
 of the Long Sault they had a skirmish with the enemy 
 which had taken refuge in a rude stockade, but they 
 easily put them to flight. Inside the walls the French- 
 men found evidences of a desperate fight. Charred, 
 blackened and mutilated corpses were scattered about, 
 while the recently ejected savages had left behind them 
 a number of fresh and bloody scalps. 
 
 Eight days later they learned that there had been a 
 terrible battle between the Iroquois and a band of 
 Frenchmen and Algonquins under the command of 
 Adam Dollard, who had built the fort in order to check 
 a party of Iroquois on their way to attack Montreal. A 
 band of Hurons had joined the party, but upon the 
 appearance of the enemy all but the chief deserted. The
 
 RADISSON AND GROSEILLIERS 51 
 
 first attacks of the Iroquois were beaten off by the brave 
 band which numbered seventeen Frenchmen, four Al- 
 gonquins and one Huron, twenty-two in all. Outnum- 
 bered greatly but undaunted to the last, this Spartan 
 band held on stubbornly, piling up Iroquois dead in 
 heaps outside the walls of the stockade until at last in 
 one grand assault the enemy forced their way into the 
 fort, only to find every man down and weltering in gore. 
 There was no one left to lift a hand against the assail- 
 ants. Four Frenchmen were found to have a spark of 
 life still lingering, and these were brutally tortured un- 
 til death finally came as a relief. The Hurons that had 
 deserted their chief fared no better than those who had 
 sold their lives at such a high price, for the Iroquois 
 hunted them down and massacred them without mercy. 
 
 In this Canadian Thermopylae there was no messen- 
 ger of defeat. Dollard and every man under him had 
 paid the supreme price, but they had saved Montreal 
 from attack and by the fearful price they had exacted 
 from the Iroquois had discouraged them from pushing 
 the war further. Parkman gives a graphic account of 
 Dollard's heroic battle at the Long Sault, but makes no 
 mention of Radisson's fight at the same place a few 
 days later. It is doubtful if Parkman ever heard of this 
 fight at all. 
 
 Proceeding on down the Saint Lawrence Radisson 
 and Groseilliers ran the rapids in safety and were soon 
 at Quebec, where they were the heroes of the hour. 
 They were wined and dined and feted without stint, for 
 they had opened up a new region to the fur-trade and 
 moreover their rich cargo of furs was a welcome one, 
 for without them the fur-ships would have been com- 
 pelled to return to France without a single beaver pelt.
 
 52 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Had our two adventurers done no more nor attempted 
 no more all might have been well but their appetite for 
 adventure had only been whetted, much less satisfied, 
 by their western experiences. Other fields awaited them, 
 there were rumors of a great bay to the north (Hud- 
 son's), and they were anxious to break a trail overland 
 to it from the south, but a jealous governor intervened. 
 To accomplish their objects both men were quite will- 
 ing to disobey or ignore the governor and the religious 
 authorities as well, and thus they arrayed both civil and 
 religious authorities against them at the same time. 
 Furthermore, they wished to reap the rewards of the 
 fur-trade without the payment of bribes, and this 
 touched the governor in the sorest spot. We will take up 
 the further adventures of Radisson and Groseilliers 
 later on in this story. 
 
 While there was much action, excitement and change 
 of scene in the lives of such adventurers and travelers as 
 Nicolet, Radisson, Grosseilliers and others of their 
 kind, for those traders who remained at the little iso- 
 lated trading posts life was dreary enough. True there 
 was the beauties of the wilderness in springtime, with 
 all the blossoming, budding and fragrance of that sea- 
 son, which was further enlivened by the return of the 
 birds and wild-fowl from the southland, then there was 
 the pleasant summer season with the river, now free 
 from ice, gliding swiftly by the door, murmuring mu- 
 sically along long quiet reaches and roaring savagely 
 at the rapids; with the forests decked out in all the 
 green finery of the season, silver birches gleaming 
 against the dark background of conifers and every 
 bough vocal with happy bird-life; but, then too, there 
 was the long periods of iron desolation when winter
 
 RADISSON AND GROSEILLIERS 53 
 
 held the land in its icy grasp, and when the silence and 
 desolation of the season was almost intolerable to such a 
 gay people as the French. The visit of strange trapper 
 or indian was an event of importance at such times. 
 
 The daily routine of these traders was pretty much 
 the same from year to year, and the order of trading 
 when a band of indians visited the post was uniformly 
 alike, one day for establishing camp, one day for coun- 
 cil with officers, and on the third day the trading began, 
 the indians exchanging their furs for cloth, guns, am- 
 munition, knives, kettles, cooking utensils, and last but 
 not least, for glass beads and other articles of personal 
 adornment and decoration. The last day was likely to be 
 spent in a grand spree, after which they would bundle 
 their purchases into their birchen canoes and paddle 
 away into the wilderness, to be swallowed up in its 
 depths for another long year.
 
 Chapter V 
 
 Marquette and Joliet- Early Waterways 
 and Portages
 
 Marquette and Joliet- Early Waterways 
 and Portages 
 
 We now come to the period of Marquette's and Jo- 
 liet's Mississippi expedition. Pere Marquette was a 
 Jesuit priest of an adventurous nature, who like many 
 another missionary in savage lands was an explorer as 
 well as a preacher of the gospel; Joliet, a splendid 
 woodsman and an enthusiastic fur-trader. Both men had 
 heard rumors of the existence of a great river to the 
 south of the Great Lakes which could be reached by 
 easy portages and connecting tributaries. Perhaps more 
 than mere rumors had reached their ears, for we know 
 that ten years before Radisson and Groseilliers had dis- 
 covered this great river and probably the muddy Mis- 
 souri as well, but either knowledge of these men's ex- 
 ploit had been forgotten or had been disbelieved, or else 
 what is more probable, their report had been suppressed 
 by jealous rivals who wished to rob the two unpopular 
 traders of their glory. However this may be, Marquette 
 and Joliet, the priest and the trader, set out in 1673 to 
 find the "Father of Waters," one with an eye especially 
 open for the saving of souls, the other for the finding of 
 a good fur-producing country, but both longing to see 
 the river of their dreams. Both men were brave, hardy 
 and fearless, both were honored and respected by all 
 who knew them.
 
 58 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 With five companions in two canoes they followed 
 the route of Nicolet up Fox river into Wisconsin's love- 
 ly lake region, portaged across to the Wisconsin and 
 floated down that stream to the Mississippi, and on 
 down the great river into the unknown. Their inter- 
 course with the natives was peaceful and pleasant, they 
 enjoyed the weird scenery of the bluffs which bounded 
 the river, they feasted royally on buffalo, which they 
 found in incredible numbers on the rolling, grassy 
 plains which stretched in limitless expanse on either 
 hand. They passed the mouth of the Missouri whose 
 turbid flood came rolling in from the westward and en- 
 tirely changed the color and character of the river upon 
 which they were traveling. The mouths of the Ohio and 
 of the Arkansas were passed in turn, and finally our 
 travelers were convinced that the great river had its 
 objective point not in the Atlantic or the Pacific, but in 
 the Mexican gulf, in territory claimed by Spain. Ar- 
 riving at this conclusion they reluctantly abandoned 
 further exploration and turned their prows upstream. 
 They did not return to Lake Michigan by the way they 
 had come but went up the Illinois and across by the 
 Chicago portage instead. 
 
 Marquette and Joliet had been very fortunate in 
 their travels but now their good fortune came to an end. 
 Marquette was taken suddenly ill and died before get- 
 ting out of the wilderness. He was buried on the shores 
 of Lake Michigan by his faithful red converts, who 
 brought the sad news to the settlements. Joliet was not 
 present when Marquette passed away, having hurried 
 on ahead to carry the news of the discovery to Quebec. 
 Frontenac, the French governor, received him joyfully, 
 but when it came to procuring permission to trade in 
 the regions he had explored he met with a flat refusal
 
 EARLY WATERWAYS AND PORTAGES 59 
 
 and the privilege was granted to Frontenac's friend, 
 Robert Cavalier de LaSalle instead. It was only an- 
 other case of not being allowed to reap where one had 
 sown. 
 
 We have seen how Marquette and Joliet proceeded 
 from Lake Michigan waters to those of the Mississippi 
 by way of the portage between the Fox and Wisconsin 
 rivers and returned by way of the portage between the 
 Illinois and the Chicago. These portage paths and in- 
 land waterways played a considerable part in the early 
 exploration and history of the interior of the continent. 
 
 Some of these portages have become quite historic. 
 The indians first located and established the paths con- 
 necting the heads of the various rivers, and when the 
 white man came he naturally made use of these ready 
 made trails in his trading and exploring expeditions. 
 The home-building Englishmen built their substantial 
 settlements at the head of bays and rivers along the At- 
 lantic coast. To his back was a wilderness almost devoid 
 of navigable waterways and beyond lay the blue wall 
 of the Appalachians. Consequently he never became a 
 riverman. 
 
 The coureurs de bois of French and indian extraction 
 had their homes along the mighty Saint Lawrence and 
 its tributaries, a perfect network of waterways by means 
 of which, with the occasional use of a portage path, he 
 could penetrate by boat almost to the far Cordilleras, 
 and we are to see Verendrye at the very foot of the 
 Rockies long before our own Daniel Boone had pene- 
 trated into Kentucky. 
 
 There was a portage from the Ottawa to Lake Nipis- 
 sing which in turn was connected with Lake Huron by 
 the French river. Champlain, Brule, the Jesuits and the 
 early voyageurs used this route from the very beginning.
 
 6o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Another less used portage was one by way of Lake On- 
 tario, the Trent, Lake Simcoe, Lake Huron and con- 
 necting portage paths. Champlain used this route in his 
 unsuccessful campaign against the Iroquois in western 
 New York. 
 
 A chain of portages connected the western end of 
 Lake Superior with Lake of the Woods, Rainy lake and 
 tributary streams. The fur-traders early appreciated 
 the advantages of this route and the Northwest Com- 
 pany afterward built Fort William on these waters be- 
 cause of the conveniences offered for easy communica- 
 tion and travel. 
 
 There was a portage connecting Superior with the 
 Mississippi via the Saint Louis river. Other carries 
 were from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi by way of 
 the Calumet and Des Plaines, from the Saint Joseph 
 to the Kankakee and from the Saint Joseph to the Wa- 
 bash and thence to the Ohio. This route became an im- 
 portant one in the days of the Vincennes settlement. We 
 have already mentioned the two portages used by Mar- 
 quette and Joliet. 
 
 In Ohio the waters of Lake Erie were linked with 
 those of the Ohio by a number of carries and portages. 
 One from the Maumee led to the Wabash, another from 
 the Maumee led to the Great Miami. General Wayne 
 recognized the importance of these Maumee portages 
 and fortified them in 1794. By similar paths were the 
 Scioto and the Sandusky, the Muskingum and the Cuy- 
 ahoga united. The Ohio was further linked up with 
 Erie by portages from the Allegheny across to Presque 
 Isle and to Chautauqua lake. Niagara Falls cut off all 
 natural water communications between lakes Erie and 
 Ontario but two portages relieved the difficulty. There 
 was a portage from Lake Ontario to the Mohawk. Sev-
 
 EARLY WATERWAYS AND PORTAGES 61 
 
 eral portages connected the Hudson river with lakes 
 George and Champlain. This route was much used by 
 the indians in their forays against one another, and in 
 later times was the scene of numerous invasions and bat- 
 tles between the English and French and the English 
 and American armies. The names of Diskeau, Johnson, 
 Montcalm, Howe, Burgoyne, Allen, Montgomery, 
 Gates, Schuyler and a host of others are inseparably 
 connected with these routes, routes which the indians 
 and the men of the fur-trade discovered and put into 
 use. 
 
 Two much used war trails were those from the Con- 
 necticut to the Saint Francis and from the Kennebec 
 and Dead river to the Chanderie, over which Benedict 
 Arnold led his brave continentals against the grim for- 
 tress of Quebec in 1775. 
 
 The English were always far better seamen than the 
 French but the latter, once the dash of indian blood was 
 added, far excelled as a river man and a canoe man. 
 The French colonist learned to depend upon water 
 transportation while the English depended more upon 
 overland routes, more as a matter of necessity than from 
 choice. The first American trappers and explorers used 
 the Missouri as their highway but later used the over- 
 land routes up the valleys of the Arkansas and the 
 Platte instead. 
 
 The indians had portage paths between the two main 
 tributaries of the Ohio and Atlantic coast rivers, the 
 Allegheny being linked to the Susquehanna and the 
 Monongahela with the Juniata. Likewise there were 
 portage paths between the Kanawha and the Potomac 
 and the Greenbriar and the James. None of these trails 
 seems to have been much used by the whites, however. 
 
 As so much of the fur-traders' traveling was done by
 
 62 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 water, several kinds of water-craft came into use. First 
 and foremost was the famous birch-bark canoe, which 
 was light and serviceable and had been used by the 
 indians for countless years before the coming of the 
 white man. It was the "ship of risk and adventure, be- 
 longing by rights to him who goes far and travels light, 
 who is careless of his home-coming. It is the boat that 
 now carries the voyageur and is now carried by him." 
 It rides the waves lightly and is easily propelled - also 
 it is easily capsized. The material for its construction 
 was always at hand in the north country. The birch 
 tree was stripped of its covering of tough paper-like 
 bark and stretched over a graceful framework of cedar, 
 the cracks were caulked with gum, a rude paddle was 
 whittled out and your voyageur was ready for a trip to 
 the farthest region. The birch canoe was the greatest 
 product of indian ingenuity, and the only savage-con- 
 structed craft that the white man has adopted perma- 
 nently for his own use. The Kootenais of the northwest 
 make a very useful canoe out of pine bark, the rough 
 side turned inward, which shows by its construction a 
 one time connection between its makers and the savage 
 craftsmen of the Pacific coasts of Asia. In the far south 
 the hollowed out log of the cypress tree was much in 
 use. On the plains of the far west where wood was scarce 
 the indians constructed a circular frame of willow over 
 which they stretched a buffalo hide. These rude and 
 unsatisfactory craft were known as "bull boats" and 
 were principally used to ferry across the plains rivers, 
 yet long journeys have been made in these crazy affairs 
 without mishap or accident.
 
 Chapter VI 
 
 Adventures of LaSalle in Canada 
 and the West
 
 Adventures of LaSalle in Canada 
 and the West 
 
 Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, now claims 
 our attention. Born in Rouen, France, November 22, 
 1643, he became a Jesuit early in life, but soon quit the 
 order and emigrating to Canada began his work in the 
 new land as fur-trader and explorer. With him the fur- 
 trade was only a means to an end. His desire was to 
 make his fame as a discoverer and a colonizer and not 
 as a fur-trader, but one needs money to carry on great 
 schemes, and this the fur-trade offered. His ability was 
 very soon recognized by the French authorities at Que- 
 bec, and he was extremely fortunate in cultivating the 
 friendship of iron-hearted old Frontenac, who aided 
 his plans in every way he could. 
 
 The first exploring expedition of LaSalle is the sub- 
 ject of much dispute and conjecture. In 1669 in com- 
 pany with some missionaries he visited the country of 
 the Senecas. The missionaries were mostly concerned 
 with the souls of the savages, but we suspect that La- 
 Salle was equally interested in finding the river Ohio, 
 of which the indians had told him at his home in Que- 
 bec. 
 
 Life among the Senecas was not such that even the 
 missionaries cared to stay long in their company, and so 
 the party moved to the western end of Lake Ontario.
 
 66 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Here LaSalle met Joliet returning from an unsuccess- 
 ful attempt to discover the copper mines of Lake Su- 
 perior. (This was before Joliet and Marquette had 
 made their famous visit to the upper Mississippi.) Af- 
 ter talking with Joliet the missionaries concluded there 
 was a better field of endeavor awaiting them on the up- 
 per lakes, but LaSalle palmed sickness and remained 
 behind. The priests thought he would go down to Mon- 
 treal as soon as he was able to travel, but Montreal did 
 not fit into our adventurer's plans at all. 
 
 For two years LaSalle and those of the party who re- 
 mained made numerous excursions throughout the 
 country south of the lakes and in all probability made 
 some very important discoveries, but unfortunately all 
 records and maps of this expedition have disappeared. 
 It seems, however, that he secured a guide from the 
 Onondagas who conducted the party to the Ohio, down 
 which they descended as far at least as the falls at Louis- 
 ville. 
 
 Returning to Lake Erie, LaSalle is said to have pro- 
 ceeded by water to the Detroit river and from there on 
 to Lake Huron, exploring the Michigan shores as he 
 went, then crossing to Lake Michigan he passed over 
 by the Chicago portage to the Illinois and from there 
 on to the Mississippi. If this story be true LaSalle was 
 on the Mississippi several years before Marquette and 
 Joliet, but still a long time after Radisson and Groseil- 
 liers. There are many reasons for doubting this story. 
 LaSalle himself never seems to have put forth this 
 claim, and it was years later when some of his admirers 
 claimed this honor for him. That he found and ex- 
 plored the Ohio for some distance seems to be generally 
 conceded, but scant reliance should be placed upon the 
 alleged Mississippi expedition.
 
 LA SALLE IN CANADA AND THE WEST 67 
 
 The Jesuits were extremely busy at this time in build- 
 ing missions and exploring the country, fathers Allouez 
 and Marquette being especially active in the work. 
 
 LaSalle returned for a time to his estate on the Saint 
 Lawrence where he set about preparing an elaborate 
 set of plans, gigantic in scope and purpose, which, had 
 they succeeded, might have changed the whole subse- 
 quent history of Canada, and North America as well. 
 Marquette's and Joliet's discovery of the Mississippi 
 and the conclusion they had reached as to its emptying 
 into the Gulf, fired him with the desire to win that 
 river and the great valley it drained, for France. Prior 
 discovery by DeSoto and the Spanish claims arising 
 therefrom did not bother LaSalle. He would build a 
 strong fort at the mouth of the river and people the val- 
 ley with French colonists. Fur-traders might bicker and 
 scheme and cheat and fight over the trade of the cold 
 Canadian forests, the Jesuits might rule and christian- 
 ize the indians of the Great Lake regions to their heart's 
 content, he would cut loose from both and found a 
 greater New France in the valley of the Mississippi, 
 where neither trader nor priest should predominate. 
 
 The governor, Count Frontenac, entered heartily 
 into his plans. The count was by far the ablest ruler 
 French Canada ever had, and in the enterprising and 
 courageous LaSalle he found a man after his own 
 heart. LaSalle's first move was to build a fort at the 
 western end of Lake Ontario, which he named after the 
 governor. This fort was intended to turn aside the trade 
 which had begun to flow down the Mohawk to the 
 Dutch posts on the Hudson. He furthermore planned 
 a fort at the falls of the Niagara to protect the portage 
 at that place, and here, too, he expected to build some 
 vessels with which to sail upon the upper lakes.
 
 68 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 The French king approved of LaSalle's plans, but a 
 storm of protest arose from both fur-traders and Jesuits. 
 Traders saw, or pretended to see, in this movement a 
 cutting off of much of their own trade and influence 
 and the enrichment of rivals instead. The Jesuits also 
 opposed their plans because they saw that the ultimate 
 aim of these forts was not protection against the Iro- 
 quois or against rival Dutch and English traders, as 
 was announced by the builders, but that through them 
 and others that might be established later, the valleys 
 of the Ohio and the Mississippi would pass into the 
 control of Frontenac and LaSalle, and that as a conse- 
 quence their dream of a second Paraguay in the Lake 
 region, where docile christianized indians would meek- 
 ly bow their heads to Jesuit rule, would vanish in thin 
 air. LaSalle in possession of the country would be a 
 stumbling block in their path. True, he was devoutly 
 religious and had even been educated for the priest- 
 hood, but he was now a fur-trader and it was quite evi- 
 dent that he wished to see white settlers in the west, and 
 settlers was something that neither Jesuit or fur-trader 
 wished to see. Both preferred to see the west peopled 
 by the indian and the beaver rather than by French 
 settlers, forgetting that French colonists and homemak- 
 ers alone could stay the ultimate western march of 
 English settlers from the seaboard. 
 
 Fort Frontenac in LaSalle's hands became a formid- 
 able place. He replaced the wooden walls on the land 
 side with walls of stone, added comfortable barracks 
 and quarters for the officers, also a forge, a mill and a 
 bakery. Nine cannon were mounted on the walls and 
 bid defiance to all enemies of New France. A small 
 garrison and a large force of farmers and workmen 
 were maintained at the place.
 
 LA SALLE IN CANADA AND THE WEST 69 
 
 In spite of the protests which came pouring in the 
 French king, Louis XIV, not only granted all that La- 
 Salle asked, but he went farther and gave permission 
 not only to build the two forts asked for but as many 
 others as he pleased. He also granted a monopoly in 
 the trade in buffalo hides, but he did not favor a too 
 extensive settlement of the great western valleys. Pos- 
 sibly he did not wish to see Canada depleted of popu- 
 lation in order to form new settlements, and probably 
 he too wished to see the west populated with indians 
 and beaver, for the fur-trade was Canada's one source 
 of wealth. A statement made by this same king some 
 time later on seems to bear out this supposition: "I am 
 persuaded," says the grand monarch, "that the discov- 
 ery of the Sieur de LaSalle is very useless; and it is 
 necessary, hereafter, to prevent similar enterprises, 
 which can have no other result than to debauch the peo- 
 ple by the hope of gain, and to diminish the revenue 
 from the beaver." Perhaps, too, Louis feared the lawless 
 independence so often exhibited by these men of the 
 wilderness, once they had gotten so far away from the 
 firm grasp of the authorities at Quebec. 
 
 LaSalle set about to raise a company to finance and 
 carry out his projects. Frontenac in Canada lent him all 
 possible aid, while in Paris he succeeded in enlisting 
 the aid of several able gentlemen, among whom Henri 
 de Tonti, an Italian, was to prove an invaluable assist- 
 ant. Another remarkable man joined the company, the 
 brave, resourceful but somewhat untruthful Father 
 Hennepin. 
 
 In 1678, LaSalle and party established themselves 
 at Niagara and built the first vessel ever constructed 
 upon the upper lakes, naming it the Griffin in honor of 
 Frontenac, whose coat of arms bore that device.
 
 7o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Early in 1679 the Griffin was finished and launched, 
 and away the adventurers sailed up the river to Lake 
 Erie, and on westward over its broad expanse. LaSalle 
 was anxious to get away from Niagara, for enemies at 
 Quebec and elsewhere had instigated his creditors to 
 sieze all his property except the fort at Frontenac. Also 
 his men were beginning to show signs of restlessness 
 and dissatisfaction. It was time to be moving. Entering 
 the Detroit river the party landed from time to time 
 to kill game, which was exceedingly abundant along 
 the banks. They feasted royally on bear meat and veni- 
 son, and the good spirits of the crew were restored for 
 a while. 
 
 On Lake Huron the Griffin encountered a storm 
 which threatened to send them all to the bottom, even 
 stout-hearted LaSalle seems to have despaired for a 
 time, but by hard work they managed to keep the ves- 
 sel afloat and finally reached the straits of Mackinac. 
 The sight of the Jesuit establishment there was a most 
 welcome one to the storm-tossed voyagers, but we doubt 
 if there was much sincerity behind the welcome the 
 traders of the place extended them. From the earliest 
 times Mackinaw was a boisterous, lawless place, swarm- 
 ing with reckless free traders who, like the Jesuits, had 
 very early recognized the strategic importance of the 
 place. The huts of these traders surrounded the mission. 
 Here the men who served God and the men who served 
 Mammon only, plied their callings side by side. 
 
 LaSalle's men mingled freely with the rollicking 
 traders on shore, and very soon he began to discover 
 signs of a return of the dissatisfaction which had 
 plagued him at Niagara. Some one was tampering with 
 them again. He had intended to turn the command over 
 to Tonti at this place while he went back to endeavor to
 
 LA SALLE IN CANADA AND THE WEST 71 
 
 satisfy his creditors at Quebec, but owing to the attitude 
 his men had assumed he did not dare to leave them, so 
 so he pushed on with the expedition into Lake Michi- 
 gan and did a thriving business with the indians in that 
 section, finding them plentifully supplied with furs. 
 
 The Griffin was soon laden with a most valuable car- 
 go of peltries and LaSalle sent her back to Niagara, 
 while with his men he proceeded to the Saint Joseph, 
 where he built a fort. As we know, the Saint Joseph was 
 joined with the Illinois river by a short portage, and 
 this was the route LaSalle intended using in going to 
 and from Canada to his projected settlements in the 
 Mississippi valley. He seems not to have taken seriously 
 the king's expressed wish that no considerable number 
 of colonists be established in the far west. 
 
 Furious storms lashed the broad waters of Lake 
 Michigan creating a terrible sea, and the voyageurs as 
 they looked out over the seething tossing waters and 
 recalled their experiences on Lake Huron, wondered 
 how the Griffin was faring. Their apprehensions were 
 well grounded, for nothing was ever heard of either the 
 vessel or her crew. LaSalle waited at Saint Joseph in 
 vain for the Griffin's return, and at last he became thor- 
 oughly convinced that the vessel was lost. It was a most 
 serious blow, but instead of turning back he led his fol- 
 lowers over to the Illinois and built Fort Crevecoeur. 
 This post was the first establishment of the white man in 
 the country drained by the Mississippi and its tribu- 
 taries, it was the forerunner of the great teeming cities 
 which now line the banks of those rivers.
 
 Chapter VII 
 LaSalle on the Mississippi
 
 LaSalle on the Mississippi 
 
 LaSalle was at length fully launched upon his long 
 cherished plan of founding a French colony in the great 
 interior valley of the continent. He had met with many 
 hindrances, but none of them could turn him from his 
 purpose. He was of the type of men who build empires. 
 Neither plots or intrigues, seizure of property, com- 
 plaints of followers or even the loss of the Griffin shook 
 his firm resolve. It is well that he was made of such 
 heroic material, for war, desertion, misfortune, failure 
 and final assassination were to be his portion, but never 
 do we find his courage faltering or his firm purpose 
 shaken. He was to ultimately fail in all of his plans, but 
 he left behind him a name which stands high on the list 
 of explorers and heroes. 
 
 Having established himself on the Illinois, LaSalle 
 thought it safe to turn the command over to Tonti and 
 for himself to hurry back to Canada to attend to his 
 affairs. Hurrying overland from Lake Michigan to the 
 Detroit river, LaSalle struck across to Lake Erie, reach- 
 ing the lake in the region of Point Pelee, where he built 
 a canoe and proceeded by water to the fort at Niagara. 
 Here he learned of new disasters. Not only had the 
 Griffin been lost but the ship from France which was 
 laden with his goods, amounting in all to twenty-two 
 thousand livres, had been wrecked at the mouth of the 
 Saint Lawrence. In addition to this, many of his men
 
 76 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 had quit his employ and his rivals were unceasingly 
 busy. Misfortunes were coming thick and fast. Discour- 
 aged but still undaunted, he hurried to Frontenac and 
 from there on to Montreal, and soon succeeded in re- 
 pairing his fortunes to some extent. 
 
 Scarcely had LaSalle succeeded in bringing his af- 
 fairs in the east to a somewhat satisfactory shape when 
 bad news came from the west. A messenger arrived 
 bringing a letter from Tonti with the information that 
 soon after his departure the men at Fort Crevecoeur 
 had rebelled, burned the fort and made off with all the 
 plunder they could carry. The deserters had also de- 
 stroyed the fort on the Saint Joseph and seized a lot of 
 LaSalle's furs at Michillimackinac, and the main party 
 was now on Lake Ontario seeking for the harbor of 
 Albany while others were hurrying on to Fort Fron- 
 tenac, hoping to surprise and kill their commander 
 there. With his usual promptitude LaSalle gathered 
 around him those of his men who yet remained loyal, 
 and intercepting the mutineers and would-be murderers 
 he took them all prisoners and clapped them in jail. 
 
 Hurrying to the Illinois country LaSalle anxiously 
 searched for his faithful lieutenant, but Tonti was no- 
 where to be found. He was not surprised to find both 
 his forts in ruins, for he had been apprised of this mis- 
 fortune in Tonti's letter, but he was agreeably surprised 
 to find the boat they had been building for the descent 
 of the Mississippi but little injured. 
 
 The anxiety of the searchers was increased when 
 they came upon evidences of an Iroquois raid. The once 
 smiling valley of the Illini was a blackened waste. 
 Blackened ruins and bleaching bones were everywhere. 
 The tomahawk, the arrow and the fire brand had gotten
 
 LA SALLE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 77 
 
 in their awful work, but what bothered LaSalle most 
 was the absence of his men. Could Tonti, and the few 
 who remained faithful to him, have perished in this 
 general massacre? Everywhere he went searching and 
 inquiring of the few miserable natives who had man- 
 aged to escape the general ruin that had come upon 
 their nation, but no tidings of the missing men came to 
 relieve his anxiety. Winter quarters were taken up on 
 the Saint Joseph, and we can imagine how sad and 
 gloomy that encampment must have been. At last came 
 the welcome news that Tonti was safe among the Pot- 
 tawattomies, and in the following May the two men 
 were reunited once more. 
 
 After the mutiny, Tonti and those who remained 
 faithful took up their abode among the Illinois. Then 
 came the Iroquois invasion with its whirlwind of fire 
 and slaughter. After vainly trying to patch up a peace 
 between the Illinois and their enemies and getting 
 wounded for his pains, Tonti and his men moved north- 
 ward to the region of Green Bay and took refuge among 
 the Pottawattomies. 
 
 Before leaving Fort Crevecoeur for his journey back 
 to Canada, LaSalle had sent the egotistic and talkative 
 priest, Hennepin, with two companions to explore the 
 Illinois to its junction with the Mississippi, and from 
 there he was to proceed on up that stream toward its 
 source. Hennepin obeyed orders until he was made 
 prisoner by the Sioux, and his further progress brought 
 to a halt. His principal exploit had been the discovery 
 of the falls of Saint Anthony but later on his ready 
 pen claimed much more to his credit, but Hennepin's 
 writings have gained for him little more than the repu- 
 tation of being a colossal liar.
 
 78 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Meanwhile the daring leader of the coureurs de bois, 
 Daniel Greysolon DuLuth, had crossed over from 
 Lake Superior to the Saint Croix, down which he had 
 floated to the Mississippi. Hearing of three white men 
 among the indians farther down the river and fearing 
 that it might be Englishmen or Spaniards poaching on 
 French territory he hurried forward to ascertain the 
 truth of the matter. Hennepin and his comrades were of 
 course glad to be released from their captivity, and 
 followed DuLuth across the Wisconsin portage to Lake 
 Michigan and from thence on down to Quebec. From 
 Canada, Hennepin hurried over to France to publish 
 an account of the wonderful things he had done, and 
 incidentally a great deal that he did not do, with the 
 result that very little credence is now placed upon any 
 of his statements. 
 
 Late in December, 1682, LaSalle was ready for his 
 long deferred trip down the Mississippi. He had given 
 up his first idea of traveling in one large vessel and in- 
 stead embarked his men in canoes. At first their pro- 
 gress was somewhat hindered by blocks of floating ice, 
 but the farther southward they went the more pleasant 
 the weather became. They passed the mouth of the Mis- 
 souri, with its flood of yellow waters pouring in from 
 the westward and discoloring the hitherto clear, blue 
 waters of the Mississippi into a dirty brown throughout 
 the rest of its course. The mouth of the Ohio was next 
 passed, and soon after the party landed at Chickasaw 
 Bluffs to replenish their larder with wild game. 
 
 A small stockade was built at the Bluffs and given the 
 name of Fort Prud'homme. A small guard was left at 
 this place while the remainder reembarked and floated 
 on down to the Arkansas, where they visited an indian
 
 LA SALLE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 79 
 
 village where the chief was persuaded to acknowledge 
 vassalage to France. Visits were made also to the vil- 
 lages of the Natchez and other tribes further on. Early 
 in April they reached the mouth of the great river and 
 gazed out over the peaceful expanse of the Mexican 
 gulf. It was an auspicious moment for them all, the 
 mystery of the magnificent river had been cleared up, 
 and they were the ones who had accomplished the task. 
 The arms of France were set up upon the shore, and the 
 land declared the property of Louis XIV under the name 
 of Louisiana. 
 
 The journey upstream was far more laborious than 
 the downward journey had been, when all one had to 
 do was to drift with the current. Also the indians proved 
 more troublesome than on the downward trips, while 
 provisions ran alarmingly low. To make matters worse, 
 LaSalle took violently ill and had to be left at Fort 
 Prud'homme to recover, while Tonti proceeded on with 
 the party. It was September before LaSalle was able 
 to rejoin his lieutenant at Michillimackinac. 
 
 LaSalle was much gratified with the success of his 
 Mississippi voyage, although from a money point of 
 view it had proved a dead loss. His original intention 
 of using one large vessel and collecting a cargo of furs 
 on the trip had been abandoned, and the canoes he had 
 substituted were too small to carry furs along with the 
 men and the supplies, and the trading part of the ex- 
 pedition had been abandoned. LaSalle's hope was to 
 establish a post near the mouth of the Mississippi and 
 use the sea for direct communication with France, thus 
 cutting loose from Canada altogether. 
 
 At a high cliff on the banks of the Illinois, called by 
 the indians, Starved Rock, LaSalle and Tonti built a
 
 8o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 fort which they named Saint Louis, in honor of their 
 French master. Here at this miniature Quebec the two 
 thought to establish themselves in the Illinois country 
 once again. Again disaster awaited LaSalle. Frontenac 
 no longer governed at Quebec and the new governor, 
 unfriendly to his plans, seized Fort Frontenac and sent 
 one of his officers to supersede LaSalle on the Illinois. 
 LaSalle was on his way to Quebec when he met this 
 officer and learned what his errand was, but smothering 
 his resentment he sent word to Tonti to receive the man 
 well, while he proceeded to France to lay his case di- 
 rectly before the king. 
 
 LaSalle reached France at an opportune time. Spain 
 had forbidden vessels of any other nation to sail on the 
 Gulf of Mexico, and in enforcing this demand she had 
 seized certain vessels that had ventured into those 
 waters. The grand monarch could not submit to this 
 extravagant claim of the Spaniards and was planning 
 the sending of warships to protect French nationals in 
 those parts, and in addition he contemplated the build- 
 ing of a fort somewhere on the Gulf coast. All this fitted 
 nicely into LaSalle's plans. As Louis now saw the neces- 
 sity of establishing French colonists in the great valley 
 if he intended to retain his hold on the country, LaSalle 
 asked to be allowed to found a colony there, and he 
 even proposed to conquer the northern portions of 
 Mexico should he be allowed to raise a company of 
 two-hundred men, these to be trained for six months at 
 the king's expense. He also asked for a small vessel of 
 thirty guns and a few cannon for his proposed fort. 
 
 Louis was in a generous mood, and gave the explorer 
 all he asked and more. A naval vessel, the July, thirty- 
 six guns, a small-armed vessel, a store ship and a ketch
 
 LA SALLE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 
 
 were furnished. The naval force was placed under the 
 command of Captain Beaujeu, much to LaSalle's dis- 
 pleasure, for he did not like a divided command. On 
 land, however, he was to have sole authority. The king 
 also ordered the Canadian authorities to restore every- 
 thing they had seized from LaSalle at Fort Frontenac 
 and elsewhere. 
 
 Quarrels between LaSalle and Beaujeu began almost 
 at once, and continued from the time the expedition set 
 sail from Rochelle until it reached America. Stopping 
 at Saint Domingo enroute for supplies, LaSalle was 
 taken dangerously ill, and this discouragement was fur- 
 ther added to by malicious or misinformed persons who 
 represented the land to which they were bound in a 
 most unfavorable manner. The quarrels between the 
 two commanders continued to rage fiercely. 
 
 Sailing westward from Saint Domingo, they missed 
 the mouth of the Mississippi and passed on westwardly 
 along the coast. LaSalle was fooled by the lagoons at 
 Matagorda bay into thinking that he had found the 
 Mississippi, little dreaming that the river of his quest 
 lay hundreds of miles to the eastward. 
 
 Quarreling and sickness followed the landing at Ma- 
 tagorda. In attempting to enter one of the lagoons the 
 store ship was hopelessly wrecked, and only a portion 
 of the cargo could be saved. The indians also annoyed 
 them considerably. It seemed as though man and nature 
 haH joined forces against the explorers. LaSalle and 
 Beaujeu were still at loggerheads, and the latter finally 
 sailed away, leaving the land forces to get along as best 
 they could. 
 
 Excursions in all directions finally convinced LaSalle 
 that he was nowhere near the mouth of the Mississippi,
 
 82 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 but he concluded that the best thing he could do was to 
 safeguard his present position by building a fort for 
 shelter and protection. Provisions were low, and exist- 
 ence was kept up by constant hunting and fishing. Sick- 
 ness was rife and the little graveyard grew amazingly. 
 Discipline was lax. Little by little LaSalle was losing 
 his hold on his unruly crew, and now came as a crown- 
 ing calamity the loss of his remaining vessel and the loss 
 also of the greater part of the crew. There was but one 
 thing to do if he wished to save the remainder of his 
 men from death by starvation and sickness on that in- 
 hospitable shore, and that was to proceed to the Illinois 
 country without delay. 
 
 It must have cost LaSalle quite a bit in pride to thus 
 abandon his long cherished undertaking and give the 
 order for the northward march, but there was no help 
 for it. Day after day they marched on ; dark, silent for- 
 ests hemmed them in sometimes for days at a time; 
 again they wandered over wide stretches of sunny, 
 treeless plains, teeming with game. Under other condi- 
 tions the journey would not have proven an unpleasant 
 one, but LaSalle was sick at heart over the failure of 
 his plans, and his men were so discouraged and home- 
 sick that we can easily imagine that everyone was 
 gloomy enough. 
 
 Buffalo were everywhere and proved a blessing for 
 the travelers, furnishing them with both food and cloth- 
 ing. They also made rude "bull boats" of the hides, 
 which they used in crossing the streams. The men grew 
 more and more insolent as they struggled on, blaming 
 all their misfortunes on their brave commander. At 
 length several of them by watching their chance when 
 he was away from the main body, shot him down and
 
 LA SALLE ON THE MISSISSIPPI 83 
 
 left his body for the wolves and vultures. The muti- 
 neers succeeded in intimidating those who had re- 
 mained loyal to their leader, and continued to run 
 things to their own notions. 
 
 At last the party reached the Arkansas and were over- 
 joyed to find an indian village with a tall crucifix stand- 
 ing in the center. This was an unmistakable sign of the 
 presence of white men, and soon after several French- 
 men made their appearance. The faithful Tonti had 
 gone down the Mississippi from his post in Illinois to 
 meet his chief at the mouth of the great river. Not find- 
 ing him there he had retraced his way to the Illinois, 
 leaving several men on the Arkansas to be on the look- 
 out for LaSalle. Concealing the fact that they had mur- 
 dered their leader the party made haste to reach the 
 Illinois and thence on to the Saint Lawrence and home. 
 Thus ended in failure LaSalle's great plans for a 
 French colony in the interior of the continent.
 
 Chapter VIII 
 Beginning of the Hudson's Bay Company
 
 Beginning of the Hudson's Bay Company 
 
 The destruction of the Hurons and the scattering of 
 others of the western indian nations by the Iroquois 
 caused a very serious falling off in the trade of Mon- 
 treal, Quebec, and other headquarters of the fur-trade. 
 Then the trade began to pick up again, but now the 
 bulk of the furs began to come in from the north in- 
 stead of the west. Down the Ottawa, the Saint Maurice, 
 the Saguenay and other rivers coming down out of the 
 North country, or pays den hant as the trappers called 
 that region, glided fleets of indian canoes, laden with 
 the finest of furs. The traders made inquiry concerning 
 this land of plenty. They already knew of the existence 
 of the great bay that Hudson had discovered and ex- 
 plored, but as yet no one had reached it overland from 
 the Saint Lawrence, and in consequence adventurous 
 souls were longing for permission to find this great bay 
 and share in the harvest of fur the region offered. 
 
 Among those who coveted a share of this northern 
 trade and whose appetite for adventure was as strong as 
 their desire for gain, were our old acquaintances, Radis- 
 son and Groseilliers, the discoverers of the upper Mis- 
 sissippi. They had gathered much information from the 
 indians in former journeys, and they burned with the 
 desire to be the first on the great bay of the north, just 
 as they had been the first to stand on the banks of the 
 great river of the west.
 
 88 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 A mixed party of Jesuits and traders started up the 
 Saguenay with the object of searching for the bay. They 
 had been given permission by the French governor to 
 carry on these explorations, but when Radisson and his 
 companion sought a similar permit they were told that 
 they might obtain the desired permission if they would 
 promise to turn over half of the furs obtained. In at- 
 tempting to procure better terms they only outraged 
 the governor, who thereupon forbade them to go on any 
 terms whatever. 
 
 Neither Radisson nor Groseilliers were noted for 
 paying strict regard to the laws or the orders of their 
 superiors, and they did not propose to be balked in 
 their desires this time. The wilds were calling, and they 
 obeyed the call rather than the orders of the governor. 
 With a few indian companions they stole forth from 
 Three Rivers at night and paddled up the Saint Law- 
 rence and on westward to Lake Superior. Some distance 
 to the westward of this great inland sea they erected the 
 first fur-post in the far northwest. This tiny fort was 
 triangular in shape, with rough log walls thatched over 
 with the branches of trees and furnished in the rudest 
 manner imaginable. Here the trapper-explorers spent 
 the long, lonely winter. 
 
 Instead of maintaining guard through the long win- 
 ter nights they arranged a system of wires about the 
 walls which were attached to bells inside the fort. These 
 were expected to arouse the trappers should anything 
 come in contact with the wires during the night. No 
 human foe molested them but wild animals occasionally 
 blundered into the wires and started the alarm bells 
 jingling. Indians came and went at intervals but they 
 always found the white men on guard.
 
 BEGINNING OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY 89 
 
 When the weather began to moderate they visited a 
 village of Crees and found them starving. Their hunt- 
 ing had been unsuccessful and starvation was the result. 
 The two Frenchmen shared their misery until a change 
 in the weather brought game into the country again and 
 relieved their needs. 
 
 Meeting with the Sioux, the traders made a treaty 
 with those indians, and Radisson traveled extensively 
 in their country. We would be glad to know the nature 
 and extent of these travels, but have no way of finding 
 out. 
 
 Similar uncertainty attends their dash toward Hud- 
 son's Bay. It appears that they crossed the divide and 
 descended a river to salt water, which, if correct, could 
 be nothing less than Hudson's Bay. There has been 
 much controversy over this expedition, and the facts of 
 the case may never be satisfactorily decided. 
 
 Returning to Canada with a cargo of furs worth 
 $300,000 they were arrested, fined heavily, and Sieur de 
 Groseilliers was even imprisoned for a time. When ail 
 was settled up the two friends had barely $20,000 left 
 of their valuable cargo of pelts. They would have fared 
 far better had they complied with the governor's offer, 
 unreasonable as it had seemed at the time. 
 
 Other men had sought to explore Hudson's Bay. In 
 161 2, Thomas Button had explored Baffin land and 
 Nelson river; in 1619, the mouth of the Churchill was 
 discovered by a Dane named Munck; James and Fox in 
 1 63 1, Shapleigh in 1640, and Bourbon in 1656 -seven 
 explorers in all, had made discoveries of more or less 
 importance, but no permanent posts had been estab- 
 lished on those waters as yet. Both English and French 
 fur-traders coveted possession of this great fur store-
 
 90 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 house and Radisson and Groseilliers, aware of this fact, 
 and smarting from the injustice of the French authori- 
 ties, resolved to desert to the English. 
 
 In Port Royal, Nova Scotia, the adventurers met 
 Zachariah Gillem, a sea captain of Boston, who offered 
 his ship for a voyage to Hudson's Bay, but the season 
 was so far advanced that nothing came of the voyage. 
 Two vessels were chartered for a voyage during the 
 succeeding year, but one of the ships was wrecked while 
 going to fish at the Grand Banks and the traders were 
 held up by a lawsuit in consequence, and it was August 
 (1665) before they finally got away to England with 
 Sir George Cartwright to plan the establishment of a 
 trading post on the bay. On the way they fell into the 
 hands of a Dutch captain and the Frenchmen were 
 dumped ashore in Spain. 
 
 Reaching England, at last, their plans found favor at 
 court and that soldier of fortune, Prince Rupert, was 
 especially interested. The adventurous life of the fur- 
 traders and the wealth which the business held forth 
 appealed to the Prince, and he entered heartily into the 
 schemes of the Frenchmen. 
 
 In 1668, two vessels were sent out to America. Gro- 
 seilliers sailing with Gillem in, the Nonsuch, came 
 to anchor in the bay on August 4, at a point which he 
 and Radisson are supposed to have reached on their 
 overland expedition five years before. Here they erected 
 a post and here they wintered, loading their vessel with 
 a valuable cargo of furs. Radisson had sailed on the 
 other vessel, had been driven back to London by a gale 
 and had to postpone his visit to America, but our enter- 
 prising Frenchman improved the time of his enforced 
 idleness by wooing and wedding Mary Kirk. He was
 
 BEGINNING OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY 91 
 
 also often in council with Prince Rupert formulating 
 plans for the future. 
 
 In 1670 a royal charter was granted to the "Adven- 
 turers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," and thus 
 was launched that famous organization known as the 
 Hudson's Bay Company, which is still doing business 
 in the frozen regions about the great bay, and whose 
 posts are still the only sign of civilization in those re- 
 gions. It has the distinction of being the oldest united 
 company in the world. 
 
 Prince Rupert was made first governor with head- 
 quarters in England and Charles Bayley was appointed 
 resident governor on the bay. Radisson and Groseilliers 
 were on the bay in 1671 aiding their English friends in 
 establishing posts at favorable points and trafficking 
 with the indians for their furs. The new posts were 
 named Fort Nelson, later York, Fort Albany, Fort 
 Hayes and Fort Rupert. All was progressing nicely 
 when a band of Frenchmen under Charles Abanel ap- 
 peared on the bay. The English suspected and even 
 openly accused Radisson and Groseilliers of treachery. 
 The situation became so uncomfortable that the two 
 men deserted and went over to their countrymen again. 
 
 A rival company had been organized by the French 
 at Quebec to compete with the English on the bay. This 
 new company was named the Company of the North, 
 and our two adventurers were soon enlisted in its em- 
 ploy. Two vessels were placed under their orders and 
 sent to the bay. After a stormy voyage they reached the 
 western shore of the bay and built a fort. Here Radis- 
 son met a party of illicit traders from Boston and a 
 large party of Hudson's Bay men. By making use of a 
 bit of skillful diplomacy Radisson outwitted and took
 
 92 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 both parties prisoners, though either party outnum- 
 bered his own. 
 
 The ease with which our two friends could transfer 
 allegiance from one crown to another, led to their being 
 suspected and mistrusted by both. They found their 
 rights ignored at Quebec to such an extent that Groseil- 
 liers retired entirely from trade, while Radisson turned 
 over his post on the bay to the Hudson's Bay Company 
 and again took service under the English, much to the 
 disgust of the men of his command. 
 
 Although at this time England and France were at 
 peace, the Canadian traders resolved to make a grand 
 effort to rout the English from the bay. The governor 
 of Canada sent Chevalier de Troyes from Montreal 
 with some eighty men to take possession of all the Brit- 
 ish posts. Among them went Pierre le Moyne dTber- 
 ville, the future founder of the Louisiana colony. This 
 party ascended the Ottawa and from thence overland 
 to Fort Hayes, which they took by surprise. Hurrying 
 on to Fort Rupert they surprised and captured that post 
 also, as well as a vessel which was lying at anchor 
 nearby. Eight Englishmen were killed at Rupert, the 
 rest becoming prisoners. As both Hayes and Rupert 
 were well built forts, their easy capture can only be 
 explained by the surprise and the suddenness of the 
 attack. 
 
 The victors now marched upon Fort Albany, but the 
 garrison there had been apprised of the doings of the 
 French and a surprise was impossible. Nevertheless 
 they were compelled to hang out the white flag when the 
 invaders trained the ten captured cannon from Hayes 
 and Rupert upon the walls of Fort Albany and com- 
 pletely riddled the place with balls.
 
 OF THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 BEGINNING OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY 95 
 
 The success of the French on the bay was hailed with 
 delight at Quebec and with exasperation in the English 
 colonies. Both England and France ordered their Amer- 
 ican representatives to keep the peace, although we 
 imagine that Louis XIV was secretly delighted with 
 what Troyes had done. 
 
 The ousting of the English from Hudson's Bay was 
 only temporary. They returned, rebuilt their ruined 
 forts, and affairs went on again in the same way as 
 before. More forts were added as time went on, and 
 ere long the blood-red banner, with the magical 
 H. B. C. in white lettering emblazoned upon it, was 
 seen at all advantageous points throughout the whole of 
 that vast region of ice and snow - and furs. 
 
 Two ships from England visited the bay each sum- 
 mer, bringing in supplies and taking out cargoes of 
 furs. York Factory and Moose Factory were stopping 
 places for these vessels, and their arrival was the great 
 event of the year. Then only was mail received from or 
 sent to friends in distant England. There was much 
 revelry and jollifying on these occasions. 
 
 The French traders never fully agreed to the sur- 
 rendering of the Hudson's Bay to the English, and from 
 time to time daring voyageurs dashed into the region 
 and seized and pillaged rival traders. 
 
 In May, 1697, England and France now being at 
 war, Pierre le Moyne d'Iberville and his brother, 
 Serigny, led five French ships against the English on 
 the bay. Becoming separated from the other ships of his 
 fleet Iberville found his vessel alone in the presence of 
 three English vessels, carrying fifty-two, thirty-six and 
 thirty-two guns respectively. His own ship, the Pelican, 
 carried but forty-four, nevertheless Iberville hazarded
 
 96 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 an engagement. One English vessel was sunk, one sur- 
 rendered, and the third sought safety in flight -quite 
 a contrast from the usual results of naval battles be- 
 tween the two nations. 
 
 A furious storm now arose and Iberville's ship was 
 wrecked, but most of the crew got ashore in safety. The 
 missing ships now came up and men, cannon and stores 
 were put ashore for an attack on Fort Nelson, the prin- 
 cipal post of the English traders. On land, Iberville 
 was quite as successful as he had been on the water, and 
 after a brief bombardment the English surrendered. 
 
 All these successes availed the conquerors but little. 
 European treaties restored American conquests, and 
 once more the English returned to their battered forts 
 and reopened trade with the natives. Snugly quartered 
 in their stations at Fort Nelson (or York Factory) , Fort 
 Prince of Wales, Fort Rupert and other strategic points 
 they more than held their own against rivals, and ruled 
 over a realm larger than that of any European nation, 
 and their rule was as autocratic and absolute as that of 
 the czar of Russia himself.
 
 Chapter IX 
 
 Count Verendrye and the Discovery 
 of the Rockies
 
 Count Verendrye and the Discovery 
 of the Rockies 
 
 It is one of the strange facts of history that many of 
 the great discoveries made by explorers have been made 
 by them while searching for something else. Columbus 
 discovered America while seeking Asia; his Spanish 
 successors roamed hither and yon in search of fountains 
 of youth, golden cities and rich empires to plunder. 
 Sometimes, like Cortez and Pizarro, they were success- 
 ful; more often, like DeLeon, DeSoto and Coronado, 
 they failed in the objects of their journeys, and placed 
 little or no value upon the discoveries they did make. In 
 seeking a water route to Asia, Hudson had discovered 
 the great bay that now bears his name. English and 
 French seamen had made many additions to geographi- 
 cal knowledge after Hudson's day, but none found the 
 water route to the Orient which was the object of their 
 searchings. Now another valuable discovery was to be 
 made by a gallant Frenchman, who was endeavoring to 
 open a land route across to Pacific waters. 
 
 French priests, traders and voyageurs had pushed 
 far into the unknown wilds to the west and southwest 
 from Lake Superior. Following in the wake of the 
 Radisson, Perrot, Du Luth, Hennepin and LaSalle ex- 
 plorations, LeSueur made two excursions into the Sioux 
 country, and returning to France had persuaded the
 
 ioo THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 king to grant him a monopoly on the fur-trade of those 
 regions. He sailed for the mouth of the Mississippi, 
 where Iberville had established a colony, following out 
 the plans of the great LaSalle. 
 
 In 1700, LeSueur led a party up the river into the 
 Sioux country. On the way they met an English trader 
 from Carolina, showing that even at this early day there 
 was rivalry between the traders of the two nations on 
 the great river as well as on the great bay to the north. 
 The travelers suffered much from hunger until relieved 
 by the missionaries on the Illinois. These black-robed 
 priests of New France came close behind the fur-clad 
 traders and trappers in the discovery and opening up 
 of new lands. It is to these two classes that we are in- 
 debted for the discovery of our great west. 
 
 LeSueur found Perrot established in a fort at Lake 
 Pepin, which he had built about five years before. Con- 
 tinuing on the travelers came to the Saint Peter, and 
 this they ascended to Blue Earth river, where they es- 
 tablished themselves. Two years later a part of the men 
 went down the Mississippi to Louisiana with a goodly 
 cargo of valuable furs. A small party was left behind to 
 hold the fort, but they soon grew discouraged and fol- 
 lowed the others down the river. 
 
 Small parties of hardy Canadian woods-rangers 
 moved constantly about over the interior of the country, 
 even pushing far up the turbid Missouri. They brought 
 back many kinds of reports, but one which aroused the 
 greatest interest was that of the existence of a river 
 which had its head near the source of the Missouri and 
 ran on down to the Spanish settlements on the Pacific, 
 or western sea as it was then called. 
 
 To ascertain how much fact there was in these rumors
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKIES 101 
 
 Juchereau de Saint Denis, in 17 14, set out toward the 
 west, but going up the Red river instead of the Mis- 
 souri. Spain kept a jealous eye ever open for poachers 
 on her domains, or on lands she claimed to own, and the 
 Frenchmen were soon seized and their expedition 
 broken up. In 1719, LaHarpe started out from Natchi- 
 toches on an excursion into unknown regions, but he 
 discovered nothing of importance, while Du Tisne led 
 another party up the Missouri as far as Grand river, 
 but the indians refused him permission to proceed be- 
 yond that place. 
 
 Vast as was the continent of North America, Euro- 
 pean nations were jealous of all rivalry, even though on 
 the vast plains and far-reaching fertile valleys there was 
 land enough and space enough to take care of their 
 overflow populations for centuries to come. England 
 and France were engaged in a rivalry in the north and 
 east which could, and did, end only when one of the 
 rivals was vanquished ; Spain on her part had wiped out 
 the French settlements in Florida with a savageness 
 even remarkable for her, and now she saw the hated 
 Frenchman once more menacing her borders, and so she 
 resolved to expel them from the Mississippi country as 
 well. 
 
 In 1 72 1 a force of two-hundred men from New Mex- 
 ico marched eastward to expel the French, but they 
 never reached the French settlements for the indians, 
 not relishing Spanish intruders any better than the lat- 
 ter did the French, fell upon this army and completely 
 put it to rout. Anticipating further hostile moves on 
 the part of Spain, Bourgmont led a party of French to 
 a point above Grand river and there built a fort. The 
 French and indians got along well together, and further
 
 io2 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 danger from the Spaniards was soon an improbability. 
 
 The French fur-trader was the explorer of all western 
 North America, as far as the Rockies. Go where you 
 will beyond the Mississippi and Lake Superior and you 
 will find French names given to lakes, rivers and towns, 
 showing that he had been there in advance of his Anglo- 
 saxon rivals. His little trading posts became the sites of 
 later cities, and while he failed to make good his claim 
 he has left the impress of his presence upon the nomen- 
 clature of the entire region. English and American ex- 
 plorers but followed in the wake of the adventurous 
 Frenchman and profited by his endeavors. 
 
 The overland search for a road to the Pacific began 
 in earnest in June, 173 1, when Pierre Gaultier de Va- 
 rennes de la Verendrye and his sons, a nephew Jemerais 
 and a party of Canadians set out from Montreal to en- 
 deavor to unravel the mystery. 
 
 Verendrye had been a gallant soldier in the wars of 
 Louis XIV and had been desperately wounded at Mal- 
 plaquet. Later on he had come over to America, and 
 like all other adventurers of that day he was soon en- 
 gaged in the fur-trade. In 1728, he was in charge of a 
 small post at Lake Nipigon, and here an indian chief 
 regaled him with tales of a great western lake which 
 discharged its waters into salt water. Verendrye very 
 naturally concluded that this salt water must be the 
 Western Sea, and his ambition was fired for its discov- 
 ery. 
 
 His appeal to the king was unheeded, but better luck 
 attended his efforts among the merchants of Canada. 
 These men had seen scantily supplied traders plunge 
 into the western wilds only to emerge later on with a 
 fortune in furs. By sending out a large and well-
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKIES 103 
 
 equipped expedition they reasoned that the fortunes of 
 all could be easily made. In reasoning thus the mer- 
 chants failed to take into consideration that in a joint 
 exploring and trading expedition one or the other ob- 
 jects would possibly be slighted, and that with a man 
 seeking glory rather than wealth, the trade would very 
 likely be the one neglected. 
 
 Verendrye set out well-supplied with necessities for 
 his expedition, and a still more liberal supply of prom- 
 ises of future aid. He was to learn to his sorrow and 
 loss just how unstable such promises were to prove. 
 Verendrye left Montreal with much pomp and circum- 
 stance in June, 1731, and by August was at the grand 
 portage which connects the western tributaries of Lake 
 Superior with those of Lake Winnipeg. Here so much 
 valuable time was lost that they were obliged to erect 
 winter quarters. They named their post Fort Saint 
 Pierre. 
 
 Time after time Verendrye was forced to return to 
 Montreal to hurry up supplies or obtain additional aid, 
 and in the meantime was doing much toward stopping 
 the flow of furs toward the English posts on Hudson's 
 Bay by establishing French posts at strategic points. 
 Fort Saint Pierre on Rainy lake, Fort Saint Charles on 
 Lake of the Woods, Fort Maurepas and Fort Bourbon 
 on Lake Winnipeg, Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine 
 and Fort Dauphin on Lake Manitoba. All this took 
 time, and we can imagine how Verendrye chafed at the 
 delay. Misfortunes multiplied, the brave and efficient 
 Jemerais died, many of the men were dissatisfied and 
 all but openly mutinous, and as a crowning disaster 
 Jean Verendrye, the count's eldest son, with twenty men, 
 was surprised and killed by Sioux. Still the brave com-
 
 104 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 mander held on to his original intention of crossing 
 over the continent to the Pacific. 
 
 Verendrye relied much upon indian information and 
 this, as usual, was misleading. They assured him that 
 the Mandans on the Missouri could show him the way 
 to the western sea and so in October, 1738, having, as he 
 thought, firmly established himself in the country, 
 Verendrye set out with twenty men for the Mandan 
 country. Pushing up the Assiniboine as far as the rapids 
 in bark canoes, the party landed and marched overland 
 to the Mandan villages on the Missouri. Here again 
 misfortune befell him. His interpreter had become 
 enamored with an Assiniboine beauty and deserted to 
 follow after the girl. Also the bag of presents, so vitally 
 necessary in dealings with indians, was lost. 
 
 There was nothing to do but retrace their steps to 
 Fort La Reine, which they did, leaving, however, two 
 men in the villages to learn the language. These men 
 remained with the Mandans something like seven 
 months, studying the language and traveling about with 
 them, with ears always alert to catch information of the 
 western sea. Finally they came across a man who told 
 them of a salt lake to the westward, beside which dwelt 
 men with beards, who sang from books and repeated 
 Jesus Maria. Evidently this man had in some manner 
 heard of the Spaniards in California. The man said the 
 French might be able to reach these people before 
 winter set in, although they would have to make a wide 
 detour to the south to avoid a warlike tribe called the 
 Snakes. Verendrye sent one of his sons, Pierre, to pur- 
 sue this discovery, but the young man returned the next 
 summer baffled. 
 
 Disregarding former failures, in the spring of 1742
 
 THE DISCOVERY OF THE ROCKIES 105 
 
 Pierre and Chevalier Verendrye were sent forth by 
 their father to continue the search. These two brave 
 boys, with only two Frenchmen as followers, left La 
 Reine in April and proceeded at once to the Mandan 
 villages. It soon became clear that these indians did not 
 know the way to the sea they were seeking, but they told 
 of a tribe of Horse indians who could guide them 
 thither and from whom they were expecting a visit very 
 soon. The Frenchmen waited until midsummer for the 
 arrival of the expected guests, sharing the hospitality 
 of the Mandans, living with them in their great dome- 
 shaped mud huts and watching, perhaps sharing in, 
 their rude sports and games, but inwardly chafing all 
 the time at the delay. 
 
 Finally with a party of Mandans the Frenchmen set 
 out in hopes of meeting up with the Horse indians. They 
 passed through the region bounded on the north by the 
 Missouri and on the south by the Black Hills, saw the 
 dreary wastes and fantastically carved buttes of the Bad 
 Lands, saw the great herds of elk and sheep, were 
 nightly serenaded by bands of wolves, met with various 
 tribes of indians, and finally to their joy ran across the 
 very indians for whom they were in search. 
 
 The Horse indians, contrary to report, had no guides 
 to lead the white men to the Pacific, but, indian-like, 
 they said that another tribe, the Bow indians, could take 
 them to within a short distance of the sea, so following 
 up this will-o'-the-wisp quest they set out to find the 
 Bow indians, which tribe was possibly a part of the 
 great Sioux nation. 
 
 The Bow indians were found preparing for a war of 
 extermination against the Snakes. The Verendrye's 
 joined the war party and on June 1, 1743, came in sight
 
 io6 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 of the Big Horn range of the Rocky mountains. A camp 
 was established and here the women and children were 
 to remain, while the warriors carried terror into the 
 land of the Snakes. Pierre accompanied the war party, 
 while his brother remained in camp to guard the bag- 
 gage. Two weeks later Pierre stood at the foot of the 
 Rockies, that great mountain wall which was to bar 
 both he and his countrymen from the Pacific forever. 
 He was the first white man, so far as we know, to gaze 
 upon the great range in the northern part of the con- 
 tinent, although the Spaniards were already familiar 
 with the same range farther to the southward. Pierre 
 wished to scale this mountain wall to see what was be- 
 yond, or at least to ascend one of the higher peaks to 
 obtain a view of the sea. Little did he dream that one 
 thousand miles of mountains, plains and deserts still 
 separated him from the object of his search. But he 
 was denied even this small consolation, for as the war- 
 riors had not found the Snakes it suddenly dawned 
 upon them that perhaps the Snakes had received warn- 
 ing of their approach and had circled around them to 
 attack their women and children at the encampment, so 
 back they fled in the midst of a howling blizzard. Ev- 
 erything was found just as they had left it in camp, no 
 Snakes had put in their appearance, and their fears had 
 been groundless, but the scare had taken the wire-edge 
 off their fighting spirit and they headed back toward 
 their own country. The Verendryes could do nothing 
 else but follow, and thus ended their search for the 
 Pacific. 
 
 The remainder of Verendrye's story is but a repeti- 
 tion of LaSalle. Misfortune continued to dog his steps. 
 Enemies in the rear thwarted and ruined all his plans, 
 and in the end he lost all that he possessed.
 
 Chapter X 
 English Supremacy- Hearne's Explorations
 
 English Supremacy- Hearne's Explorations 
 
 The latter half of the eighteenth century was to wit- 
 ness changes of tremendous importance to French Can- 
 ada and to the English colonies along the Atlantic 
 seaboard. The rival nations were nearing the final 
 struggle which was to decide, not alone who was to 
 retain supremacy in the fur-trade of Hudson's Bay or 
 of the great valleys of the interior, but which of the 
 two peoples were to rule supreme on the continent - 
 such were the gigantic stakes for which each nation was 
 playing. 
 
 Much blood had already been shed in futile warfare, 
 but as yet nothing was settled, except that England of 
 all her conquests clung fast to Acadia alone. English 
 and Colonial troops had taken Louisbourg and Quebec, 
 and had hoisted their flags on those rocky fortresses, but 
 diplomacy restored what valor won, and these strong- 
 holds were given back to France. The Canadians on 
 their part had swept the English from Hudson's Bay, 
 but with the return of peace the English traders were 
 allowed to come back, and their crimson banner was 
 again raised over all the battered forts. France claimed 
 the Ohio valley by virtue of LaSalle's discovery, but 
 English traders invaded that region and established 
 themselves there. On every hand the two rivals met and 
 quarreled. This condition of affairs could not last for- 
 ever.
 
 no THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 A trifling skirmish between a band of Virginians 
 under George Washington, and some indians and 
 Frenchmen under a partisan leader named Beaujeu 
 precipitated the crisis. War followed; Europe was 
 drenched with blood, while in America the rivals 
 fought to a finish. The Canadians, with the few French 
 troops that could be sent to their aid, put up a most 
 heroic fight, but they were hopelessly outnumbered. On 
 the Plains of Abraham before Quebec, Montcalm and 
 Wolfe fought the famous battle in which both com- 
 manders lost their lives and Louis XIV, all of his Amer- 
 ican possessions. 
 
 France lost because she had pursued a mistaken pol- 
 icy in regard to America. She had wished to govern too 
 much, and had fatally hampered the colonization of 
 Canada. Two things were almost foremost in the minds 
 of Louis and his advisors, the establishment of the 
 catholic faith, with the total exclusion of all other 
 forms of worship, and the establishing of a monopoly 
 on the fur-trade, which was made almost the sole occu- 
 pation of the Canadians. In upholding the hands of the 
 Jesuits, Louis was encouraging the establishment of a 
 religious tyranny in Canada, more rigorous than that of 
 the home-land. In granting monopolies to a favored few 
 was to stifle trade and commerce. Few catholics wished 
 to become colonists in a land where there were neither 
 religious or commercial advantages to be gained, and 
 by prohibiting protestants from settling in the colony, 
 the king was holding back the only class of people who 
 wished to emigrate. No wonder the colony languished. 
 The energy and enterprise of New France, chafing un- 
 der restrictions, broke loose from all restraint and took 
 to the woods, becoming coureurs de bois and voy-
 
 HEARNE'S EXPLORATIONS iii 
 
 ageurs - splendid pathfinders and trail-blazers, but 
 poor colonists or home builders. 
 
 Southward all along the Atlantic coast compact Eng- 
 lish colonies were growing up in healthful neglect from 
 the home government. Individuality, enterprise and in- 
 itiative were given free reign. As a result these colonies 
 prospered and grew, and while no such record of ex- 
 ploration and trail-blazing enriches their annals as they 
 do those of the French colony, they were builders and 
 they built solidly and well. In attempting to grasp a 
 continent, the French neglected to establish a solid base 
 in their rear. The slower-moving Englishman consoli- 
 dated his power as he advanced, and when the time 
 came he had only to reach forward and the prize was 
 his. 
 
 The fall of New France left the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany masters of the fur-trade field for the time being. 
 The French traders were disorganized and discouraged 
 by defeat, but eventually they took heart again, reor- 
 ganized their ranks, and before long the English traders 
 were awakened from their drowsy life by a rivalry 
 that threatened their very existence. Thinking them- 
 selves at last secure from rivalry after the successful 
 ending of the French war, the Hudson's Bay traders 
 lay at slothful ease at their scattered posts along the 
 shores of the bay and waited for the indians to come to 
 them with their furs. The indian was charged an ex- 
 horbitant price for everything he purchased, paying 
 for each article many times its value in furs. It was a 
 time of golden harvest for the traders. The beaver skin 
 became the currency of the region, and "skin for skin" 
 became the motto of the company and was emblazoned 
 on its coat of arms. The value of everything was reck-
 
 ii2 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 oned in beaver skins, just as beads had been a basis of 
 trade among the indians. 
 
 The first intimation that this easy existence could not 
 last forever had come when Verendrye turned a goodly 
 part of the trade away from them by establishing his 
 forts at Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg. French 
 voyageurs still remained in the country, and gradually 
 their rivalry began to be felt once more. Back in Eng- 
 land folk began to ask what England had gained 
 through all the support she had given to the company. 
 What had the traders done to extend English sover- 
 eignty in exchange for the liberal charter that had been 
 granted them? All the knowledge of the west and north- 
 west that had been gained had come from French 
 sources. It was time for the ancient company to wake 
 up, and wake up it did. 
 
 In 1769, the Hudson's Bay governor at Fort Prince 
 of Wales, Moses Norton, sent out an expedition under 
 Samuel Hearne to find if possible the Coppermine 
 river, which was supposed to connect with a northwest 
 water-passage to Asia. 
 
 Early one cold November while the stars were still 
 visible in the frosty sky Hearne, with two white servants 
 and a small band of indian guides, issued forth from 
 the gates of the fort and turned his face toward the un- 
 known. There was a salute of cannon from the fort, a 
 tingling of bells and creaking of harness as the husky 
 dogs dashed forward with their heavily-laden sleds. 
 There was a crunching sound of snow under the feet of 
 dogs and men, a cracking of whips, and then silence 
 settled down over the lonely place once more. 
 
 Day after day the party struggled through snow 
 drifts and frozen swamps, facing a cruel, cutting north
 
 HEARNE'S EXPLORATIONS 113 
 
 wind which stung their faces like a whip lash. As they 
 advanced, food and fuel grew scarce, and they suffered 
 much from cold and hunger in consequence. Progress 
 was slow, about ten miles a day being the average 
 march. When game was killed the indians gorged them- 
 selves to repletion, taking no thought whatever of needs 
 of the morrow. Hearne's authority was set at naught, 
 and one morning the party arose to find that the guides 
 had deserted during the night. Several indians always 
 went in advance of the party and deliberately scared off 
 all game in hopes of compelling Hearne to turn back. 
 This plan failing, they plundered the sleighs one night 
 and marched off with the booty. There was nothing for 
 the white men to do but go back to the fort. 
 
 By February 23, 1770, Hearne was ready again for 
 another attempt. With two white servants, three Chip- 
 pewas and two Cree guides he once more set forth, 
 this time on snow shoes, for at this period of the 
 year that north country is buried under mountains 
 of snow. They carried few provisions, depending 
 mainly on the game they could shoot or snare. Fuel was 
 scarce and only the smallest fire could be maintained, 
 around which the little band huddled all the long night 
 through for warmth, while outside the frail sides of 
 their rude wigwam the cold Arctic winds moaned and 
 shrieked, and overhead the northern lights flashed and 
 crackled like an aerial prairie fire. 
 
 At times they were out of food for days, but always 
 game was secured in the nick of time to ward off starva- 
 tion. Even the rank flesh of a lean old musk-ox, which 
 at any other time would have been repulsive, was greed- 
 ily devoured and enjoyed. It took grit to proceed under 
 such obstacles, but Hearne had the necessary grit.
 
 ii4 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 With spring came the caribou, marching in vast 
 herds like buffalo, and covering the landscape as far as 
 eye could reach. The question of food no longer both- 
 ered them, but new troubles arose. The indians stole 
 much of his ammunition and some of his survey instru- 
 ments. He could now take no observations at the Arctic 
 circle without these instruments, so for a second time he 
 retraced his steps to Fort Prince of Wales, reaching that 
 post in November, 1770. 
 
 There was a brave and reliable chief who came fre- 
 quently to the fort and who also had somewhat of a rep- 
 utation as an explorer himself, who now came forward 
 and offered his services to Hearne, and as a result in less 
 than two weeks that persevering explorer was headed 
 northward once more. With Hearne went Matonabbee 
 the chief, with a small party of warriors and one wo- 
 man. They traveled as before on snow shoes and as be- 
 fore they suffered severely from hunger and cold ; also 
 they were relieved by the appearance of vast herds of 
 caribou. 
 
 At length they came to a small river which Matonab- 
 bee assured Hearne was the Coppermine or "Fur-off- 
 Metal-river" of his quest, and the latter at once realized 
 that he had run down another myth concerning a north- 
 west water route to Asia. 
 
 Bands of indians kept coming up from time to time 
 and joining the party, and as they continued to advance 
 they grow more cautious in their movements. Hearne 
 was convinced that something was afoot, but he could 
 get no satisfaction out of the stoical Matonabbee and 
 his followers. They were now in the land of the mid- 
 night sun where dwelt the Eskimo. One night, although 
 the sun was visible in the heavens and the light quite
 
 HEARNE'S EXPLORATIONS 115 
 
 strong they came upon a village of Eskimo, all wrapped 
 in profound slumber. Then for the first time Hearne 
 learned the reason for all the recent caution and stealth 
 which his companions had been practicing. Matonab- 
 bee's indians burst upon this village like a swarm of 
 demons. After the massacre, the indians plundered the 
 village, and on the next day the party reached the Arc- 
 tic. It was now July. 
 
 Hearne has the honor of being the first white man to 
 reach the Arctic by the overland route, but the joy of 
 the event was clouded by the memory of the massacre of 
 the day before, which he had been unable to prevent. 
 Matonabbee had been deaf to all his pleadings and had 
 refused to stay the hands of his savage followers and 
 Hearne, horrified and sick at heart had turned from 
 the scene sobbing like a child. Matonabbee, like his 
 warriors, was overjoyed with the loot secured. 
 
 Perhaps the indians feared the vengeance of the Eski- 
 mo for they retreated rapidly southward to the Atha- 
 basca region, where they spent the ensuing winter. 
 Hearne did not get back to Fort Prince of Wales until 
 in June, 1772. Within a year the savage old governor, 
 Norton, was dead, and Hearne succeeded him to the 
 command of the fort. In contrast to the stormy, cruel 
 and licentious rule of Norton was the ten years of peace 
 and justice while Hearne had charge of the place; then 
 one morning in August, 1782, three ships flying the 
 colors of France drew up before the place, landed 
 troops and prepared to storm the fort. Hearne saw the 
 folly of resistance and surrendered to the French com- 
 mander La Perouse. Again, and for the last time, did 
 France triumph on Hudson's Bay, and again her law- 
 makers gave back to England what the valor of her
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 soldiers had won. P s wr the red banner of the com- 
 panv hack upon die walls of the fort. It has fl 
 there unm; : ever since.
 
 -
 
 The Northwest Fur Company 
 
 After the temporary excitement of La Perouse's in- 
 vasion had subsided, the ancient and honorable Hud- 
 son's Bay Company again folded its arms and settled 
 down for another nap. Staunchly supported by the Brit- 
 ish government and tolerably free from rivals, there 
 seemed to be no reason why the traders should waste 
 energy and money in reaching out into the interior when 
 the indian, if you only waited, would be sure to bring 
 his furs to the posts beside the bay. Reasoning thus, no 
 efforts were made after Hearne's several expeditions to 
 further extend geographical knowledge by those in 
 charge of the affairs of the great company. 
 
 So far, few great names had been connected with the 
 history of the company, and its history as a whole is 
 uninteresting enough for a long period of years. True 
 such notables as Prince Rupert, the Duke of York and 
 the Duke of Marlborough had occupied the position of 
 governor of the company, but they had remained in 
 England, and their fame was won on the battlefields 
 and in the courts of Europe, and not as fur-traders in 
 the wilderness of America. 
 
 In the fur country both resident governor and subor- 
 dinate trader lived easy, slothful lives, piling up for- 
 tunes and ruling like monarchs over the barren wastes 
 of snow and ice which comprised their realm, but they
 
 120 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 did precious little to advance English interests or geo- 
 graphical knowledge. In the beginning the two French 
 adventurers in their employ, Radisson and Groseilliers, 
 had shown much energy, but their exploits, together 
 with the travels of Hearne in the Arctic regions, consti- 
 tuted about all that was done along the line of exploring 
 or pathfinding. From time to time the Hudson's Bay 
 men were roused up for a brief spell by the activity of 
 rivals; Iberville raid, the Verendrye operations in the 
 west and La Perouse's campaign each gave them a tem- 
 porary stirring up, but now they were to be awakened 
 in earnest. 
 
 Scotch and English traders not in the employ of the 
 great company held a meeting and organized a rival 
 company. As Canada was full of French voyageurs, 
 whom the English conquest and the failure of French 
 trading companies had thrown out of employment, the 
 new company made friends of these hardy woodsmen 
 and took many of them into their employ. These reck- 
 less, freedom-loving woods-rangers had never taken 
 kindly to the bluff, exacting and reserved manner of the 
 English factors, they remembered the indulgence and 
 familiarity of their old French commanders in the days 
 gone by, and as this new company seemed to offer the 
 better chance they turned to it eagerly. Thus was born 
 the famous Northwest Company. 
 
 The new firm soon consisted of twenty-three share- 
 holders, or partners, and employed no fewer than two 
 thousand persons or clerks, guides, interpreters, voy- 
 ageurs, etc. Their trading posts sprang up like mush- 
 rooms all along the interior lakes and rivers, with Mon- 
 treal as the storehouse. From Montreal all supplies and 
 trade goods were conveyed to the interior posts by
 
 THE NORTHWEST FUR COMPANY 121 
 
 means of batteaux and canoes. The revenue of the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company from the tribes of the far west was 
 quickly shut off. 
 
 The Northwest Company was very particular as to 
 whom they admitted into partnership, and that coveted 
 position could be obtained only by a long and faithful 
 service. This system brought forth the most efficient 
 and most loyal men, and proved a powerful factor in 
 the prosecution of the business. 
 
 Great names are associated with this famous trading 
 company, among which the McTavishes, McGillivroys, 
 McKenzies, Frobrishers, Henrys and Thompson are 
 most prominent. Every year a great concourse of part- 
 ners, traders and voyageurs was held at Fort William 
 at the grand portage on Lake Superior, and to this 
 rendezvous partners from Montreal proceeded in ca- 
 noes by way of the Saint Lawrence, Ottawa and port- 
 ages to Lake Huron, then onward through the straits 
 and across the great expanse of Lake Superior. They 
 traveled with all the pomp and fanfare of an eastern 
 potentate or a feudal lord. The indians and the poor 
 white trappers must have looked upon these gorgeously 
 attired and equipped worthies with something akin to 
 awe. 
 
 Fort William was the scene of much revelry and re- 
 joicing at this time. Old acquaintances were renewed 
 and new ones made, while friendships were pledged 
 and repledged over the flowing bowl. There was drink- 
 ing and feasting and dancing and love making galore. 
 The table groaned under delicacies brought up from 
 Montreal, then there was a plentiful supply of wilder- 
 ness food, fish from the lakes, venison, buffalo, buffalo 
 tongues, beaver tails and so forth, in unlimited quan-
 
 122 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 tities. Scotchman, Englishman, Frenchman, indian and 
 half breed were there, decked out in all their finery. 
 Partners from Montreal arrayed in the very best that 
 could be purchased in Montreal, or Canada, elbowed 
 about among paint-bedaubed savages from the most re- 
 mote regions. It was a great social occasion, but not all 
 the time was spent in revelry; council meetings were 
 held in solemn state and with order and dignity; there 
 was much solemn deliberation and hard reasoning, and 
 every detail of the coming year's campaign was looked 
 into carefully and thoroughly. 
 
 The policy of the nor'westers, as they were called, of 
 going direct to the savages for their furs, instead of 
 waiting for the latter to come to them, led to extensive 
 exploring enterprises, and led to a most thorough 
 knowledge of the country, a knowledge, however, which 
 they carefully guarded and kept to themselves for many 
 years. The names of David Thompson, Alexander 
 Henry, the younger, Simon Frazer, Hugh Monroe and 
 Alexander Mackenzie have become famous for their 
 thorough exploration of the northwest and north. 
 
 David Thompson was an educated Englishman who 
 had come to America and entered into the employe of 
 the Hudson's Bay Company. He was a skilled astron- 
 omer and mathematician, and his services were soon re- 
 quired in the Athabasca region, but following out its 
 custom the old company carried on this work no farther 
 than was required by present needs, and Thompson's 
 work was soon stopped. Visiting a meeting of nor'wes- 
 ters at Fort William he made known his qualifications, 
 and was appointed to the position of astronomer and 
 surveyor of the corporation. He made many valuable 
 observations along the south shore of Lake Superior, 
 along the upper Mississippi and Lake Winnipeg. He
 
 THE NORTHWEST FUR COMPANY 123 
 
 also pushed up the Saskatchewan as far as Lake Win- 
 nipegoosis, thence up Swan river, and subsequently to 
 the Assiniboine. In later years Thompson made a num- 
 ber of valuable explorations in the Rockies, and al- 
 though the Americans had already explored the lower 
 reaches of the Columbia he was the first man to explore 
 the upper river, and in 1807 built Kootenai house, the 
 first fur-trading post in the region. 
 
 Alexander Henry, was called the "younger" to dis- 
 tinguish him from that other Alexander Henry, a fur- 
 trader of an earlier day and likewise celebrated as a 
 trail-breaker. The chief interest attached to the young- 
 er Henry lies in his wonderful journal, which for the 
 period of 1799 to 18 14, contains what is perhaps the 
 best account of the fur-trade and the daily life of the 
 trader ever written. Henry was truthful, even brutally 
 frank, in recording the evils arising from the liquor 
 trade, the swindling devices used in trading with the 
 ignorant savages, and the drunken orgies indulged in 
 by both indians and traders. He frankly relates his own 
 part in these doings, making no effort to excuse or varn- 
 ish over matters. This adds to the value of the journal. 
 
 Henry's travels extended over much territory which 
 is now known as Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, 
 Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Ontario, Manitoba, Sas- 
 katchewan, Alberta, Keewatin and British Columbia. 
 His first expedition into the west after furs netted him 
 a profit of seven hundred pounds and the next year 
 (1800) found him back in the country with a large 
 stock of trade goods, among the items being ninety 
 gallons of rum. He established a post on the Red river 
 of the north and carried on a brisk trade, which amount- 
 ed to nearly two thousand pounds Halifax currency. 
 
 Henry remarks upon the use of horses among the
 
 124 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 indians of the northwest along about 1803, and deplores 
 their appearance in the country as tending to make his 
 own employees more independent and less industrious. 
 Curiously enough he also preaches long sermons on 
 intemperance and the evil effects of liquor upon the 
 indians, yet he seems not to have ever practiced the 
 virtues of which he preached. 
 
 The liquor trade with the drunkenness, degredation, 
 fighting and even murder which followed in its wake, 
 was long a crying evil of the fur business and a source 
 of constant irritation to the authorities. As far back as 
 1663 in the days of the French regime we find the 
 Jesuit, Father Carheil, complaining of the ruinous re- 
 sults of the brandy trade upon the mission indians at 
 Michillimackinac and other stations, and he says that 
 the soldiers have turned their fort into a place which 
 he is "ashamed to call by its right name," where liber- 
 ally supplied with liquor and indian girls, both officers 
 and men vie with each other in wild excesses. He crit- 
 icises the traders and coureurs de bois equally as severe- 
 ly as he does the soldiers. 
 
 We can well imagine what a dangerous animal the 
 drunken indian armed with deadly weapons could, and 
 did, become. Henry's journal frequently records mur- 
 ders committed during drinking bouts, and how some- 
 times the whole camp, even including women and chil- 
 dren, were dead drunk. Knowing as we do the demor- 
 alizing effects liquor has among civilized people we 
 shudder to contemplate what its effects must have been 
 upon poor, simple-minded savages. Efforts had been 
 made from time to time by the French authorities un- 
 der the old regime to prohibit or at least limit the 
 traffic, but there always arose the argument that "the 
 indian demands the brandy and will have it at any cost.
 
 THE NORTHWEST FUR COMPANY 125 
 
 Down in New York the Dutch and English traders are 
 willing and anxious to let him have it. If we don't 
 furnish him these rival traders will, and they will also 
 get his furs." This argument always proved effective. 
 Henry says that officers of the Northwest and the Hud- 
 son's Bay companies made efforts to abolish the evils of 
 the traffic but without success. If an indian possessed a 
 beaver skin he was always sure of being able to get a 
 drink of liquor for it, even if the liquor was considera- 
 bly diluted with water. 
 
 During the war between the Americans and the Brit- 
 ish and their indian allies in 1812-1815, Henry went 
 with a company of nor'westers to capture Astor's trad- 
 ing post on the Columbia. A season of disgraceful de- 
 bauchery followed the English occupation; one of the 
 last entries in Henry's diary says that "the gentlemen 
 and the crew (were) all drunk." Following one of 
 these sprees Henry and six others were capsized with 
 their boat in the Columbia and all drowned. 
 
 Hugh Monroe, "Rising Wolf" as the Blackfeet 
 called him, was another famous trader and traveler of 
 those days, while Simon Fraser explored the great 
 river now named for him and floating on down to the 
 Pacific, an accomplishment in which he was only pre- 
 ceded by his compatriot, Alexander Mackenzie, and 
 the Americans, Lewis and Clark. We will tell of Alex- 
 ander Mackenzie and the first crossing of the continent 
 in our next chapter. 
 
 By their energy and perseverence the nor'westers 
 had become famous as explorers, and dangerous as 
 trade rivals to the Hudson's Bay Company. Bitter ri- 
 valry and even open warfare was to ensue ere the two 
 rivals were to come together by compromise and union, 
 which they eventually did in 1821.
 
 Chapter XII 
 The First Crossing of the Continent
 
 The First Crossing of the Continent 
 
 Perhaps the greatest of all the northwestern explor- 
 ers, Alexander Mackenzie, ranks head and shoulders 
 above them all. Born in Scotland in 1755, he came to 
 Canada at an early age and entered the fur-trade, and 
 served for some time in the counting house at Montreal. 
 His first trading excursion was to Michigan, and we 
 next hear of him in the wilderness to the west of the 
 Great Lakes, where he acquitted himself so satisfactor- 
 ily that the partners sent him to the Athabasca country, 
 six weeks' travel from the nearest post. When he 
 emerged from this sub-arctic exile he had made him- 
 self famous as an explorer. 
 
 Buried away from civilization, amid the snowy for- 
 ests and icy lakes and rivers of the Athabasca country, 
 lay Fort Chippewau. Its trapper and trader occupants 
 had no communication with the outside world for 
 sometimes as much as two years at a stretch. It was a 
 place that required strong men and hardy, men, not 
 afraid to do and to dare. Mackenzie had all these qual- 
 ities, and in addition he had ambition. To the north- 
 ward of him he had seen a mighty river rolling its flood 
 of waters toward the Arctic. Other men had followed 
 the phantom of a northwest water-route to Asia. Now 
 Mackenzie, too, caught the fever. Might not this river 
 lead to the long sought waterway? He would see for 
 himself, and perhaps also win the £20,000 which the
 
 i 3 o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 British government had offered for its discovery. The 
 love of adventure and the prospect of wealth and fame 
 all appealed to the hardy Scot with a force which he 
 could not resist. 
 
 In June, 1789, when the season's trading was over, 
 the furs sorted and shipped in flotillas of keel boats 
 down to Fort William on Lake Superior where the 
 company maintained a warehouse, Mackenzie turned 
 the command of his post over to a subordinate and em- 
 barked with four voyageurs, their wives and a German, 
 in a large birch-bark canoe, and paddled toward the 
 unknown. With them in other canoes went a number of 
 indian hunters and interpreters, as well as one of the 
 clerks, LeRoux, who had charge of the trade goods, 
 for even on an exploring expedition an eye was kept 
 ever open for trade. 
 
 Nothing of interest occurred until they reached Slave 
 lake. Here they were held up by the ice. They went 
 into camp and spent the time of their enforced delay 
 in fishing, gathering berries, and, as wild fowl were 
 nesting, they collected dozens of their eggs. The clerk, 
 LeRoux, also secured eight packs of beaver and marten 
 skins from the indians met at the place. 
 
 With the breaking up of the ice Mackenzie moved 
 out of the lake and into the river, making good progress 
 down stream. So far all had gone well, but Mackenzie's 
 indians now began to give trouble. The indians they 
 met painted a most dismal picture of the dangers be- 
 yond, and the whites had much difficulty in preventing 
 the superstitious guides from deserting. Game was plen- 
 tiful and the travelers fared sumptuously. But for the 
 fears of the indians it would have been a pleasant 
 journey.
 
 URR iR y 
 
 Diversity 
 
 0f 'U//v 0/S
 
 THE FIRST CROSSING OF THE CONTINENT 133 
 
 All along the river they found indian villages and en- 
 campments, and at each Mackenzie and his men were 
 regaled with stories of rapids and falls and river mon- 
 sters ahead which terrified the indians all the more, and 
 it was with difficulty that the white men could prevail 
 upon their allies to proceed further. Game was no 
 longer plentiful, and Mackenzie to quiet his men had 
 to promise he would turn back if the sea was not 
 reached in seven days. 
 
 One night the men arose at twelve o'clock to embark, 
 thinking it was morning. Mackenzie rejoiced to think 
 that he must now be very near the sea, now that he was 
 in the land of the midnight sun. Next day an Eskimo 
 hut was discovered, and at this the men were eager to 
 go on. Coming to a large lake they encamped upon a 
 small island. Climbing the highest point on this island 
 Mackenzie was surprised to see before him a sea of ice. 
 That night rising waters compelled them to move their 
 baggage, and when this occurred regularly for a few 
 nights they awoke to the fact that this sea of ice was 
 nothing less than the Arctic, the frozen ocean of the 
 north, but not the long sought for water route to the 
 Orient. 
 
 The homeward journey against the current of the 
 river was far more laborious than the down trip had 
 been. Men had to go ashore with ropes to pull the boats 
 against the strong current, and this work was wearisome 
 and unpleasant in the extreme. By September they were 
 back again at Fort Chippewau, after an absence of one 
 hundred and two days. 
 
 Having followed the great river now named for him 
 to its emptying place in the Arctic, Mackenzie began 
 laying plans for the ascent of another river - the
 
 134 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Peace - which came rolling down from the western 
 mountains. He wanted to follow this river to its source, 
 then cross over the mountains and find the Pacific. 
 Verendrye had tried to push overland to the western 
 ocean years before but had been halted by the Rockies. 
 Mackenzie resolved to conquer this mountain barrier 
 if possible. 
 
 Spanish, English and Russian traders and explorers 
 had coasted the American shore of the Pacific and 
 these voyages had been the subject of much comment 
 in England and America, but Mackenzie's trip to the 
 Arctic was scarcely noticed, but undaunted and undis- 
 couraged he asked and obtained leave to attempt the 
 linking up of his Canadian explorations with those of 
 Cook and others on the Pacific. Before starting out he 
 spent the winter in England studying surveying and 
 astronomy. 
 
 October 10, 1792, Mackenzie set out on his western 
 journey. October 19, he was at what was known as Old 
 Establishment, an old trading post which had been 
 occupied by a party the night before and by them care- 
 lessly set on fire. But for the timely arrival of the ex- 
 plorers the fort would have burned down. Next day 
 they reached the encampment which had been prepared 
 by a party which Mackenzie had sent in advance for the 
 purpose. Here they wintered, and when spring came 
 they sent the furs they had collected back to Fort Chip- 
 pewau, while Mackenzie, his clerk, Alexander Mackay, 
 six Canadian voyageurs and two indian hunters, 
 stepped into their birch canoes and pushed on up the 
 river; the date of their starting being May 9, 1793. 
 
 The party thoroughly enjoyed the balmy spring 
 weather and the beautiful scenery as they progressed
 
 THE FIRST CROSSING OF THE CONTINENT 135 
 
 onward, in spite of the fact that the river was swift and 
 progress against it laborious and slow. Rapids were 
 finally reached, and the voyageurs expressed their be- 
 lief that they could proceed no further, but Mackenzie 
 would not even consider the possibility of a retreat. He 
 overcame some of the rapids by drawing the boats over 
 them by means of ropes ; others he portaged around, but 
 always he got forward in some way or other. 
 
 On June 9, the party encountered some indians who 
 brandished weapons and otherwise threatened them. 
 Mackenzie stepped boldly ashore, and after making 
 them a few presents succeeded in mollifying them to 
 the extent that they changed their warlike attitude for 
 one of peace at once. These indians told the travelers 
 that they were near the continental divide, and hurry- 
 ing forward Mackenzie was gratified to learn that this 
 was true. 
 
 From the head of Peace river there was a short port- 
 age over the divide to the head of another stream which 
 led off in a southerly direction; this stream was the be- 
 ginning of the Frazer, and down it Mackenzie and 
 party proceeded amid rocks and foaming rapids until 
 his boats came to grief. No lives were lost but much of 
 the ammunition was in the wreck of their canoes, and it 
 was decided that another route, could one be found, 
 would be more feasible. 
 
 More indians were met who at first made a show of 
 hostility, but were won over by presents. These indians 
 informed Mackenzie that the river he was on emptied 
 into the "stinking lake" (Pacific Ocean), but that its 
 mouth was many, many miles away, and that the way 
 was beset by many dangerous rapids, but that if he 
 wished to go to the ocean he could soon reach it by
 
 136 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 marching overland through the mountains. Mackenzie 
 resolved to make the trial, and so he set out through the 
 gloomy forests and the jumble of rock-ribbed, chasm- 
 seamed, cloud-capped mountains toward the setting sun. 
 The going was extremely rough, but the men seemed 
 to have imbibed some of the courage of their leader 
 and followed him cheerfully. Finally the last mountain 
 rampart was surmounted, and on July 20, the Pacific 
 was reached. 
 
 The sight of the great foam-capped surges rolling in 
 upon the land, with troops of seals tumbling about on 
 the slippery, wave-drenched rocks, and flocks of gulls 
 and other water birds skimming about the surface in 
 quest of food, was a most welcome one to our heroes. 
 The prize which Verendrye and others had vainly 
 sought had been won by an unknown fur-trader, from 
 an unknown post in an unknown land. Away back yon- 
 der in 1513, the Spaniard, Balboa, had crossed the nar- 
 row Isthmus of Panama and : 
 
 "Stared at the Pacific - and all his men 
 Looked at each other with a wild surmise - 
 Silent upon a peak in Darien." 
 
 The knightly old sea pirate, Sir Francis Drake, had 
 repeated the exploit of Balboa, but all this had taken 
 place far, far to the southward, and no one had crossed 
 the main continent until Mackenzie's successful dash in 
 1793. On the face of a great rock he painted in large 
 letters : 
 
 "Alexander Mackenzie, from Canada, by land, the 
 twenty-second of July, one thousand seven hundred and 
 ninety three." 
 
 The return journey was full of accident and peril,
 
 THE FIRST CROSSING OF THE CONTINENT 137 
 
 but the men were headed toward home, and this made 
 all the difference in the world. Indians were at times 
 hostile, but peace was always secured without the need 
 of shedding blood. The little fort on the Peace river 
 was reached August 4. With flags flying and songs and 
 cheers awakening echoes among the forests and moun- 
 tains, the voyageurs swept down upon the fort, and joy- 
 ful indeed was the meeting with friends there. 
 
 Life at such isolated places as Fort Chippewau was 
 lonely and monotonous in the extreme. Especially did 
 it seem tame and dreary to Mackenzie after his wild 
 experiences amid the Rockies and in the ice fields of 
 the Arctic. We find him complaining bitterly of the 
 hard lot in his journals. He soon went back to the old 
 world, never again to see the wide spreading plains, the 
 magnificent forests or the lofty, snow-crowned peaks of 
 the land where he had won both fame and fortune. In 
 1 801 he published his book, Voyages from Montreal on 
 the River Saint Lawrence, through the Continent of 
 North America, to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans, in 
 the years Ij8g and 1 793. In 1802 Mackenzie was 
 knighted. He died in his native Scotland March 12, 
 1820.
 
 Chapter XIII 
 
 Trade and Exploration on the 
 Pacific Coast
 
 Trade and Exploration on the 
 Pacific Coast 
 
 While various companies were struggling for control 
 of the fur-trade of Canada and the great interior val- 
 leys of the continent, pushing their enterprises to the 
 very foot of the Rockies, other adventurers equally as 
 daring and hardy were beating up and down the long 
 coasts of the Pacific, with the object of acquiring the 
 wealth of those regions. The first of these sea rovers to 
 visit our western coasts were the Spaniards from Mex- 
 ico and wild Russian bandits from Siberia, brave but 
 unskilled in navigation, recklessly risking their lives in 
 crazy makeshift vessels which foundered and sank 
 whenever overtaken by anything resembling a heavy 
 sea. 
 
 Russian fur-traders had gradually worked eastward 
 over Siberia toward the Pacific, just as Frenchman, 
 Englishman, Spaniard and American trappers and 
 traders had moved westward, fleeing from the civiliza- 
 tion of the Atlantic seaboard, but the Russians were a 
 wilder, rougher crowd than were the traders of the 
 other nationalities. On pretense of collecting the one- 
 tenth tribute due the czar, cossack soldiery robbed and 
 pillaged indiscriminately. 
 
 When at last the Pacific was reached the Russians 
 launched their clumsy, hastily-built and ill-manned
 
 i 4 2 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 craft and braved the seas in pursuit of the sea otter, 
 whose skin was greatly in demand at that time. 
 Glimpses were occasionally obtained through the fogs 
 and mists which shrouded the northern seas, of long, 
 dark masses to the eastward, which they took to be land. 
 
 Finally, in 1741, the czar sent Vitus Bering, a Dan- 
 ish sailor in Russian pay, to learn whether or not there 
 was land so near to the northern coasts of Asia. Bering 
 settled the question in the affirmative, but left his bones 
 in the land he discovered. 
 
 Lawless traders followed in Bering's wake. Forts and 
 trading posts were erected at various points, and ere 
 long seventy-seven private concerns were in the fur bus- 
 iness in Alaska, the trail of the traders being every- 
 where marked by the most cruel and atrocious treat- 
 ment of the natives imaginable. Finally one of these 
 traders succeeded in bringing a number of these reckless 
 free traders into a sort of union, and out of this arrange- 
 ment grew the future Russian-American Company. 
 
 The sea otter was to Russian traders what the beaver 
 was to the French and English traders of Canada. For- 
 tunes were made in single voyages, but the slaughter of 
 the animals was so ruthless that the supply was soon 
 greatly diminished. Today strenuous efforts are being 
 made to save the remnant that survives from total ex- 
 termination. 
 
 English and American traders soon heard of the gold- 
 en harvest awaiting them in the trade of those fur coasts, 
 and ere long ships of those adventurous nations were 
 thick upon the western coast of the continent, competing 
 with the Russians for the trade. 
 
 The first Englishman to visit those northwest shores 
 of America was the famous navigator, Captain Cook,
 
 TRADE AND EXPLORATION ON PACIFIC COAST 143 
 
 who, after discovering Nootka Inlet, explored the coast 
 for some distance before he turned westward over the 
 vast expanse of the Pacific where he discovered the 
 Hawaiian islands, where later he was to lose his life in a 
 skirmish with natives. 
 
 A countryman of Cook's, Captain Meares, has the 
 distinction of building the first ship on the northwest 
 coast of America. By 1792, there were twenty-one ves- 
 sels under various flags trading along the western coasts, 
 the majority being American traders from Boston. All 
 up and down the long, lonely coast went these stout lit- 
 tle ships with their adventurous crews, trafficking with 
 the indians until they had secured a valuable cargo of 
 fur, when they would sail over to the great fur market 
 at Canton. Here they would sell their peltries, reload 
 their vessels and then start back on the long voyage to 
 Boston. 
 
 Of these adventurous merchants none are so well 
 known to us today as Robert Gray, and even his ex- 
 ploits have been pretty generally overlooked. 
 
 Gray was a Rhode Islander by birth and had served 
 in the Revolutionary navy. In 1787, a party of Boston 
 merchants decided to send him to the Pacific in charge 
 of the sloop, Lady Washington. At the same time they 
 resolved to send another vessel, a full rigged two-deck- 
 er, the Columbia, in charge of Captain John Kendrick. 
 Gray was the abler seaman of the two, although of 
 course the merchants did not know this at the time. 
 
 The success of Cook's sailors in trading with the na- 
 tives fired the Boston men to seek to emulate their do- 
 ings and secure for America a share of the fur harvest. 
 The two ships set forth with the brightest of anticipa- 
 tions. The two commanders had orders to proceed to the
 
 i 4 4 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 western coast of North America by the long way around 
 the Horn, where, after collecting a cargo of furs, they 
 were to sail over to China, exchange their furs for tea 
 and then return to Boston. The holds of the vessels were 
 crammed with knives, kettles, blankets, tobacco and 
 articles of finery calculated to catch the eye of the sav- 
 ages. 
 
 Slow progress was made by the vessels in their voy- 
 age around the Horn; furious gales pitched and tossed 
 the ships about like cockle shells, scurvy raged on board 
 the Columbia and Kendrick put in to Juan Fernandez 
 because of it, while Gray battled on to the more pleasant 
 regions farther to the north. 
 
 He first struck the American coast in the region of 
 Mendocino and later thought he discovered the mouth 
 of a large river, but as he was desperately in need of 
 fresh water he forbade to examine his supposed find. 
 Water being obtained somewhere at Fillamook bay, 
 though not without having a sharp fight with hostile 
 natives, Gray finally came to safe anchorage at Nootka. 
 Here he met Captain Meares, and was surprised to see 
 the extensive nature of the trading establishment. Two 
 ships lay at anchor before a cannon-defended fort and a 
 third vessel, a schooner of thirty tons, called the North- 
 west American, had just been built and was ready for 
 launching. This was the first vessel other than an indian 
 canoe or an Eskimo kiack to be launched on our western 
 coasts. 
 
 Friendly relations were maintained between Gray 
 and Meares, but the latter sought to frighten the Amer- 
 icans with tales of poor profits, indian hostility, and the 
 like, all of which of course had not the slightest effect 
 upon the Yankee tars. Kendrick now came up with the
 
 TRADE AND EXPLORATION ON PACIFIC COAST 145 
 
 Columbia and a sick crew. There was much feasting 
 and rejoicing at the reunion with their comrades. The 
 English vessels soon sailed for the Hawaiian islands, 
 and while they were absent the Americans did a thriv- 
 ing business with the indians. 
 
 In April, 1789, Gray penetrated far up the straits of 
 Fuca, which Juan de Fuca had discovered as far back 
 as 1592, but which Cook had declared did not exist. 
 When Gray got back to Nootka again he found a Span- 
 ish expedition under Martinez had arrived to oust 
 Meares from his fort and take possession for Spain. 
 
 Gray and Kendrick now exchanged vessels, the form- 
 er in the larger ship sailing for China, taking with him 
 the crew of the captured Northwest American. Ex- 
 changing his cargo of furs for one of tea, Gray sailed 
 for Boston by way of Cape of Good Hope. Gray and 
 the Columbia was the first American captain and the 
 first American ship to circumnavigate the globe. 
 
 Gray arrived in Boston in August, 1790. In Septem- 
 ber of the same year he again sailed for the Pacific 
 coast, which he reached without mishap. At Fort Defi- 
 ance, some distance south of Nootka, he established 
 himself, gave the Columbia a good overhauling and 
 made her seaworthy again. Here too he built a small 
 vessel, the Adventure, which was the second vessel con- 
 structed upon the Pacific coast. 
 
 Kendrick sailed for China in the Lady Washington, 
 the Adventure headed north to trade in furs, while 
 Gray turned the Columbia's prow southward to search 
 for that river whose mouth he had seen on the former 
 voyage and which the Spaniard, Hecla, had also ob- 
 served in 1775. A sick crew had prevented Hecla from 
 examining it, and lack of water had kept Gray from
 
 i 4 6 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 making any effort in that direction on his former trip, 
 but this time he entered the river and sailed up it some 
 twenty or thirty miles until he was sure that it really 
 was a river. Naming the great waterway the Columbia, 
 after his vessel, Gray took possession of it in the name 
 of the United States of America. His was a most valu- 
 able discovery, and one upon which American claims to 
 the region were later based, but his countrymen paid 
 little enough attention to the man or his discovery at 
 the time. 
 
 In the spring of 1 79 1 , Captain George Vancouver 
 was sent to the Pacific coast with two vessels to receive 
 back from Spain the fort at Nootka and all other Eng- 
 lish property seized by the Spaniards in those regions. 
 He was also instructed to thoroughly explore all the 
 coast lying between New Spain and Russian America, 
 and particularly was he to seek that mysterious, and as 
 it proved mythical waterway between the Atlantic and 
 Pacific of which explorers, geographers and statesmen 
 had been dreaming through the centuries. Bering, Cook 
 and others had disproved the existence of this waterway, 
 but it had been dreamed of and talked about for so long 
 that men would not be convinced, and now Vancouver 
 was to settle the question once and for all. Vancouver 
 was off the mouth of the Columbia two weeks before 
 Gray but did not deem it worth while to investigate, 
 and so missed his chance. 
 
 At Nootka the English and Spanish sailors met in a 
 most friendly manner, and with a great show of pomp 
 and circumstance the representative of Spain trans- 
 ferred the sovereignty of the region over to the English. 
 Vancouver made many valuable discoveries in the re- 
 gion and settled forever the question of the northwest
 
 TRADE AND EXPLORATION ON PACIFIC COAST 147 
 
 passage. He also found that the land on which Nootka 
 was situated was a very large island. This island now 
 bears the name of the bold navigator. 
 
 Meeting up with Captain Gray, Vancouver was both 
 vexed and disappointed to learn that the American had 
 found the Columbia after he himself had thrown away 
 the chance of discovery. Steering at once for the mouth 
 of the river he learned that Gray had told him the truth. 
 One of his officers, Lieutenant Broughton, examined the 
 river for miles, and with a cheerful disregard for what 
 Gray had done, he landed and proclaimed the country 
 British territory. 
 
 While English, Spanish and American traders were 
 thus engaged in exploring the coast, building forts and 
 setting up claims for their respective governments, the 
 Russians were not idle, but they were a lawless set and 
 spent quite as much energy in righting private enemies 
 as they did in extending Russian authority. In 1790, 
 however, there sailed for America a man, who was 
 fully able to protect all Russia's rights. This man was 
 Alexander Baranoff, a hard drinking, unscruplous 
 despot, but a master mind in the fur business as well. 
 
 Baranoff's bravery, good judgment and business abil- 
 ity rapidly brought him forward as the foremost figure 
 in all Russia America. Following the example of Greg- 
 ory Shelikoff, who had made the first steps in the direc- 
 tion of uniting the various trading companies years be- 
 fore, Baranoff consolidated the various companies, cul- 
 tivated friendly relations with the hitherto badly abused 
 natives, encouraged American traders to trade at his 
 establishments, scattered his sea otter hunters all down 
 the coast as far as California, and in other ways 
 strengthened his hold on the country and the people.
 
 i 4 8 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Although a strict disciplinarian with his men, he 
 himself indulged in the wildest of dissipation with 
 guests at headquarters, and at such times was tyrannical 
 beyond all reason. From his headquarters at Sitka he 
 ruled all Alaska with an iron hand, and the Czar never 
 had a more efficient or loyal representative in the coun- 
 try, but enemies were busy and caused his recall from 
 office in 1818. He took his disgrace so sorely to heart 
 that he died broken-hearted on the journey homeward. 
 
 With an opportunity for boundless graft, so dear to 
 Russian officialdom, BaranofTs books were found in 
 faultless condition, and the grizzled old trader, who 
 had every chance to amass a fortune, died a poor man.
 
 Chapter XIV 
 
 American Independence - Trans-mississippi 
 Explorations
 
 American Independence- Trans-mississippi 
 Explorations 
 
 When at the peace of 1763, France surrendered Can- 
 ada to England, along with all the rest of her posses- 
 sions east of the Mississippi, she also turned over to 
 Spain all her vast territory reaching from the great 
 river westward to the distant Rockies, and the white 
 banner of the Bourbons disappeared forever from the 
 North American mainland. It was a sorrowful day for 
 the French populations of the Saint Lawrence valley, 
 the Great Lake regions and the scattered settlements 
 along the Illinois, the Mississippi and the Missouri, 
 when they beheld the flags of their hated rivals flung to 
 the breeze. The savages, too, did not look kindly upon 
 the change. They liked the French but they hated the 
 overbearing English army officers, who came to take 
 charge of the surrendered posts. The Pontiac war with 
 its bloody succession of murders and massacres fol- 
 lowed. 
 
 Scarcely had the Pontiac war been brought to a close 
 when the first rumblings of the coming storm of the 
 Revolution began to be heard along the Atlantic sea- 
 board. French officials in Paris chuckled to themselves 
 when the colonies arose against English rule and later 
 on substantial aid was given the Americans in the strug- 
 gle for independence, in vain hopes, perhaps, of again
 
 152 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 winning back Canada and the Mississippi valley for 
 France. America secured her freedom, but English vic- 
 tories at sea shattered French dreams of reconquest, and 
 peace found her still excluded from the continent. 
 
 The French revolution and its aftermath, the Na- 
 poleonic wars, revived French dreams of dominion in 
 America. Napoleon forced Spain to restore Louisiana 
 to France, but he was compelled to part with the colony 
 almost immediately to prevent it from falling into Eng- 
 lish hands. America was seeking to acquire the port of 
 New Orleans in order to secure an outlet for the pro- 
 duce of her western settlements. Napoleon offered to 
 sell her not only New Orleans but the whole of Louis- 
 iana. Jefferson and his advisors were almost staggered 
 by the offer, but, to their everlasting credit, they closed 
 the bargain with the emperor at once. Again there was 
 a change of flags in Louisiana, this time for good. 
 
 What was comprised within the limits of what was 
 then known as Louisiana, few Americans besides Jeffer- 
 son knew or cared to know. Fur-traders had wandered 
 far and wide over the limitless plains and one of them, 
 Verendrye, had even reached the Rockies. Little trad- 
 ing posts were scattered here and there along the 
 courses of the great rivers and their tributaries, while 
 far to the northward, on British territory, the enter- 
 prising and adventurous trader, Alexander Mackenzie, 
 had succeeded in reaching the Pacific, but as yet no one 
 had accomplished this much on American territory. 
 
 Carver, the Englishman, and later Michaux, the 
 Frenchman, had planned a systematic exploration of 
 the western country, but the plans of both fell through. 
 Jefferson revived the scheme and chose two army cap- 
 tains, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, to con-
 
 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPLORATIONS 153 
 
 duct operations. A better choice of men would have 
 been hard to make, both were of good old Virginia 
 stock, and both were peculiarly fitted for the work at 
 hand. Jefferson's plans were for the party to ascend 
 the Missouri, cross over the continental divide to Pa- 
 cific waters, making a thorough study of the country 
 and its possibilities as they went. The captains were 
 given a force consisting of forty-five efficient men, well 
 equipped for the struggle with the wilderness. For the 
 transportation of their supplies they were furnished 
 with three boats : one a keel-boat fifty-five feet long, 
 drawing three feet of water and fitted with twenty-two 
 oars and a sail; the other two were pirogues, one of six 
 and the other of seven oars. Two horses were led along 
 the bank for the use of the hunters in pursuing and 
 bringing in game. 
 
 The start was made May 14, 1804, and slow progress 
 was made against the strong, turbid current of the Mis- 
 souri. The progress was made still slower by the fact 
 that they landed at every indian village to hold council 
 and cultivate friendships with all the tribes, this being 
 a part of their instructions. The scene of one of these 
 meetings has been perpetuated in the name Council 
 Bluffs, by the city now occupying the site. On August 
 1 1, Sergeant Charles Floyd died and was buried on the 
 banks of the great river, being the only serious misfor- 
 tune attending the progress of the expedition up the 
 Missouri. 
 
 From time to time they passed small trading estab- 
 lishments of Frenchmen, and once they met two French 
 traders who had been robbed by indians of the up coun- 
 try and were now retracing their weary way back to the 
 settlements. In the Mandan villages they met a Mr.
 
 154 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 McCracken of the Northwest Fur Company. Other 
 trappers and traders were met from time to time. 
 
 At the Mandan villages Lewis and Clark proposed to 
 go into winter quarters. They at once set about erecting 
 a fort and laying in a supply of buffalo meat. The win- 
 ter was a severe one, but the men feasted royally, and 
 just as soon as the weather moderated sufficiently they 
 were again on the move up the river. 
 
 A party had been sent back to Saint Louis from the 
 Mandan village to carry specimens of animal and 
 vegetable life to the authorities there, who in turn were 
 to forward same to Washington. With the rest of the 
 party the captains pushed forward to the mouth of the 
 Yellowstone, near which they killed their first grizzly 
 bear. Reaching the rough, broken country at the foot of 
 the mountains they were obliged to "cordell" their 
 boats, a number of the men walking along the banks of 
 the river pulling on a tow line, while those on board 
 fended the boats off rocks and away from the banks 
 with poles. 
 
 At the mouth of the Marias the travelers were much 
 puzzled which stream was the main one. With four 
 men Lewis started out to investigate. Taking the stream 
 to their left they soon came to Great Falls, and decided 
 that they had chosen rightly and were on the main river. 
 Soon after, they were obliged to abandon their boat, as 
 only the canoes could be navigated further. On July 
 15, they passed through the canon known as the gate of 
 the mountains, and the three forks of the Missouri were 
 soon reached. They named these three branches of the 
 great river Jefferson, Madison and Gallatin, in honor of 
 the president, the secretary of state and the secretary of 
 the treasury.
 
 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPLORATIONS 155 
 
 Choosing the Jefferson fork the explorers pushed 
 forward laboriously, the stream becoming more and 
 more shallow as they advanced, compelling the men to 
 pull and haul and push almost constantly in order to 
 get the canoes along at all. 
 
 Sacajawea, (the bird woman), the indian wife of the 
 interpreter, as a child had lived in the region they were 
 now traversing, but had been stolen from her people by 
 another tribe and carried away into captivity. She had 
 never returned to her native country, but on her mind 
 the topography of the region had been indelibly im- 
 pressed. She now came forward as guide, and proved 
 an invaluable assistant. 
 
 Abandoning the river at last the travelers took the 
 old indian trail by way of Lemhi pass to a tributary of 
 the Columbia. This portion of their journey was ex- 
 tremely difficult and vexatious; game became scarce, 
 the great herds of buffalo had been left behind, and 
 hunger was only kept away by slaughtering and eating 
 horses and dogs, which they purchased from the in- 
 dians. 
 
 As soon as possible they again took to the water, pro- 
 curing some wooden dugouts from the natives and float- 
 ing in them down to the Pacific, which they reached on 
 November 7. On the coast they saw much evidence of 
 former visits by white men, one woman being observed 
 who had the name J. Bowman tatooed upon her arm, 
 the artist no doubt being some English or American 
 trader who had visited the locality. 
 
 All the way up the Missouri, Lewis and Clark had 
 met wandering traders and trappers, and now, too, on 
 the western coasts among wigwams of the indians evi- 
 dence of former visits by this adventurous gentry were
 
 156 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 found, another proof that the fur-trade produced the 
 first real pathfinders. 
 
 All this does not detract from the fame of Lewis's 
 and Clark's achievements; they are entitled to all the 
 glory and praise that has been accorded them, but how 
 about those nameless wanderers who, on their own in- 
 centive, with no thought of glory and with no govern- 
 ment backing, penetrated these wilds and in most cases 
 paved the way for the future explorer. Is he not entitled 
 to an equal share of the credit? 
 
 Erecting a rude fort, which they named Clatsop, 
 after an indian tribe of the region, the explorers passed 
 the winter of 1805- 1806. The return journey was begun 
 March 23, and was attended by quite as important in- 
 vestigations as was the westward march. Excursions 
 were made to each side of the main route, the Marias 
 and the Yellowstone both receiving attention. 
 
 One of the men, John Colter, was so fascinated with 
 life in the wilds that he obtained permission to leave the 
 command and attach himself to a party of trappers 
 which they met coming up the Missouri. 
 
 The final stages of the journey were made with rapid- 
 ity, and Saint Louis was reached on September 23, 1806, 
 where the explorers were again reunited with relatives 
 and friends after their long sojourn in the wilds of the 
 far west. 
 
 With the exception of Lewis and Clark and Pike, 
 none of the first American explorers were scientific men, 
 being for the most part rude, sometimes unlettered, 
 trappers and traders. No notice was taken of their trav- 
 els. Those who kept journals or, like Colter, Bridger or 
 Beckwourth, brought in tales of important discoveries, 
 were met with incredulity, and not infrequently brand-
 
 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI EXPLORATIONS 157 
 
 ed as impudent liars. That some of them were noted 
 for their ability to twist the truth out of all proportion 
 cannot be denied. Bridger and Beckwourth were both 
 considered proficient in the art of prevarication, yet this 
 does not change facts. 
 
 Rival traders began operations along the Missouri, 
 and as the old monopolies of the French and Spaniard 
 no longer held good, the wealth of the fur country was 
 for him who could capture and hold the trade. Two 
 rivals came into especial notice, one party headed by the 
 Chouteau brothers and the other by the Spaniard, Man- 
 uel Lisa. As Lewis and Clark were the first to make a 
 systematic exploration of the upper Missouri and its 
 tributaries, so Lisa was the first to systematize the fur- 
 trade in those regions. The wandering French traders 
 who had visited the up country had gone among the 
 indians for their furs, and had had no especial place of 
 rendezvous or no fixed method of trading, excepting on 
 the lower reaches of the river. Lisa's plan was to estab- 
 lish trading posts at suitable places clear to the Rockies. 
 
 In 1807, he ascended the Missouri and the Yellow- 
 stone to the mouth of the Big Horn, where he built a 
 fort and spent the ensuing winter. From this point he 
 sent out emissaries to all the surrounding tribes in an 
 endeavor to establish trade and peaceful relations with 
 them. It was while on one of these missions to the Crows 
 in behalf of Lisa that Colter discovered the wonderful 
 geyser regions of the Yellowstone, but his report was 
 received with incredulity, and the region he described 
 came to be derisively known as "Colter's Hell" in con- 
 sequence. Chouteau also sent an expedition up the Mis- 
 souri in 1807, but this party was turned back by the 
 Arikara and compelled to retrace their steps.
 
 158 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Lisa and the Chouteaus now joined forces and or- 
 ganized the Missouri Fur Company. Forts were built 
 along the Gros Ventres and at the three forks of the 
 Missouri, in the very heart of the Blackfoot country. 
 The Blackfeet had given Lewis and Clark some trouble 
 during their return journey, and Lewis had been com- 
 pelled to kill one of their number. This act of Lewis's 
 kindled in the tribe a deadly enmity against the whites, 
 and now when Lisa came and began building a fort, 
 and apparently with the intention of taking possession 
 of the country, their anger was kindled anew, and they 
 began so deadly a warfare that Lisa was compelled to 
 abandon the fort. 
 
 In spite of this hostility, however, a company of Mis- 
 souri men, under Andrew Henry, crossed over the con- 
 tinental divide and built a fort, the first American trad- 
 ing post on the Pacific side of the Rockies.
 
 Chapter XV 
 Explorations in the Southwest
 
 UBP&RY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
 Explorations in the Southwest 
 
 While Lewis and Clark and Lisa and the Chouteaus 
 were exploring the upper Missouri and the regions of 
 the Rockies and of the far Columbia, other adventurous 
 soldiers and traders were equally busy, but with eyes 
 turned toward Mexico and the southwest. Years before 
 the American occupation of Louisiana, Spanish troops 
 had extended their journeyings as far to the northward 
 and eastward as the plains of Kansas, searching for the 
 fabled golden city of Quivira. Frenchmen from the set- 
 tlements along the Mississippi had also penetrated far 
 into the country for furs and for the purpose of estab- 
 lishing a trade route to Mexico, one party headed by the 
 Mallet brothers had even succeeded in pushing on to 
 Santa Fe in 1739, but nothing had come of their jour- 
 ney. The Spaniards feared, and with good reason, to 
 establish communications with either the French or 
 their American successors. 
 
 The first American to attempt to trade in that uncer- 
 tain and unfriendly region was a merchant of Kas- 
 kaskia, named Morrison. In 1804, he sent a French 
 Creole, LaLande, to Santa Fe to attempt the establish- 
 ment of trade relations. LaLande fell in love with the 
 quaint old town, its easy, careless life and its charming, 
 dark-eyed senoritas, and resolved to stay there. Inci- 
 dentally he forgot to make any returns to his employer
 
 162 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 for the goods entrusted to him, and lived in comfort 
 on the proceeds of his ill-gotten gains. 
 
 Another American, James Pursley, in 1805, also 
 drifted into this mysterious and fascinating region and, 
 like LaLande, he liked the place and settled down there 
 to live. Other American adventurers came dropping in 
 from time to time. Some were keen traders and made a 
 good profit on their goods, returning to the States with 
 a good sum of money; others fell into the hands of ban- 
 dits and were robbed of all their effects; still others, 
 scarcely more fortunate, were seized by Mexican offi- 
 cials, their goods confiscated and themselves thrown 
 into prison. 
 
 From the very first Americans were interested in the 
 Mexican territories to the southwestward and traders, 
 filibusters and soldiers of fortune turned greedy eyes 
 toward the region. Already were the borderers dream- 
 ing of "the day" when that land would come under the 
 dominion of the stars and stripes. 
 
 In 1806, Captain Zebulon Pike, a meritorious officer 
 of the regular army, was sent to investigate this south- 
 western country. He had just returned from a scientific 
 expedition to the headwaters of the Mississippi, and 
 had acquitted himself so well that he was chosen to lead 
 the proposed expedition to the southwest. There has al- 
 ways been some question as to what the real objects of 
 this expedition were. We know that the army chief, 
 General Wilkinson, was hand and glove with Aaron 
 Burr in a conspiracy against Spanish sovereignty in 
 Mexico and possibly our own southwestern settlements 
 as well, and it was thought that in all probability this 
 excursion of Pike's was a part of the plot, but as subse- 
 quent investigations have utterly failed to connect Pike 
 with any dishonorable alignment with the Burr con-
 
 EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST 163 
 
 spiracy, his name comes down to us unsullied. If he ever 
 did entertain any treasonable designs against the gov- 
 ernment, his heroic death while leading his troops 
 against the British at York (Toronto) a few years later 
 fully atones for it all. 
 
 Pike left Saint Louis July 15, 1806, with a force of 
 twenty-three men - a ridiculously small force if he had 
 any designs against the Mexicans - and went up the 
 Missouri. He had with him a number of indians who 
 had been redeemed from captivity among other tribes 
 and which he wished to restore to their own people. He 
 quickly accomplished this part of his business and, 
 while he afterward occasionally had some slight trouble 
 with the savages, the action of the Americans in restor- 
 ing their friends and relatives gained for the govern- 
 ment the gratitude of many of the tribes, while it won- 
 derfully increased its prestige. 
 
 Just as Lewis and Clark had met with trappers and 
 traders far in the wilderness regions, so also Pike found 
 that white men had preceded him everywhere. Trap- 
 pers were met from time to time, and in the Pawnee 
 villages they found a well-beaten trail leading to the 
 Mexican settlements, showing that Spanish soldiers had 
 frequented the region. In one of the Pawnee villages 
 Pike found the Spanish flag flying. This he promptly 
 hauled down and replaced it with the American ensign. 
 
 Reaching the upper waters of the Arkansas, Pike dis- 
 patched a party of soldiers under Lieutenant Wilkinson 
 (son of the commanding general) down that stream in 
 skin canoes to report the progress of the expedition 
 thus far, while with the main party he moved on up the 
 river. On November 15, Pike discovered the dim out- 
 lines of the peak that perpetuates his fame. 
 
 Winter coming on apace, Pike and his men suffered
 
 164 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 severely from the cold. A part of his orders were to find 
 the Red river, and with this object in view he marched 
 his men back and forth across the country in spite of 
 cold and snow and nakedness and hunger. At length 
 they came upon a large river which they took to be the 
 one for which they were in search, but which in reality 
 was the Rio Grande and well within Spanish territory. 
 Here they built a rude fort and sent their surgeon on to 
 Santa Fe to learn what he could of the place and the 
 opportunity to trade there. News of the Burr-Wilkinson 
 conspiracy had reached Santa Fe, and now that one of 
 Wilkinson's officers was found with a company of 
 troops on Spanish soil naturally awakened suspicion 
 and alarm. 
 
 A force of Spanish soldiers was at once sent to the 
 Rio Grande to "invite" Pike to come to Santa Fe and 
 explain. There was nothing else for the Americans to 
 do but comply. Knowing the fighting reputation that 
 Pike later on acquired, we hardly think he would have 
 allowed himself and men to have been taken so easily 
 had his intentions been hostile in the beginning. 
 
 It was in July, 1807, before Pike was again back on 
 American soil. His work in the southwest had been of 
 much importance to the United States government, and 
 prompt promotion followed. 
 
 In 1807 the trapper, Ezekial Williams, started out on 
 a trapping tour of the far west. Williams had with him 
 a noted Mandan chief, Big White, whom Lewis and 
 Clark had induced to pay a visit to the national capital 
 and whose safe return to his people had been guaran- 
 teed. As the Mandans and Sioux were now at war it 
 behooved the whites to send a strong force to escort 
 the chief back to his country. This Williams agreed 
 to do.
 
 EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST 165 
 
 Williams's party consisted of twenty men, well 
 equipped for a two year campaign in the wilds. In 
 addition to fire-arms and ammunition, each man car- 
 ried six traps, for it was their intention once they had 
 seen Big White safely home, to trap and explore in the 
 wild region beyond the Missouri. 
 
 Hitherto the fur-traders had confined themselves to 
 the great waterways of the country, traveling in birch- 
 bark canoes, dugouts and keel-boats, portaging around 
 rapids and falls and carrying the lighter craft on their 
 shoulders from the head of one waterway to another. 
 In the far north when the rivers were frozen over they 
 had traveled on snow-shoes or dog-sled. The French 
 trappers became especially expert in the use of the 
 canoe, and this method has always been the principal 
 mode of conveyance in the northern fur countries. 
 
 Horses began to appear among the indians during 
 the latter years of the seventeenth century, and the trap- 
 pers in many sections also availed themselves of their 
 use. 
 
 The pack-train first came in use in Mexico, and 
 from them our own trappers and borderers borrowed 
 the art of packing. The equipment of one of these trains 
 consisted of first putting a sheep-skin over the horse's or 
 mule's back, then a blanket was placed on top of this, 
 after which the huge pack-saddle was adjusted and 
 loaded and lashed fast by means of a rope drawn so 
 tightly that it seemed as if the poor animal would be cut 
 in two. This seeming cruelty prevented the load from 
 shifting and with the sheepskin and blankets prevented 
 chafing. The number of pack-horses depended upon the 
 size of the party and the quantity of luggage to be trans- 
 ported. Some parties required the use of several hun- 
 dred horses. When making camp these packs were
 
 1 66 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 placed upon the ground in careful order and covered 
 over to protect them from dew or possible rain. These 
 packs also offered splendid breastworks in case of a 
 sudden attack by indians. Wagons came into use in a 
 later day and to some extent superseded the pack-train. 
 
 Williams was a brave and experienced leader, but 
 his men seem to have been unaccustomed to the life into 
 which they were entering. They set out traps but forgot 
 to fasten them, and of course when an animal was 
 caught he made off with the trap ; they lost themselves 
 on the prairie and experienced all the hardships that 
 went with the old plains life, but they were brave fel- 
 lows and none thought of turning back. Little by little 
 they learned by the hard school of experience, and al- 
 ways they moved ever onward toward the west. Hostile 
 indians beset their path, and in a final disastrous en- 
 counter with them somewhere near the head of the 
 Arkansas all save Williams and two others were killed ; 
 these three separated and each struck out for himself. 
 
 Williams made a skin canoe and started down the 
 Arkansas, traveling at night and hiding in the willows 
 along shore in the day time. It was not the most pleasant 
 manner in which to travel, but Williams was far from 
 being panic-stricken, and seems to have been in no 
 especial hurry to leave the country. Trapper like, he 
 kept his eyes ever open for beaver sign, and when he 
 found them he set out his traps and remained there until 
 he had caught the animals, when he would embark 
 down stream again. In this manner he secured a most 
 valuable cargo of furs, and when he at last unfortu- 
 nately fell in with a band of Kansas indians he had one 
 hundred and twenty-five beaver skins, in addition to 
 many otter and other valuable furs. The Kansas indians
 
 EXPLORATIONS IN THE SOUTHWEST 167 
 
 received him in a friendly manner and carried him 
 with them on a war excursion against the Pawnees. 
 Williams took an active part in the fighting and the 
 Pawnees were severely defeated. The Kansas chief, 
 much pleased with the white man's aid, allowed him 
 to depart in peace, forgetting, however, to restore him 
 the furs. 
 
 One of Williams's men, Edward Rose by name, had 
 left the party some time before the disastrous fight at 
 the head of the Arkansas and had gone off with a party 
 of friendly Crows. The charms of a pretty girl had 
 proved too much for the trapper, and so he abandoned 
 his white companions to follow the dusky beauty. He 
 married the girl, indian fashion, and eventually became 
 a valued member of the tribe, in time becoming one of 
 their chiefs. He had a very dark record behind him, 
 and it is said he had belonged to a band of Mississippi 
 river pirates shortly before joining Williams's party, 
 although this was unknown at the time. In the company 
 of savages he no doubt felt much more at ease than he 
 did among honest trappers of his own color. Frequent 
 mention is made of this man in old books and journals 
 of the time. 
 
 Recent research has convinced many historians that 
 the records of the Williams's expedition are inaccurate 
 and that the date, 1807, assigned the expedition is sev- 
 eral years earlier than it should be. 
 
 In 181 1, Captain Becknell led a trading expedition 
 into the country of the Comanches, and was so pleased 
 with the results that the next year he went on to New 
 Mexico and made a splendid profit on his goods. 
 
 Later on Auguste Chouteau established himself on an 
 island in the Arkansas, on the border of the United
 
 1 68 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 States and the Spanish possessions in Mexico. This was 
 the start of a brisk trade with Santa Fe, which contin- 
 ued to grow and prosper until the Santa Fe trail became 
 a well known and much traveled highway. It proved, 
 as the Spaniards feared it would, an entering wedge of 
 the Americans which in time was to split off a portion 
 of their territory. 
 
 Besides such large parties as those led by Williams, 
 Becknell, Chouteau and others, there were individual 
 trappers who singly and alone traversed the most lonely 
 plains and inaccessible mountains in search of valuable 
 furs. They were driven ever insensibly onward and on- 
 ward, in spite of indian hostility or the varied dangers 
 of the untamed wilderness, with that wanderlust with 
 which the very veins of Americans were charged in 
 those days. 
 
 After becoming thoroughly acquainted with the vast 
 regions lying between the Missouri and the Rockies, we 
 will see these hardy men pushing on through the moun- 
 tain passes into the regions beyond, whither a tardy 
 government was to send its "pathfinders" almost a quar- 
 ter of a century later. 
 
 It is safe to say that, save for Lewis and Clark, no 
 government expedition ever explored anything in the 
 west that had not previously been discovered by some 
 one of these early knights of the fur-trade. These 
 grizzled men always led the way; it remained for the 
 government to measure and map the country.
 
 Chapter XVI 
 John Jacob Astor and the Fur-trade
 
 John Jacob Astor and the Fur-trade 
 
 The success of the old Hudson's Bay Company and 
 its rival, the Northwest Company, stimulated the organ- 
 ization of other companies along the same lines. One, 
 the X. Y. Company, after a brief existence, was incor- 
 porated with the Northwest Company; another, the 
 Mackinaw Company, with headquarters at Michilli- 
 mackinac, carried on a thriving business with the In- 
 dians of the upper Mississippi and Great Lakes region. 
 All these organizations were operated by British sub- 
 jects. In the United States there was as yet no organ- 
 ized trade. 
 
 In 1784, John Jacob Astor, a native of Walldorf, 
 Germany, arrived at Baltimore. On the way over this 
 enterprising emigrant made the acquaintance of a fur 
 dealer and by him was induced to invest his small for- 
 tune in furs. Carrying these furs over to London, Astor 
 received such handsome returns that he came back to 
 America, resolved to devote his life to the fur-trade. 
 
 Astor's first purchases were made from the Northwest 
 Company at Montreal, and these he resold in the Unit- 
 ed States or shipped to Europe, receiving such hand- 
 some remuneration that he resolved to cut loose from 
 the old company and enter the field independently. In 
 1809, he founded the American Fur Company, with a 
 capital of one million dollars, and privilege of increas- 
 ing same to two millions.
 
 172 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Two years later he bought out the Mackinaw Com- 
 pany and presented a plan for the capture of all the 
 trade in American territories. His idea was to establish 
 a line of posts all along the Missouri, the Columbia and 
 their principal tributaries, with headquarters at the 
 mouth of the Columbia. Ships were to be sent out an- 
 nually from New York, where Astor was to remain 
 looking after the financial end of the enterprise, with 
 supplies for the Pacific posts. Here they were to take on 
 the cargo of fur and carry it over to the great fur mart 
 at Canton, China, there to dispose of them and reload 
 with tea and other oriental products, and then sail for 
 New York. Arrangements were also made to carry sup- 
 plies to the Russians in Alaska, and cultivate further 
 friendly relations with them. Astor wished to avoid 
 friction with the Northwest Company, whose territory 
 bounded his own, but feeling secure in their own posi- 
 tion they scorned all his proffered offers of cooperation. 
 
 Astor chose able men for his associates in this Pacific 
 venture. One of them, Alexander Mackay, had been 
 with Mackenzie in his famous trip to the Arctic and 
 across the continent to the Pacific; he was of invaluable 
 assistance to Astor in arranging details. Another valu- 
 able man was Wilson Price Hunt, of New Jersey. Other 
 noteworthy men were David Stuart, his nephew, Robert 
 Stuart, Duncan McDougal and Donald McKenzie. 
 
 Two expeditions were hurriedly fitted out. One was 
 to go by sea from New York, by the long, dreary way 
 around Cape Horn and thence up the Pacific coast to 
 the Columbia ; the other was to go by land up the valley 
 of the Missouri and across the mountains to the desig- 
 nated meeting place on the Columbia. 
 
 The sea expedition was the first to get away. In Sep-
 
 Of THE 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS
 
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 OS '-n 
 
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 JOHN JACOB ASTOR AND THE FUR-TRADE 175 
 
 tember, 18 10, the good ship, Tonquin, in command of 
 Captain Thorn, sailed, with the supplies and a part of 
 the traders on board. It proved anything but a harmoni- 
 ous voyage. The traders were under orders of Duncan 
 McDougal, a fussy little Scotchman, who had long 
 served the Northwest Company but who, disappointed 
 in promotion, or lack of promotion, had quit the Cana- 
 dian Company to take service with Astor. McDougal 
 and Thorn soon clashed, and there was bad blood be- 
 tween them ever after. 
 
 Cape Horn was doubled on Christmas day and Ha- 
 waii was reached in February, where thirty islanders 
 were engaged for service with the company. Late in 
 March, 181 1, the Tonquin entered the Columbia. Eight 
 lives were lost in attempting to run small boats against 
 the tide. A war of words ensued between Thorn and 
 McDougal, and ended only when the former landed 
 cargo and passengers and sailed away up the coast on a 
 trading voyage. 
 
 The place chosen for their fort and the future head- 
 quarters of the company was on the south bank of the 
 river, some distance up from its mouth. In honor of the 
 founder of the enterprise they named the place Astoria. 
 
 Woods and mountains were wrapped in all the beauty 
 and glory of spring-time as the traders and their assist- 
 ants began work on their fort. Rejoicing to find terra 
 firma beneath their feet once more and free from what 
 they considered the tyranny of Captain Thorn, all 
 hands worked with a will, and the echo of ax and ham- 
 mer resounded through the hitherto silent aisles of the 
 forests. 
 
 But, in spite of all this promising beginning, clouds 
 hovered on the horizon, war between America and
 
 176 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 England was imminent, and any day might bring word 
 that hostilities had begun. The nor'westers, too, were to 
 be feared, for, whether the nations were at war or not, 
 these not over-scrupulous traders might any day sweep 
 down and break up the establishment. Suspicions were 
 also felt by some in regard to McDougal. Having quit 
 the Canadians and come over to Mr. Astor, might he 
 not again experience a change of heart and mind and 
 turn traitor to him also? 
 
 The fears of the traders in regard to McDougal re- 
 ceived speedy confirmation. A small party of nor'west- 
 ers, under David Thompson, suddenly appeared. Mc- 
 Dougal received them with open arms, and his conduct 
 from this time on was such that many have accused him 
 of striking a bargain with Thompson for the ruin of 
 Astoria. Thompson remained long enough to see all he 
 wished to see, and then returned up the Columbia to a 
 post he had established on its upper reaches. The Amer- 
 icans had anticipated him in planting a post at the 
 mouth of the great river. 
 
 Dreadful news came from the north in regard to the 
 Tonquin and her crew, which plunged Astoria into the 
 deepest gloom. Thorn, the Tonquin's commander, had 
 been a most efficient naval officer, but his knowledge of 
 men did not include the indian. He also was a poor 
 trader and moreover, not inclined to either seek or ac- 
 cept advice from those who did possess the necessary 
 knowledge. From the very first he had not gotten along 
 with the partners, while he held the naked savages in 
 supreme contempt. Contrary to all advice he allowed 
 the indians to swarm over the deck in large numbers, 
 giving them every opportunity to effect a surprise, an 
 opportunity they were not slow to take advantage of.
 
 JOHN JACOB ASTOR AND THE FUR-TRADE 177 
 
 One morning they crowded upon deck in larger num- 
 bers than usual, were much easier to deal with, but con- 
 fined their purchases mainly to knives and other wea- 
 pons. The sharp eyes of the experienced old nor'wester, 
 Mackay, rapidly took in the situation, and he at once 
 made known his fears to the captain, requesting that the 
 deck be cleared at once, but the stubborn Thorn refused 
 to see anything amiss and ignored the trader's request. 
 Nevertheless, even his dull eyes were at last opened, and 
 he gave orders to clear the ship, but too late. A wild 
 whoop resounded over the deck, and at the signal, for 
 signal it was, the deadly work of knife and tomahawk 
 was begun. Thorn and Mackay were soon cut down and 
 pitched overboard, where they were finished up by the 
 squaws who remained in the canoes alongside. The 
 clerk, Lewis, was desperately wounded and fell head- 
 long down the companion way. The crew, though taken 
 by surprise, seized whatever came handy to them and 
 defended themselves as best they could, but they stood 
 no show against the overwhelming numbers of well- 
 armed savages that surrounded them. Four men finally 
 reached the cabin and barricaded themselves, opening 
 such a hot fire upon the indians from their sheltered 
 position that the latter scrambled into their boats pell 
 mell and put for the shore, their flight being further 
 hastened by discharges from the deck cannon, which 
 the survivors turned upon them with telling results. 
 
 That night the four men, being too few in number to 
 handle the ship, attempted to escape in a small boat, but 
 they were delayed by head winds and finally compelled 
 to go ashore, where they fell into the hands of the sav- 
 ages and were put to death with all the fiendish cruelty 
 their minds could invent. Lewis, the clerk, was too
 
 178 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 badly wounded to attempt flight with his comrades, and 
 remained to take a terrible vengeance upon the savages. 
 
 Appearing alone upon the deserted deck, he beck- 
 oned the indians to come aboard, and when the deck 
 was well crowded he fired the magazine. There was a 
 terrific explosion. The savages on shore saw the air 
 suddenly filled with pieces of the ship, arms, legs and 
 bodies of the warriors who had crowded aboard. Lewis, 
 of course, had himself perished in the explosion, as he 
 had designed doing, but he had exacted a high price 
 for his life, over two hundred savages having perished, 
 besides many more badly maimed and crippled. 
 
 The visit of the nor'westers and the loss of the Ton- 
 quin alarmed the Astorians as to their own situation. 
 McDougal secured the friendship of the neighboring 
 tribes by means of the famous threat of letting loose the 
 smallpox, which he told them he kept corked up in a 
 bottle, in case they gave the traders any trouble. Know- 
 ing that the smallpox was a disease which always fol- 
 lowed in the wake of the white man, and frightened at 
 the terrible ravages the dread disease had worked 
 among various tribes, the indians readily promised to 
 keep the peace. To further strengthen their position, 
 McDougal wooed and wed the daughter of the chief, 
 Comcomly. The defenses of the fort were strengthened, 
 the men drilled for war, and other posts established 
 further up the Columbia. 
 
 The arrival of Hunt with the overland expedition 
 greatly augmented the forces at Astoria and greatly 
 lessened the gloom that had settled over the place. Hunt 
 had experienced much difficulty in securing men for his 
 proposed expedition. In Canada the powerful North- 
 west Company threw every obstacle in his way, and at
 
 JOHN JACOB ASTOR AND THE FUR-TRADE 179 
 
 Saint Louis the opposition of Manuel Lisa was encoun- 
 tered; the nor'westers wanted no traders save their own 
 in the Columbia country, while Lisa was aiming at a 
 monopoly of the upper Missouri trade. Hunt had to 
 content himself with hiring inferior men for the most 
 part, but with this motley crew he finally got away in 
 the spring of 181 1. 
 
 When Hunt found himself ready to start he found 
 that his rival, Lisa, was also to head an expedition up 
 river. Lisa claimed the object of his journey was the 
 rescue of the party of trappers headed by Andrew 
 Henry who, while trapping in the Blackfoot country, 
 had been attacked by those indians and driven over the 
 moutains into the Snake river region, but Hunt thought 
 the Spaniard only wanted to get ahead of him to supply 
 the indians with weapons and ammunition, and then 
 incite the latter to attack him. Whatever Lisa's reasons 
 were, the result was a race between the two rivals. Hunt 
 had the start but Lisa finally overtook him, and a 
 stormy interview followed which would no doubt have 
 ended in bloodshed had it not been for the friendly in- 
 tervention of two Englishmen who were traveling in 
 company with Lisa. After this the two parties traveled 
 along together in harmony. 
 
 Hunt's party numbered some sixty men, among 
 which were three men who had formerly served under 
 Andrew Henry, and who had partially explored the 
 country drained by the Yellowstone and the Big Horn. 
 The names of these three trappers were Rezner, Hoback 
 and Robinson; they and the squaw man Edward Rose, 
 who had come into the Crow country with Williams in 
 1807(F) and who now engaged himself to Hunt as in- 
 terpreter, were of much value to the party until this
 
 180 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 section of country was left behind, while from thence 
 onward for long stretches of country they were on en- 
 tirely new territory. 
 
 On September 16, they crossed the continental divide 
 somewhere in the vicinity of Union pass, and ten days 
 later they were on Snake river. Here seven men were 
 left to trap in the region, while with the rest Hunt float- 
 ed down the Snake in canoes. 
 
 Meeting with disaster at Calderon Linn, the party 
 split into three detachments and set out by different 
 routes: one under the veteran nor'wester McKenzie 
 followed the Clearwater, the Snake and the Columbia, 
 arriving at Astoria a month in advance of Hunt, who 
 followed the main stream (the Snake), while the third 
 party under Ramsay Crooks came in at a still later 
 date. This expedition of Hunt's had extended the 
 knowledge of the upper waters of the Columbia and its 
 tributaries. 
 
 The sending out of trading and trapping parties and 
 the establishment of outlying posts weakened the gar- 
 rison at Astoria. When Mr. Astor's supply ship, the 
 Beaver, arrived, Mr. Hunt sailed in her to Alaska to 
 strengthen relations with the Russian traders there and 
 arrange a plan of cooperation, but in so doing the 
 strength of the place was further reduced. Hunt's mis- 
 sion to the Russians was entirely successful, but as it 
 turned out his presence in Astoria at the time would 
 have been far more valuable. 
 
 War had broken out between America and England, 
 and the nor'westers already had two expeditions sent 
 out against Astoria. One expedition went by sea in, the 
 Isaac Todd, and was commanded by Donald McTavish ; 
 a sloop of war, the Raccoon, also was added to this sea
 
 JOHN JACOB ASTOR AND THE FUR-TRADE 181 
 
 force later on. The other expedition went by land and 
 was led by John George McTavish and the celebrated 
 trader Alexander Henry, the younger. They came by 
 way of the Saskatchewan, crossed the Rockies at Yel- 
 lowhead pass, and striking the upper waters of the Co- 
 lumbia descended it in boats to Astoria. 
 
 The Americans were for fighting for their rights and 
 old Comcomly rallied his warriors to defend the in- 
 terests of his white son-in-law, but McDougal received 
 the nor'westers as friends and even forbade the raising 
 of the American colors, although the English were not 
 so careful of American feelings as to forbear showing 
 their own flag. It appears that McDougal had acted 
 queerly ever since Thompson's visit, and there are those 
 who accuse him of making a bargain with the nor'west- 
 ers at that time. That he was received back into the 
 company and even given command of one of their posts 
 seems to give color to the accusation. 
 
 The Raccoon, now put in her appearance and Astoria 
 was handed over to the enemy. Old Comcomly was in- 
 dignant at the tame ending of the affair, and said his 
 daughter had made a mistake and had married a squaw. 
 When, the Isaac Todd, came with the new governor, 
 McTavish, a wild scene of debauchery and drunkenness 
 followed. Astoria was renamed Fort George, and the 
 British ensign replaced the American on the flagstaff. 
 Drinking and carousing was the order of the day under 
 Governor McTavish, but an end came to all this when 
 the governor and Alexander Henry the younger were 
 drowned in the Columbia. Their boat upset when re- 
 turning from one of their wild carousels. 
 
 It is a pity that Hunt was absent when the nor'westers 
 arrived. He undoubtedly would not have given in to
 
 182 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 them without a fight; certainly he would not have bar- 
 gained away his furs for one-tenth their real value as 
 did McDougal. 
 
 The fall of Astoria ended Mr. Astor's efforts on the 
 Pacific coast, and although the peace of 1814 restored 
 the place to America, the nor'westers were allowed a 
 free hand in the region for many years to come.
 
 Chapter XVII 
 
 Return of the Astorians-the American 
 Fur Company
 
 Return of the Astorians-the American 
 Fur Company 
 
 In June, 1812, some months before Astoria was sur- 
 rendered to the nor'westers, Robert Stuart with six 
 other men was sent overland with dispatches for Mr. 
 Astor. They proceeded up the Columbia and the Snake 
 to near Calderon Linn, where they met the trappers 
 who had been left to operate in that region by Mr. 
 Hunt. They reported that they had gone south to a 
 river which emptied into the ocean and had trapped 
 there. This river was no doubt the Bear, which empties 
 into Great Salt lake. One of these trappers, a Mr. Mil- 
 ler, undertook to act as guide for the party, but he seems 
 to have proved a rather poor one, and led them aim- 
 lessly about for some time. 
 
 Crossing over the Teton range Stuart's party again 
 did some aimless wandering, striking Green river and 
 finally a large indian trail leading to the southward, 
 but they soon abandoned this trail and again struck off 
 on their own accord, finally coming to the Sweetwater. 
 It is thought that Stuart crossed the divide at the 
 famous South pass, but others maintain that they 
 crossed near by, but not through the pass itself, and, 
 that Fitzpatrick with a band of mountain trappers were 
 the first actual users of the pass some years later (in 
 1824). Still others have it that Etienne Provot used the
 
 1 86 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 pass in 1823, thus being one year in advance of Fitz- 
 patrick. Like many another controversy, this question 
 will probably never be settled conclusively. One fact 
 remains unquestioned - the region was first explored 
 by fur-traders and trappers and not by John C. Fremont 
 who, at the head of a United States government expedi- 
 tion "explored" it almost a quarter of a century later. 
 
 Stuart's party was now forced to go into camp on the 
 eastern side of the mountains, as an attempt to cross the 
 open plains in the face of the severe weather which had 
 now set in, would have invited certain disaster. By 
 skillful and persistent hunting they succeeded in laying 
 up a bountiful supply of meat for the winter. They 
 were overjoyed with the prospect of wintering in a snug 
 camp, feasting and resting securely after their hard 
 summer's campaigning in the wilderness. 
 
 These happy dreams were rudely dispelled one day 
 when a party of hungry indians made their appearance 
 and demanded food. Knowing that it would be folly to 
 refuse the travelers made a virtue of necessity and in- 
 vited the savages to help themselves, which they did 
 with such good will that when they finally withdrew 
 the white men were left nearly destitute. 
 
 Fearing a return of these unwelcome guests they 
 moved on to another section and established new winter 
 quarters. Fortunately they found game still plentiful, 
 and again restocked their depleted larder. 
 
 When spring weather came to the plains the party 
 again broke camp and proceeded on to Saint Louis, 
 reaching the place after ten months of hardship and 
 adventure. 
 
 After the break up of Astor's establishment on the 
 Columbia, many of his Canadian employees took ser-
 
 THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 187 
 
 vice under their old masters, the nor'westers, but the 
 Americans were scattered far and near. Some of them 
 accompanied the returning nor'westers on their eastern 
 journey by way of the Columbia and across the con- 
 tinental divide to the headwaters of the Saskatchewan, 
 on past Lake Winnipeg to the Northwest Company's 
 headquarters at Fort William on Lake Superior. They 
 suffered much discomfort from cold and hunger during 
 the journey, at one time being obliged to subsist on horse 
 meat, but this was a common experience of all early 
 travelers, and they made little account of such trifles. 
 
 At Fort William a flotilla of fifty canoes, accompa- 
 nied by a guard of three hundred men, was organized to 
 carry the accumulated furs down to Montreal. This 
 cargo contained over one million dollars worth of furs, 
 including the spoils taken at Astoria. The brigade of- 
 fered a most tempting prize for any American force it 
 might meet. 
 
 Overtaking a couple of boats containing the crew of 
 an English ship that had been captured by two Ameri- 
 can schooners which were at that moment hovering 
 about the Sault looking for prizes, the brigade halted 
 and an officer hurried on to Mackinac to obtain help. 
 
 The English traders succeeded in surprising one of 
 the American vessels at the Sault, boarded her and 
 pinned the crew to the deck with their bayonets. Then 
 in the captured vessel they bore down upon its consort 
 and captured it also. 
 
 From time to time the Americans witnessed with 
 sorrow evidences of the cruelty of the war waged along 
 the border, when England's savage allies were met re- 
 turning to Canada with scalps and plunder. Neither 
 England nor America can feel a great amount of pride
 
 i88 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 in the way land operations were conducted in the war of 
 1812-1815, for while there were some brilliant feats of 
 arms, yet the general character of the operations was 
 of a blundering nature and reflected scant credit upon 
 either of the combatants. England's worst crime was 
 the employment of indians against the unprotected 
 frontiers. 
 
 The peace of Ghent restored all captured places, and 
 Captain Biddle was sent around the Horn in the sloop 
 of war Ontario to repossess the Oregon country, but the 
 nor'westers had taken possession of all the American 
 fur-posts and the indians had massacred all the scat- 
 tered bands of American trappers, so that the reaffirm- 
 ing of our rights made but little change in the situation. 
 
 The feeble Madison administration had dreadfully 
 mismanaged the war, and its blunderings did not cease 
 with hostilities, for no support was given Mr. Astor in 
 reestablishing himself on the Columbia, and knowing 
 as he did that without such aid he could make no head- 
 way against rivals so strongly entrenched, he gave up all 
 idea of trade beyond the Rockies and confined himself 
 to the regions east of those mountains. 
 
 "I have no idea of remaining quiet or idle," Mr. As- 
 tor wrote a friend, and, immediately he set about to 
 secure the whole trade of the United States proper. It 
 will be remembered that the Oregon country had been 
 taken possession of by Gray and likewise by Vancouver, 
 and America and England each had in consequence 
 claimed possession - a claim that was only settled by 
 compromise a great many years later. 
 
 In 1 815, a law was passed by congress forbidding 
 British traders from operating on American territory, 
 but this law of course was not applicable to Oregon
 
 THE AMERICAN FUR COMPANY 189 
 
 because of undetermined boundaries. All British posts 
 east of the Rockies, however, passed into American 
 hands, and in this case into Mr. Astor's hands. Astor 
 had already bought out the American half of the Mack- 
 inaw Company, and it was not long before he was 
 supreme in his chosen field, save for the small bands of 
 free traders who held their own against all comers. 
 
 Ramsay Crooks, Robert Stuart and others of the As- 
 torians who had remained loyal to their leader, con- 
 tinued in his employ, and the memory of the injustice 
 and hardships they had suffered from British rivals 
 made them bitter partisans indeed. Rival traders need 
 expect slight consideration at their hands. 
 
 The abandonment of the British posts also threw out 
 of employment many able traders, who now came over 
 to Mr. Astor and added to his strength. The American 
 Fur Company was in a position to give the nor'westers 
 a hard fight. 
 
 One of those Northwest Company men who came 
 over to Astor was Kenneth McKenzie, and to him was 
 assigned the duty of capturing the trade of the upper 
 Missouri. At his headquarters at Fort Union, at the 
 mouth of the Yellowstone, he ruled over the surround- 
 ing country like a monarch, living in such luxurious 
 and regal style that he came to be known far and wide 
 as the "King of the Missouri." 
 
 McKenzie crushed all opposition of the nearby free- 
 traders by paying the indians twice as much as his 
 furs were worth, and of course all small traders who 
 sought to compete with him were ruined. He catered 
 to the indian's love of pomp and show by meeting 
 them at the gate of the fort decked out in gay and gaudy 
 apparel and escorting them in to the music of fife and
 
 i go THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 drum. The free-traders were bitter toward him because 
 of his shutting out methods, and they actually had the 
 nerve to build a rival post near Fort Union and make 
 a bid for the indian trade, but this was mere folly on 
 their part, as they could not hope to compete success- 
 fully with the shrewdness of McKenzie and the money 
 of Mr. Astor. The post was soon abandoned by the 
 traders and later taken possession of by a band of 
 French desperadoes from Canada, who made them- 
 selves so troublesome that the men of Fort Union, whose 
 patience probably was not hard to exhaust, stormed the 
 place and shot them down like dogs. 
 
 As far back as 1796, the government had been fos- 
 tering a system of government controlled trade with 
 the indians, with an idea of supplying the latter with 
 needful articles at fair prices, but it nullified whatever 
 good it might have accomplished by issuing licenses to 
 individuals permitting them to trade with the savages. 
 This foolish system, of course, proved costly and un- 
 profitable to both indian and government, and was fin- 
 ally abandoned. It is said that Mr. Astor was instru- 
 mental in persuading congress to abolish government 
 participation in trade. Thus step by step did the shrewd 
 trader and financier strengthen his position.
 
 Chapter XVIII 
 
 British and American traders in Oregon 
 and the Rockies
 
 British and American traders in Oregon 
 and the Rockies 
 
 After the ousting of the Americans from the Oregon 
 country and the renaming of Astoria after their own 
 king, the Northwest Fur Company set about to make 
 themselves secure in the country. All the old American 
 establishments they took over and new posts were built 
 at favorable points until at last they had thirteen forti- 
 fied trading posts south of 49 , besides others just north 
 of that line. These places were named Vancouver, 
 Boise, Disappointment, George, Oakanagan, Kootenai, 
 Flathead, Cowlitz, Nisqualli, Coleville, Walla Walla 
 and Umpqua. Fort Vancouver, built in 1824, supplant- 
 ed Fort George (Astoria) as headquarters. 
 
 The Columbia and its main tributaries had by this 
 time been pretty well explored. Gray and Vancouver 
 had first seen its lower courses; Lewis and Clark, An- 
 drew Henry and the Astorians had explored the south- 
 ern or Lewis branch of the great river, while David 
 Thompson had done the same for the north branch. The 
 Snake and all the main rivers tributary to the Columbia 
 were by this time pretty well known, and it only re- 
 mained for the newcomers to fill in the details. 
 
 In 1 8 16, the nor'westers decided to extend land oper- 
 ations on the south and west toward California and the 
 mountains, embracing a new and unexplored tract of
 
 194 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 country. To accomplish this work and obviate the neces- 
 sity of numerous trading posts they adopted the plan, 
 always a favorite one with American traders and trap- 
 pers, of fitting out strong parties under the most capa- 
 ble leaders to range the country for furs, buying from 
 the natives and trapping on their own account, deliver- 
 ing their furs at the end of the season at headquarters 
 on the Columbia. The Northwest Company, as well as 
 the Hudson's Bay Company, had always depended up- 
 on the canoe brigades to carry supplies into the indian 
 country and the furs out of it, the splendid network of 
 Canadian rivers making this the most practical way of 
 handling the business, but in the American west trad- 
 ers, trappers and indians depended more upon horses 
 as a means of conveyance and transportation. The nor'- 
 westers now adopted the same plan in Oregon. The 
 men chosen to lead these trading excursions were Don- 
 ald McKenzie, Alexander Ross, John Work and Peter 
 Skene Ogden, the first two having already served in the 
 country in Mr. Astor's employ. 
 
 In 1818, the first of these expeditions was sent out 
 with McKenzie in command. They went up the Co- 
 lumbia until a good beaver country was reached, but 
 the indians proved hostile and so they skirted the moun- 
 tains until Snake river was reached. Here McKenzie 
 found himself on ground with which he had become 
 acquainted while serving with the Astorians. The next 
 year he pushed on south of the Snake into new territory, 
 intending to explore the country and cultivate friendly 
 relations with whatever indian tribes he might meet. 
 We cannot be sure of the exact route of this expedition, 
 but it is surmised that it reached Bear river in southern 
 Idaho.
 
 TRADERS IN OREGON AND THE ROCKIES 195 
 
 In 1 82 1, the amalgamation of the Northwest and 
 Hudson's Bay companies was consummated, and under 
 the new management the posts in Oregon became known 
 as Hudson's Bay posts, the united company assuming 
 the old company's name, but retaining the employes of 
 the nor'westers. The events leading up to and compell- 
 ing this union will be treated in another chapter. 
 
 In February, 1824, Alexander Ross left Flathead 
 House and proceeded to the southeast toward the dan- 
 gerous Blackfoot country at the head of the Missouri, 
 where so many American trappers had lost their lives. 
 Striking the trail of Lewis and Clark in the Bitter Root 
 valley he followed it as far as Lemhi river in Idaho, 
 from which place he proceeded to the Salmon, where 
 he began operations. A party of Iroquois trappers had 
 previously been sent to the region of the Three Tetons 
 to trap, and Ross sent a party of his men to search for 
 these trappers. The Blackfeet turned this party back. 
 The Iroquois soon made their appearance, however, 
 robbed of all that they possessed. With the Iroquois was 
 a party of American trappers, among whom was Jede- 
 diah Smith, who is described by Ross as being "a lead- 
 ing person." The united party, English, American and 
 Indian, now returned to Flathead House. 
 
 Peter Ogden now took charge of the work of explor- 
 ation. He made a number of combined trapping, trad- 
 ing and exploring expeditions between the years 1824 
 and 1828, but there is much uncertainty as to his route 
 much of the time. Only a portion of Ogden's journals 
 have come to light, and accordingly some of the most 
 important discoveries attributed to him can not be 
 proven. It is claimed that he reached the Great Salt lake 
 in 1824, but he states in his journal of 1828, that he
 
 Dr. John McLoughlin 
 
 From a miniature painted on ivory in 1838 or 1839
 
 UMIVtHditf Ur iLLinUld
 
 TRADERS IN OREGON AND THE ROCKIES 199 
 
 of southern Oregon, and in succeeding seasons he ex- 
 plored much of the country to the north and west of 
 Great Salt lake, and even penetrated into California. 
 Another Hudson's Bay trader, Donald McKay, also 
 conducted some valuable explorations in northern Cali- 
 fornia and Nevada at this time. 
 
 Mr. H. C. Dale, in a most praiseworthy and carefully 
 prepared book on the fur-trade and early western dis- 
 covery says : "One of the most noteworthy features of all 
 the discovery and exploration crowded into this first 
 third of the century is the simultaneity of it. Wherever 
 an Englishman penetrated there an American was sure 
 to be a few months before or a few months after him. 
 This, of course, was more true of the region north of the 
 forty-second parallel than south of it. In the Columbia 
 drainage area, the American trappers had free reign 
 though their rewards were less." 
 
 The most noted personage that appeared during the 
 Hudson's Bay occupancy of Oregon was Dr. John Mc- 
 Loughlin, who for a time was chief factor on the Pacific 
 coast. He was a keen trader and served his employers 
 faithfully, but he would not put in force some of the 
 harsh decrees issued from London for the suppression 
 of American competition and, contrary to orders, he 
 succored stranded and starving rivals on several occa- 
 sions, and even sent expeditions against the indians to 
 recover property stolen from Americans. He treated 
 the missionaries, Whitman and Lee, with great kind- 
 ness, even though he himself was of the Catholic faith. 
 Absolute justice was meted out to those subject to his 
 authority, and he treated all rivals as he himself would 
 desire to be treated. His policy did not suit those over
 
 2oo THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 him, and he was criticised so severely that he resigned 
 his position. 
 
 Though Astor's plans for the establishment of Amer- 
 ican fur-trade in Oregon and the colonization of the 
 country had failed because of the disasters resulting 
 from war with Britain and the apathy of the American 
 government at the close of hostilities, yet daring Amer- 
 ican traders came again into the region and their fur 
 brigades continued to sweep up the valleys in the beaver 
 filled streams of the Rockies. It is said that in 1822, 
 there were more than a thousand men, chiefly from 
 Saint Louis, employed in the fur-trade of the upper 
 Missouri and five hundred on the upper Mississippi. 
 
 Manuel Lisa had founded the Missouri Fur Com- 
 pany early in the century, and for many years he con- 
 tinued to be the leading factor in the great fur-trade 
 game. His plans were to establish forts and trading posts 
 at strategic places, but in later years this plan was 
 changed to a considerable extent, and white men were 
 hired to do the trapping and less dependence placed 
 upon the warlike and fickle natives for furs. These trap- 
 pers would form into small bands and scatter out over 
 the trapping grounds, meeting once a year at an ap- 
 pointed place of rendezvous, where supplies were col- 
 lected and the accumulated furs sorted, baled and trans- 
 ported down to Saint Louis, which city was to the 
 Americans what Montreal was to the Canadians, the 
 chief center of the fur-trade. 
 
 Andrew Henry had been the first American to en- 
 gage in the Rocky mountain trade, while associated 
 with Lisa, and had suffered discouraging reverses at the 
 hands of the Blackfeet, but, now again, a full decade 
 later, he once more led a party into the fur country.
 
 TRADERS IN OREGON AND THE ROCKIES 201 
 
 This time he was associated with William Ashley, who 
 now for the first time appears in the fur-trade. 
 
 Andrew Henry's party left Saint Louis in March, 
 1822, and proceeded up the Missouri to the mouth of 
 the Yellowstone, where they established headquarters. 
 In an accident on the river they had lost goods valued 
 at $10,000, but such trifles had never turned back a true 
 fur-trader, and so Henry had gone on. Hostility with 
 the Blackfeet followed, and a number of trappers were 
 killed. Coming up the river with additional men Ashley 
 was attacked at the Arikara villages and defeated with 
 heavy loss. 
 
 The defeat of Ashley and the massacre of a party of 
 trappers, under Immell and Jones, on the Yellowstone, 
 caused the American commander at Fort Atkinson, 
 Colonel Leavenworth, to lead a force of two hundred 
 and fifty troops against the hostiles. Leavenworth was 
 joined by sixty Missouri Fur Company men under 
 Joshua Pilcher and later by Ashley's party and men 
 hurriedly sent down the river by Andrew Henry. 
 
 The Sioux, seeing such a large force marching to 
 attack their enemies, the Arikara, joined forces with 
 Leavenworth. We can imagine what a Custer or a Miles 
 would have done had they been in command of so 
 formidable a force, but Leavenworth was of a different 
 stamp, and instead of striking swiftly and terribly he 
 attacked feebly, then entered into a parley, and retired 
 after the savages had returned the plunder they had 
 taken from Ashley. The trappers were exasperated and 
 the Sioux disgusted at the tame results of the expedition, 
 while the hostiles who had not been very seriously im- 
 pressed with the prowess of American arms, were soon 
 robbing and murdering the same as before.
 
 202 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Henry led his trappers back to the Yellowstone and 
 sent out bands in all directions to trap. These small 
 parties met with many adventures and disasters. Fights 
 with indians and with grizzly bears were of common 
 occurrence, but the country was thoroughly explored on 
 all sides. It was at this time that Fitzpatrick discovered 
 South pass and Bridger the Great Salt lake, although, 
 as we have already noted, both these achievements have 
 been claimed for other parties. 
 
 Associated with Henry and Ashley in their trading 
 and trapping enterprises were many men of prominence 
 in Rocky mountain history, Jedediah Smith, Jim 
 Bridger, Jim Beckwourth, David Jackson, William 
 Sublette, Louis Vasquez, Edward Rose, Hugh Glass 
 and Thomas Fitzpatrick - "the most significant group 
 of continental explorers ever brought together." 
 
 All of Andrew Henry's operations in the Rockies had 
 been attended with disaster and financial loss and he 
 now gave up the business for good, his place being taken 
 by Jedediah Smith. Smith traveled and traded exten- 
 sively in the Snake river country, and is accused by the 
 English of having secured a valuable lot of furs from 
 some of their trappers in a questionable manner. He 
 traveled frequently in company with Ross and Ogden 
 and made a most thorough study of the region, linking 
 up the explorations of the American traders and ex- 
 plorers that had preceded him. He and his companions 
 were well able to compete with such great monopolies 
 as the American and Hudson's Bay companies, and 
 sometimes did not scruple to obtain the furs rightfully 
 belonging to those corporations. 
 
 When Ashley finally quit the fur business he had a 
 fortune of $80,000 to show for his labors. Ashley had
 
 TRADERS IN OREGON AND THE ROCKIES 203 
 
 conducted a series of valuable explorations in the re- 
 gions about the Great Salt lake; Smith later took up 
 the work where Ashley left off and continued it on up 
 the Spanish settlements on the Pacific, thus doing for 
 the central part of the continent what Lewis, Clark and 
 Mackenzie had done to the northward.
 
 Chapter XIX 
 
 Union of the Northwest and Hudson's 
 Bay companies
 
 Union of the Northwest and Hudson's 
 Bay companies 
 
 While the nor'westers were ridding themselves of 
 rivals on the Pacific coast, taking over their forts and 
 garrisoning them with their own men and dreaming 
 of the monopolizing of the fur-trade of the entire west, 
 Mr. Astor was not sleeping, neither was the ancient and 
 honorable gentleman of the Hudson's Bay asleep. 
 Awakened at last from her long lethargy the old com- 
 pany was girding her loins for a death struggle with her 
 upstart rival. The nor'westers were not slow to take 
 up the gauntlet thrown them. They had beaten the 
 Americans at Astoria and would give this new foe a 
 warm reception. 
 
 When Mr. Astor was in Montreal banqueting with 
 the northwestern men and becoming fascinated by the 
 possibilities of the trade, another man was sharing the 
 hospitality of the traders and likewise fascinated by 
 what he saw and heard. This man was none other than 
 Lord Selkirk, who had just recently established a set- 
 tlement on Prince Edward island and was now eager to 
 gain a footing in the far west. He returned to London 
 and purchased enough stock in the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany to give him full control. In 1812, he established 
 a colony of Scotchmen and Irishmen on the Red river 
 of the north which was to serve as protection against
 
 2o8 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 the nor'westers. These newcomers the latter discour- 
 aged and paid to leave the country. Hostilities soon 
 followed. 
 
 From their post at Fort Garry, now Winnipeg, the 
 Hudson's Bay men glared sullenly in the direction of 
 their rivals at Fort Gibraltar and the nor'westers glared 
 back. It only required a spark to fire off deadly train 
 that was being laid. This spark was supplied when 
 Miles McDonell, commander at Fort Douglass, issued 
 a proclamation ordering all nor'westers out of the coun- 
 try and forbidding indians to trade with them. Cuth- 
 bert Grant, with a force of turbulent halfbreeds, 
 marched to Fort Douglass and opened fire upon the 
 place. McDonell surrendered and was promptly sent 
 out of the country by the nor'westers. 
 
 Duncan Cameron, commander of Fort Gibraltar, 
 had winked at the lawless acts of Grant, but he was now 
 to suffer in turn, for falling into the hands of his rivals 
 soon after he was severely flogged. A little later a party 
 of Hudson's Bay men surprised Fort Gibraltar, plund- 
 ered the place and burned it to the ground. Mr. Cam- 
 eron was shipped out of the country in revenge for the 
 expulsion of McDonell. 
 
 These events ushered in the war of the fur-traders. 
 Murder and robbery became the order of the day, while 
 the indians, always ready for bloodshed and plunder, 
 thus encouraged by the lawless acts of their white asso- 
 ciates, took a hand in the game. 
 
 The loss of Gibraltar was a serious loss to the nor'- 
 westers, as it was an important outfitting point, and 
 fearing that the expected supply brigade, which was 
 known to be on its way to the fort, might also fall into 
 the enemy's hands and thus seriously cripple them, by
 
 NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 209 
 
 depriving them of needed supplies, Cuthburt Grant was 
 sent to rescue the brigade at all hazards. Governor 
 Semple thought Grant's army was on its way to attack 
 the Selkirk settlements so he raised such a force as he 
 could and hurried to intercept Grant. The two forces 
 met on the evening of June 19, 1816, at a place called 
 Seven Oaks. Grant could not control his savage follow- 
 ers, and an indiscriminate massacre followed. Governor 
 Semple was brutally murdered as he lay desperately 
 wounded, and when the last shots of the conflict had 
 died away the beautiful green of the prairie was red- 
 dened with the blood of Hudson's Bay men. Made 
 fiendish at the sight of the carnage they had wrought, 
 the indians and scarce less savage half-breeds ran from 
 body to body, horribly mutilating the bodies of the slain 
 and eagerly quaffing of the blood in true savage fashion. 
 
 Seven Oaks was a frightful affair, but it was the 
 crisis. Lord Selkirk was strong with the government 
 and the government, as usual, was partial to the Hud- 
 son's Bay Company. A force of British red-coats well 
 equipped with supplies and war material was furn- 
 ished Selkirk, and with these he appeared before the 
 nor'westers famous old stronghold at Fort William. 
 Trenches were dug, cannon planted, and every prepa- 
 ration made for the storming of the place. To oppose 
 the uniformed troops of the British government was 
 more than the nor'westers were prepared to do, despite 
 their reckless courage and lack of regard for law, so 
 they surrendered the place with the best grace possible. 
 
 Fort Douglass was surprised by the soldiers one 
 stormy night some six months later, and other places 
 followed. The nor'westers realized that the game was 
 up and were ready for peace. Likewise the Hudson's
 
 2io THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Bay men were guilty of offenses which they did not 
 wish investigated, and so the officials of the rival com- 
 panies did the only sensible thing there was to do and 
 joined forces, each agreeing to forget the past. The 
 union was effected in March, 1821, the name of Hud- 
 son's Bay Company being retained. 
 
 Triumphant in Canada and expelled from American 
 territory by a United States law, the Hudson's Bay 
 Company's history from this time on offers little of 
 interest, except that it has continued to exist down to 
 today, in spite of the increasing settlements and advance 
 of civilization in its territories. 
 
 In 1870, arrangements were made by which the great 
 company surrendered its exclusive jurisdiction over the 
 immense territory reaching from the United States 
 boundaries to the frozen Arctic, and all westward from 
 Lake Superior, to the Canadian government. Small 
 tracts of land about the fur-posts were reserved, how- 
 ever, and here the old company continues to hold forth 
 with something of its old time grandeur. The trade of 
 the company is still large, and it is the only one of the 
 many fur companies that has continued down to our 
 day. 
 
 Take a map of Canada today and you will notice that 
 over much of its northern territory, the only place 
 names you will see is the well known H. B. C, which 
 marks one of the many posts of that far-flung trade 
 empire. Up yonder under the light of the north star, 
 and of the midnight sun, the fur-trader and his em- 
 ployees are the only human inhabitants, save for a few 
 scattering indians and Eskimo, who today are totally 
 dependent upon the posts for their existence. Railways 
 thread the more southern portions of the fur-trade
 
 NORTHWEST AND HUDSON'S BAY COMPANIES 211 
 
 realm of the long ago, but ox carts, those ponderous, 
 screeching contrivances that were so common in the 
 Red river settlements in the old days, still bring in the 
 furs to the posts along the Mackenzie, while brigades 
 of canoes are still not uncommon in the more remote 
 regions. In winter, when the rivers are blocked with ice 
 and canoe travel impossible, the husky dog still draws 
 loaded sleds from one post to another. The swish of the 
 sled runner on the snow, the tinkle of the bells on the 
 huskies' harness, and the crack of the driver's whip still 
 awaken the echoes of the long northern nights. 
 
 The isolated posts get their mail more frequently 
 than in the days of long ago, but the coming of the mail 
 pack is just as eagerly looked forward to, and all items 
 of news from the outside and more favored portions of 
 the earth are eagerly scanned. 
 
 In the early days the Hudson's Bay, the Northwest 
 and the various American trading companies sold 
 liquor to the indians, but seeing the demoralizing and 
 degrading effects it was having upon them the Hudson's 
 Bay Company stopped the practice. It must be said that 
 the great company, with all its faults, always looked to 
 the welfare of the indian. A sober, honest or industrious 
 indian in their employ was never allowed to come to 
 want. 
 
 Before starting out on his annual trapping expedi- 
 tion, the indian and his squaw were taken into the fort, 
 and with the advice of the chief factor an outfit was 
 selected. The trader's aim was to help the indian to 
 secure what would likely prove most needful to him 
 and to eliminate unnecessaries with which the savage 
 might otherwise encumber himself and perhaps be 
 unable to pay for with the proceeds of the season's
 
 2i2 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 catch. The outfit was then charged against him, to be 
 deducted from his pay when the season's work was over. 
 
 The reckless, wasteful methods of the American 
 trader and trapper in taking fur in any manner possible, 
 regardless of the future supply, has been avoided by the 
 Hudson's Bay Company. Absolute masters of the terri- 
 tory they occupied, they enacted laws protecting fur 
 bearers at certain seasons, and when any fur bearing 
 animal was threatened with extermination they pro- 
 hibited his being taken for a number of years until in- 
 crease of the animal made further protection unneces- 
 sary. 
 
 The most noted of the later day Hudson's Bay men 
 is Donald Smith, who for long, long years traded in the 
 frozen, wind swept and otherwise desolate wastes of 
 the Labrador, suffering all the discomforts and dangers 
 of the long trails and cold, cheerless winter encamp- 
 ments, without a murmur and with but one object in 
 view, and that to please his superiors. This patience, 
 loyalty, devotion and suffering was rewarded at last 
 when he was made governor of the company with the 
 title of Lord Strathcona.
 
 Chapter XX 
 Jedediah Smith's California Expeditions
 
 Jedediah Smith's California Expeditions 
 
 The first man to cross the North American continent 
 was the trader Alexander Mackenzie, late in the eigh- 
 teenth century. Lewis and Clark, in 1804- 1805, repeated 
 the exploit farther to the southward, but the great cen- 
 tral regions lying between Oregon and Mexico re- 
 mained for many years unpenetrated and unexplored. 
 It remained for another fur-trader to break through the 
 intervening barriers of mountain and desert and open 
 up a central route to the Pacific. 
 
 Many expeditions had surged up to the eastern slopes 
 of the Rockies, but, as waves break upon their impact 
 with the ocean beach, so these expeditions halted at the 
 mountain wall and ebbed back again. 
 
 A few isolated cases of mountain trappers penetrating 
 beyond the first rocky ridges were recorded at a very 
 early date, but until the arrival of the Henry-Ashley 
 party very little was known concerning the region. Ash- 
 ley did quite a bit of exploring in the eastern portions 
 of the great interior basin but beyond the Great Salt 
 lake stretched deserts, unknown and unvisited by white 
 man, and beyond these arose the high Sierras of Cali- 
 fornia, forming another formidable barrier to be 
 crossed should one wish to reach the Pacific by this 
 untried route. 
 
 Spaniards from Mexico and California had been
 
 216 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 halted on their eastern journeyings by the deserts. The 
 task of exploring this region of mystery and opening 
 up a central route to the Pacific was performed by 
 Jedediah Smith, who had already done quite a bit of 
 exploring work in the Oregon regions. Just why Smith's 
 exploits and even his very name have been allowed to 
 sink almost into oblivion is hard to understand, while 
 lesser men such as Bonneville and Fremont have be- 
 come famous by merely following in his footsteps. Per- 
 haps had Smith been less modest and had he possessed 
 the ready pen of a Fremont, or had a writer of inter- 
 national fame, such as Bonneville found in Washing- 
 ton Irving, written his biography, he might have fared 
 better and today might be accorded his rightful place 
 in history as a pathfinder, instead of being largely un- 
 known and unhonored by his countrymen. Smith, al- 
 though a far better man than either, might well be 
 placed alongside of Radisson and Groseilliers in the 
 list of unremembered heroes. 
 
 Jedediah Smith was born at Bainbridge, New York, 
 June 24, 1798. He came of good pioneer stock, the fam- 
 ily being continually on the move to new territory; 
 always with faces turned toward the setting sun, a char- 
 acteristic that father imparted to son. 
 
 Jedediah had thirteen brothers and sisters and, as his 
 parents were poor, they were unable to give their chil- 
 dren any considerable education, yet our young man 
 succeeded in obtaining a smattering of knowledge, and 
 what was of more value, he was deeply imbued with the 
 tenets of the Christian faith, which he maintained un- 
 waveringly throughout his life, although his compan- 
 ionship and environment in later years were of the wild- 
 est and roughest character.
 
 JEDEDIAH SMITH'S CALIFORNIA EXPEDITIONS 217 
 
 Leaving home to seek his fortune, he was first em- 
 ployed on one of the freight boats of the Great Lakes, 
 where he met with trappers and traders passing between 
 Montreal and the western posts. Fascinated by the life 
 of a fur-trader, he resolved to enter the profession him- 
 self, and we soon find him at Saint Louis, headquarters 
 of the American traders, looking for a job. It was here 
 Ashley found him and engaged him in the Henry-Ash- 
 ley expedition of 1823. 
 
 Smith served these gentlemen faithfully until their 
 retirement from the business. He took over Ashley's in- 
 terests in 1826, and from thence on the firm consisted 
 of Smith, David Jackson and William Sublette. The 
 partners divided their labors. Smith was the explorer. 
 It was his duty to seek new trapping grounds, and learn 
 the general character of the new territories and of the 
 indian tribes that inhabited them; Jackson was to re- 
 main constantly in the mountains attending to the trad- 
 ing and trapping; Sublette was to see to the transport- 
 ing of the furs to Saint Louis and attend to their dis- 
 posal. 
 
 It seems that Ashley had entertained the idea of car- 
 rying out Mr. Astor's plans for the establishment of a 
 post on the Pacific, from which the furs of the far west 
 might be shipped by sea to the fur markets, and prob- 
 ably that is why Smith, while in his employ, had spent 
 so much time among the British traders in Oregon. We 
 know that Alexander Ross had looked upon him as a 
 sort of spy, rather than as a trapper, and if he got any 
 information from those sources it must have been of a 
 most discouraging nature, but nothing prevented him 
 from making a try at reaching California. 
 
 Beginning in the Salt lake country where the Ashley
 
 218 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 explorations left off, Smith, in August, 1826, started out 
 with a party of fifteen men and traveled in a southwest- 
 erly direction, passing Utah lake and spending some 
 time in studying and observing the indian tribes of the 
 region. 
 
 Traveling on to the southwest they came to the Vir- 
 gin river and followed it to its junction with the Colo- 
 rado, which the indians informed him fell into the Gulf 
 of California. The Mohave desert barred his way to 
 the Spanish settlements like an evil spectre, but he 
 struggled through it and on to San Diego, there to 
 arouse the suspicions of the Spanish officials. Through 
 the intercession of an American sea captain, however, 
 he was permitted to purchase what provisions he need- 
 ed, provided he returned by way he had come. 
 
 Smith seems to have possessed the usual Anglo-amer- 
 ican contempt for Spanish authority, for instead of 
 complying with orders he marched northward some 
 three hundred miles instead and wintered on the San 
 Joaquin and Merced rivers, finding the region a profit- 
 able trapping ground. 
 
 The party made an attempt to cross the Sierra Neva- 
 das but were turned back by the deep snows. May 20, 
 1827, Smith renewed the attempt, taking but two men 
 and seven horses and two mules. After an eight day 
 struggle, in which two horses and one mule were lost 
 in the passage over snow barrages from four to eight 
 feet deep, they reached the eastern side of the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 Now came a twenty days' march over a barren, sun- 
 scorched region to the Great Salt lake, in which they 
 suffered all the horrors of heat, thirst and hunger. They 
 ate their horses one after another as they gave out under 
 the strain, and when they were at the end of their jour-
 
 JEDEDIAH SMITH'S CALIFORNIA EXPEDITIONS 219 
 
 ney they had only one horse and one mule remaining. 
 Smith uses just one hundred and thirty words to record 
 this terrible journey in his journal. He was a man of 
 action, not of words. In fact, his whole journal is so 
 brief that one cannot follow his trail with certainty, 
 but it is presumed that he crossed the Sierra at, or near, 
 Sonora pass. 
 
 In July, 1827, Smith set out to return to California 
 at the head of nineteen men and two indian women. The 
 Spaniards seem to have expected his return, for they 
 sent a band of indians to head him off. These indians 
 attacked the party on the Colorado river, killed ten of 
 the men and carried off the two indian women as pris- 
 oners. This unfortunate affair occurred in August, and 
 the survivors were obliged to hurry on to the Spanish 
 settlements for relief, although they could scarcely 
 count on a very hearty greeting. 
 
 Smith was allowed to proceed northward to join his 
 companions on the San Joaquin and Merced. Finding 
 them in a very needy condition he resolved to trust once 
 more to Spanish generosity, but this time they clapped 
 him into jail at San Jose, later transferring him to 
 Monterey. He was soon released through the persistent 
 intercession of certain Americans of the place, but was 
 obliged to sign an agreement to leave the country. This 
 he did, though not in the way or by the trail that the 
 Spaniards expected him to take. 
 
 Having blazed a trail from the Great Salt lake to 
 southwestern California, and then eastward over the 
 Sierras from central California back to his starting 
 point, he now proposed to link up these southern and 
 central routes with the work already done by the British 
 and American traders in Oregon. 
 
 Leading his party northward some three hundred
 
 220 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 miles he wintered on a stream, which from the circum- 
 stance, is now known as the American Fork. Beaver 
 were plentiful, and the trappers collected a small for- 
 tune as they moved along. They continued to trap and 
 explore the country in a northwesterly direction until 
 they had almost reached the Pacific, when they altered 
 their course and headed due north for Oregon. 
 
 July 24, 1828, while encamped near the Umpqua 
 river, the party was attacked by indians, and fifteen or 
 eighteen men of the company were slain, two only es- 
 caping into the woods. Smith was absent from camp at 
 the time of the massacre and was horrified upon his 
 return to find his comrades cold in death, scalped and 
 mutilated in the usual manner. Horses, furs and sup- 
 plies were likewise gone. One of the men joined Smith, 
 and the two shouldered their rifles and made for the 
 British posts on the Columbia. 
 
 Living on the game that they killed, and calling into 
 play all the skill, perseverence and woodcraft which 
 they had acquired during their experiences in wilder- 
 ness life, the two men finally won through and reached 
 Fort Vancouver in safety. The other survivor lived on 
 roots and berries for a while, and finally fell in with a 
 party of friendly indians who conducted him to Oregon. 
 
 Doctor McLoughlin received Smith and his com- 
 panions with open arms, sent out a party to recover 
 their furs from the indians, and when this was accom- 
 plished paid the American $20,000 for the lot. This 
 transaction offers a pleasing contrast to some of the 
 previous affairs between British and American traders, 
 but was quite in accord with the gentlemanly character 
 of the great McLoughlin. 
 
 One of Smith's men took service with the English 
 traders and returned to the very country where he had
 
 JEDEDIAH SMITH'S CALIFORNIA EXPEDITIONS 221 
 
 had such a narrow escape. Smith and the remaining 
 man left Vancouver in March, 1829, and traveled up 
 the Columbia to Fort Caldwell and Flathead House 
 and on to the rendezvous of his partners, Jackson and 
 Sublette, which he found without difficulty. Emerson 
 Hough has well said: "Readers would not receive the 
 plain story of Jedediah Smith as fit for fiction. It would 
 be too impossible." 
 
 During Smith's absence Jackson and Sublette kept 
 about one hundred men busy scouring the country for 
 furs; they competed with Ogden's men for the fur of 
 Oregon, they penetrated the dangerous country of the 
 Blackfeet, they visited Yellowstone park, and added 
 much to the general knowledge of the country. Hostile 
 indians picked off a man from time to time, but they 
 repaid the savages with interest when opportunity of- 
 fered and kept on with their work. 
 
 In 1830, the three partners sold out the business to a 
 new firm of which Milton Sublette, Jim Bridger and 
 Thomas Fitzpatrick were leading members. The palmy 
 days of the fur-trade were over, and a few years later it 
 was no longer profitable to trap the beaver. Perhaps 
 the three veterans hoped to pass their remaining days 
 in the peace and quietude of a civilized community, 
 but in Saint Louis Smith met several of his brothers 
 who were in severe financial straits, and with character- 
 istic generosity he offered to fit them out for the Santa 
 Fe trade, which was then a splendidly paying proposi- 
 tion. Once more the old traders heard the call of the 
 wild, and in the spring of 1831, we find the three 
 friends, Smith, Jackson and Sublette on their way to 
 Santa Fe at the head of a wagon train, eager to try their 
 hand at the Mexican trade. 
 
 In the desert country near the head of the Cimarron
 
 222 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 they ran out of water and Smith pushed on ahead to 
 seek for the precious fluid. Finding it at last he re- 
 freshed himself and started to carry the welcome news 
 back to his comrades, when he was fired upon by 
 ambushed Comanches and seriously wounded. If the 
 savages were looking for an easy scalp they chose the 
 wrong man, for desperately wounded as he was he was 
 still full of fight, and three of the Comanches bit the 
 dust before they succeeded in despatching him with 
 their spears. 
 
 Thus perished one of the greatest, although the least 
 known, of all the great characters of the American west. 
 A tireless explorer, a skillful trader and a fearless ad- 
 venturer, Smith was also in addition to all this, a pol- 
 ished gentleman and an humble and devout Christian.
 
 Chapter XXI 
 Travels of Bonneville and Walker
 
 Travels of Bonneville and Walker 
 
 In 1832, Captain Benjamin Bonneville, an officer of 
 the regular army, obtained leave of absence to conduct 
 a trading and trapping expedition into the mountains of 
 the west. Bonneville has found an able chronicler in 
 Washington Irving, and because of this book the cap- 
 tain obtained a fame all out of proportion to the actual 
 value of his achievements. In fact, Bonneville discov- 
 ered nothing that the fur-traders had not already been 
 perfectly familiar with for a decade or more, but his 
 able lieutenant, Mr. Walker, made a remarkable trip 
 overland to California by the central route, being sec- 
 ond only to Jedediah Smith in accomplishing this feat. 
 
 Bonneville is wrongfully credited with taking the 
 first wheeled vehicle across the plains and into the 
 mountains. We have seen how the birch-bark canoe and 
 the dug out of the first fur-traders of Canada were suc- 
 ceeded largely by the keel-boat on the larger streams, 
 and that after the first excursions up river the Amer- 
 icans largely abandoned water travel and substituted 
 the pack-horse for the boat, and still later the pack- 
 horse gave way to the covered wagon. The overland 
 route, too, was changed from the valley of the Mis- 
 souri to that of the Platte. Bonneville's party transport- 
 ed their goods by wagon and he was the first to take 
 wagons through the South pass, this being about all the
 
 226 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 credit that the captain is rightfully entitled to. Wagons 
 had been used on the Santa Fe trail as early as 1822, and 
 Smith, Jackson and Sublette had used wagons in the 
 Wind river country two years before Bonneville started 
 west, while Ashley had taken a wheeled cannon through 
 South pass in 1826. Marcus Whitman, the missionary, 
 has the honor of being the first man to take a wagon 
 clear through to the Pacific, but we should not be sur- 
 prised to learn at any time that some trader or trapper 
 should turn up and claim even this distinction. 
 
 Bonneville's force consisted of one hundred and ten 
 men, chief among whom was I. R. Walker and M. S. 
 Cerre, both veterans of the Santa Fe trade and both 
 well fitted to cope with the dangers and difficulties of 
 such an expedition. The party moved up the valley of 
 the Platte early in the spring, when the grass was fresh 
 and green and flowers were blooming everywhere. 
 Their desire was to get across the broad reaches of the 
 plains before the scorching heats of summer set in. At 
 one stream where quicksand prevented the crossing of 
 the wagons they took off the bodies, caulked them with 
 a mixture of tallow and ashes, and in these improvised 
 boats floated their goods across in safety. 
 
 Bonneville was much impressed with the wild scen- 
 ery of the Black Hills, and still more when he sighted 
 the Rockies. Crossing through South pass they reached 
 Green river, scene of so many of Smith's, Jackson's, 
 Sublette's and Ashley's adventures. Here they came in 
 contact with a party of American Fur Company men 
 under a Mr. Fontenelle. Here Bonneville was to get a 
 taste of rivalry as it existed between the traders, for in 
 spite of the hearty reception extended him by Fonte- 
 nelle, the latter tampered with his men and succeeded
 
 TRAVELS OF BONNEVILLE AND WALKER 227 
 
 in enticing some of them to come over to his outfit. 
 Later on the captain evened up matters by coaxing some 
 of Fontenelle's men to take service with him. 
 
 From Green river, Bonneville proceeded to the Sal- 
 mon branch of the Columbia, where he had heard 
 beaver were plentiful. He got along splendidly with the 
 Crows and Nez Perces with whom he met, and he was 
 overjoyed with the wild, free life he was experiencing, 
 after the dull routine of post duty, insperarable from 
 army life in time of peace. Christmas, 1832, was cele- 
 brated with much feasting and hilarity. After the cele- 
 bration he started out to find a band of his trappers for 
 whose safety he had begun to grow anxious. The search- 
 ers suffered much from cold and hunger, as the weather 
 was bad and the game scarce, but at last the missing 
 men were found. 
 
 Bonneville marched and countermarched through 
 the trapping grounds, seeking the best sections for fur, 
 and all the while having great sport with the game. 
 Falling in with a party of trappers under Milton Sub- 
 lette, there ensued considerable rivalry between the two 
 parties as to which would secure the most fur, but 
 friendly relations were maintained. He also came in 
 contact with a Hudson's Bay trader on Snake river. 
 This trader was out of goods but daily expecting sup- 
 plies from his post on the Columbia. Quite a number 
 of indians were there awaiting the arrival of these 
 goods and Bonneville, thinking to anticipate the Eng- 
 lishman's trade, attempted to open negotiations with 
 them, but the Englishman was too sharp for him, and 
 not only succeeded in inducing the indians to wait for 
 his goods, but even shook the fidelity of some of Bonne- 
 ville's men by offers of free liquor.
 
 228 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Seeing himself outwitted and beaten by the English 
 trader and fearing the loss of some of his own men, the 
 captain beat a retreat and went to Green river and went 
 into camp in close proximity to a similar rendezvous of 
 the Rocky mountain men and still another band of 
 trappers in the employ of the American Fur Company. 
 
 In these trapping operations the men were keen com- 
 petitors, and rivalries often ensued which at times ap- 
 proached open hostility, but in their summer camp all 
 rivalry was forgotten and a carnival of feasting, drink- 
 ing and gaming was indulged in. Friendly Shoshone 
 indians also resorted to these gatherings to share in the 
 revelry, especially the young squaws who were on the 
 lookout for white husbands. Many of these wild moun- 
 tain trappers had their hearts pierced with cupid's 
 sharp darts at these meetings, took squaws to wife and 
 brought up a progeny of half-breed children. Kit Car- 
 son, the Bent brothers, and the mulatto, Jim Beck- 
 wourth, were among those who married indian women. 
 The dusky damsel stalked about camp, arrayed in all 
 the savage finery of paint, beads and gaudy dress and 
 moccasins, winning admiring stares from the bearded, 
 bronzed faced, buckskin-clad borderer, who, well sup- 
 plied with money after the annual settlement, was quite 
 willing to lavish it liberally on some favorite beauty 
 could he but win her smiles. The trapper indulged in 
 his little fling after the trapping season was over just 
 as the sailor celebrates his arrival at the home port after 
 a long cruise. 
 
 Hearing much concerning the Great Salt lake, Bon- 
 neville resolved that after he had broken camp at Green 
 river, he would send an expedition under Walker to 
 explore the lake and trap for beaver along its shores
 
 TRAVELS OF BONNEVILLE AND WALKER 229 
 
 and tributary streams. This expedition set out the 24th 
 of July, 1833, and was soon struggling through the 
 parched and sandy wastes surrounding the great lake. 
 It was quite in contrast with the land of plenty they 
 had just left. Game was scarce, water more so, and as 
 they struggled on they suffered the horrors of heat and 
 thirst, until from sheer necessity they were compelled 
 to turn northward to more promising regions where 
 water could be obtained. 
 
 On the shore of Ogden river they found beaver and at 
 once set out traps. One after another of these traps were 
 stolen by prowling indians in a most exasperating man- 
 ner. Perhaps this may account for, though it does not 
 excuse, the cruel treatment inflicted upon the natives on 
 every occasion. It seems this band of trappers were 
 either of a rather bloodthirsty disposition, or else their 
 leader was of a different character than was Bonneville, 
 for while the captain got along amazingly well with the 
 indians, Walker and his men had scarcely gotten free 
 from their commander when they began to shoot down 
 the indians like dogs, twenty or more being massacred 
 at one time on the Ogden river for no apparent reason 
 whatever. 
 
 Pushing farther into the deserts, Walker crossed the 
 Humboldt, to which he gave the appropriate name of 
 Barren river. In October he crossed the Sierra Nevadas 
 and emerged upon the western slope, where pure water 
 and forests of gigantic trees were a most welcome sight 
 after the hideous deserts they had just crossed. It is 
 thought that Walker discovered the Yosemite valley 
 during this journey, but the facts are not clear. He did 
 not encounter hostile indians as Smith did on his last 
 trip, nor was the crossing of the mountains made under
 
 230 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 the same trying conditions as that memorable crossing 
 of Smith's had been attended with. 
 
 At Monterey they were hospitably received by the 
 Spanish and here they held high carnival, selling their 
 furs and spending the proceeds with a liberality char- 
 acteristic of trappers. Perhaps their liberality had some- 
 thing to do with the hospitality they enjoyed, for we 
 know that Smith was thrust in jail and even threatened 
 with being sent to Mexico for trial when he visited the 
 region a few years before. 
 
 Recrossing the Sierras, Walker headed northward 
 along the eastern edge of the range for some distance, 
 and then turned eastward across the deserts toward the 
 Humboldt, then turning northward again to the Snake 
 and from there to Bear river, where he rejoined Bonne- 
 ville. 
 
 The return journey had been marked by the same 
 barbarous treatment of the indians that had signalized 
 their western march. A couple of Mexicans had joined 
 Walker in California and they, no less bloodthirsty 
 than their American companions, varied the sport of 
 shooting down indians by chasing them on horseback 
 over the deserts, lassoing them and dragging them to 
 death. Bonneville was much grieved when he learned 
 of these excesses, but he could do nothing about it. 
 
 While Walker was absent on the Salt lake and Cali- 
 fornia expedition, Bonneville had moved about from 
 place to place, sometimes in company with men of the 
 Rocky Mountain Fur Company, and sometimes with 
 his own party alone. He had wished to continue his 
 journey along the Columbia as far as the Willamette 
 in Oregon, but as the Hudson's Bay Company con- 
 trolled all the posts in that region he knew all those
 
 TRAVELS OF BONNEVILLE AND WALKER 231 
 
 store houses would be closed to him and that his expedi- 
 tion might end in starvation, so he gave up the project. 
 
 After three years of absence Bonneville returned to 
 civilization only to find that the government, by failing 
 to hear from him had given him up as lost and had 
 caused his name to be removed from the army rolls. 
 The publication of Irving's book on the adventures of 
 Bonneville turned so much attention toward the gay 
 captain that it led to his reinstatement in the army and 
 gained for him a reputation as an explorer far exceed- 
 ing that justified by the facts.
 
 Chapter XXII 
 Wyeth's Enterprise -a Fur-trade 
 
 Rendezvous
 
 Wyeth's Enterprise -a Fur-trade 
 Rendezvous 
 
 Another interesting personage made his appearance 
 in the Rocky mountain region about the time Bonne- 
 ville was making his debut as a traveler and trader. It 
 was none other than Nathaniel J. Wyeth, a New Eng- 
 land yankee, in whose fertile brain was conceived a 
 magnificent plan for the capture of the fur-trade, and 
 the establishment of a factory on the Columbia for the 
 canning of salmon. Although, like Bonneville, Wyeth 
 was a "tenderfoot" in the western life, he proved to be 
 made of the same sterling stuff that is supposed to be 
 characteristic of the people of the rugged region from 
 which he came, and although he failed in realizing the 
 objects of his journey, he played no inconsiderable part 
 in the history of the region for several years. 
 
 In 1832, Wyeth, at the head of a party of New Eng- 
 enders, each as ignorant and inexperienced in prairie 
 or mountain life as their leader, left Saint Louis and 
 started on their long journey toward the Columbia. At 
 Independence, Missouri, they fell in with a brigade of 
 Rocky mountain traders under William Sublette and 
 Robert Campbell on their way with supplies to the an- 
 nual rendezvous at Pierre's Hole on Green river. 
 Wyeth was glad to join this party of experienced men 
 and traveled with them by way of the Sweetwater and
 
 236 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 South pass, a route that a few years later was to become 
 the famous Oregon trail, the highway over which the 
 missionaries, Whitman and Spalding, with their wives, 
 the first white women to cross the continent, traveled, 
 taking with them also the first wagon to be carried from 
 the Mississippi to the Columbia - an event that was to 
 have much political weight later on. 
 
 At Pierre's Hole, Wyeth met with many mountain 
 men, and here he had his first real taste of indian fight- 
 ing in the celebrated battle with the Blackfeet, of which 
 we will have more to say presently. From this place he 
 proceeded to the British post at Fort Vancouver, where 
 he was well received, but learned to his chagrin that 
 most of his goods were worthless for the indian trade. 
 To complete his misfortunes, his tender-foot comrades 
 here deserted him, having had quite enough already 
 of the wild life of the plains and mountains. In short, 
 Wyeth lost everything except his grit and perseverance, 
 but armed with these he started for far away Boston to 
 make a fresh start. 
 
 Wyeth went with Milton Sublette to the Big Horn 
 river, and there the two men constructed a bull-boat 
 and with four indians for companions started down the 
 river on their long voyage to the eastern settlements, 
 going in advance of the main party who were to trans- 
 port the cargo of furs down to market. It required all 
 the skill the crew possessed to steer the crazy craft clear 
 of mud-bars, rocks and submerged snags, as well as to 
 keep an eye always alert for hostile indians. All went 
 well until they fell in with a party of friendly Crows, 
 who, in spite of their friendliness stole, or begged for, 
 everything in sight. 
 
 Reaching Fort Cass, on the Yellowstone, one of the
 
 A FUR-TRADE RENDEZVOUS 237 
 
 posts of the American Fur Company, they sold a por- 
 tion of their beaver skins and buffalo robes and then 
 pushed on down the river, dodging war parties of 
 Blackfeet who were alert and anxious to annex the scalp 
 of any unlucky trapper or trader who might be caught 
 off guard or overpowered by numbers. In spite of their 
 dangerous surroundings and enforced vigilance the 
 voyageurs enjoyed the trip. The swift current carried 
 them rapidly along, and they further increased their 
 speed by hoisting an improvised sail on an equally im- 
 provised mast. 
 
 Buffalo, deer, and other game thronged the banks and 
 furnished an abundance of fresh meat. The weather was 
 delightful and all things, except the Blackfeet, seemed 
 to conspire in making their trip an easy and pleasant 
 one, but the men never relaxed their vigilance. They 
 camped on islands in midstream, when there were any; 
 they landed early and cooked their meals, then leaving 
 their fire burning would re-embark and drop down the 
 river for miles and encamp without a fire at some shel- 
 tered place. 
 
 Reaching Fort Union, at the mouth of the Yellow- 
 stone, they landed and partook of generous hospitality, 
 which the commandant, McKenzie, the famous "King 
 of the Missouri," was wont to extend to travelers. At 
 Fort Union they met the upbound keel-boat of William 
 Sublette bringing supplies for the Rocky mountain men 
 who were in competition with the American Fur Com- 
 pany. Here Milton Sublette joined his brother and 
 Wyeth went on down the Missouri in a wooden canoe 
 which he had substituted for the bull-boat. 
 
 Wyeth had several indian scares and several close 
 shaves from shipwreck on the treacherous river, but he
 
 238 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 at length reached the settlements in safety. This voyage, 
 along with the voyage down the Arkansas of Ezekial 
 Williams years before, show what risks these early 
 fur-traders were obliged to take in traveling through 
 the untamed, indian infested wilderness in those early 
 days. 
 
 Wyeth was soon back in the Rockies again at the head 
 of a new organization. He brought with him the natur- 
 alist Nuttall and he also brought a store of whisky for 
 the indian trade, but upon his arrival on the Columbia 
 he found that Doctor McLoughlin had forbade the sale 
 of liquor to the indians at the posts under his jurisdic- 
 tion and Wyeth, to his credit be it said, readily agreed 
 to discontinue the sale also. 
 
 Wyeth built Fort Hall in 1834, one of the first Amer- 
 ican forts west of the Rockies, and a noted place in later 
 days of travel along the Oregon trail. Wyeth, with all 
 his pluck and yankee ingenuity, found it impossible to 
 compete with the wealth and power of the British trad- 
 ers, and all his enterprises ended in failure. 
 
 We have already mentioned the famous trapper's 
 rendezvous at Pierre's Hole, where an annual gather- 
 ing of traders, trappers and indians was held. Perhaps 
 a few words regarding this famous rendezvous will not 
 be out of place here. 
 
 The free-traders did not depend upon established 
 posts at commercial strategic points at which to do their 
 trading, as was the custom of the larger and older or- 
 ganizations; also, they depended far less upon the in- 
 dian to supply the fur than did the Canadian traders. 
 Anything the indian had to sell they, of course, took, 
 but they did not want to be dependent upon the fickle 
 and unreliable savages any more than necessary.
 
 A FUR-TRADE RENDEZVOUS 239 
 
 An annual gathering place was appointed, and here 
 the scattered bands of trappers assembled at the ap- 
 pointed time to receive pay for the season's work and 
 purchase supplies for the ensuing year. Here plans for 
 the coming year were studied out, and arrangements 
 for any contemplated enterprise were completed. These 
 annual meetings were held at various places, but 
 Pierre's Hole has become the best known of them all. 
 
 At these wild gatherings the men who were the real 
 explorers of the interior of the continent met and laid 
 plans for expeditions into the most remote places, 
 known to be swarming with hostile indians both ready 
 and anxious to raise their scalps. We doubt if many of 
 these trapper-explorers realized that they were doing 
 anything out of the ordinary in thus opening up new re- 
 gions and new routes of travel for their race - routes 
 over which the later settlers flocked into the country, 
 giving but little or no thought to the grizzled men who 
 had blazed the way. The objects of the travels of these 
 trapper-explorers was not discovery for the mere sake 
 of discovery, but beaver was primarily the object of 
 their quest. The average trapper was just as loathe to 
 see the country settled by home-makers of his race as 
 was the indian himself, and so we cannot attach any 
 philanthropic motives to his explorations in these un- 
 known wastes. 
 
 It was at Pierre's Hole that the famous battle between 
 the trappers and Blackfeet occurred in 1832. Captain 
 Sublette was in charge of the rendezvous at this time, 
 and Nathaniel J. Wyeth's party of New England ten- 
 der-feet were also encamped there at the time. In addi- 
 tion there was an independent party of trappers under 
 command of a man named Sinclair.
 
 240 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 On July 17, Milton Sublette, brother of the captain, 
 set out from the rendezvous with a party of fourteen 
 men and went into camp farther on down the valley. 
 Sinclair's party of fifteen men and Wyeth's eleven New 
 Englanders accompanied Sublette and went into camp 
 with him. On the following morning a crowd of people 
 were observed approaching camp. At first they took 
 them to be a band of American Fur Company men who, 
 under the leadership of Fontenelle, were operating in 
 the country, but Wyeth's spyglass soon showed that the 
 approaching party were Blackfeet. 
 
 Just what the intentions of these indians were will 
 never be known for a certainty, but they halted and one 
 of their chiefs approached, holding up a peace pipe. A 
 halfbreed trapper and a Flathead indian who were 
 with Sublette's party rode out to meet the chief. Both 
 of these men had scores to settle with the Blackfeet, and 
 here was an opportunity for revenge. Watching their 
 chance they shot down the chief, snatched off his scarlet 
 robe and galloped back to their friends amid a shower 
 of balls from the Blackfeet. This act of treachery pre- 
 cipitated the battle. 
 
 Hastily taking possession of a swamp the indians be- 
 gan to throw up breastworks. Word was carried back to 
 William Sublette's camp, and in a short time the valley 
 was full of men galloping to the scene of the disturb- 
 ance. Large parties of Nez Perces and Flatheads were 
 encamped at Pierre's Hole at this time, and they eager- 
 ly joined the white men in their quarrel with the com- 
 mon enemy. William Sublette ordered an immediate 
 charge upon the Blackfoot fort, but no one seemed to be 
 eager to enter the swamp until Sublette, Campbell and 
 Sinclair set the example, after which, of course, the men
 
 A FUR-TRADE RENDEZVOUS 241 
 
 fell in line. A hot battle followed. Sinclair was killed 
 and Sublette badly wounded, but the trappers and their 
 indian allies pressed on forward. 
 
 At this juncture it was rumored that another band of 
 Blackfeet were attacking the rendezvous. This brought 
 things to a halt. The attacking party was divided, one 
 party remaining to watch the Blackfoot fort and the 
 other hurrying back to defend their own camp. Their 
 fears proved groundless, and night coming on it was 
 decided to attack the fort again next morning with the 
 full force, but the Blackfeet had had enough fighting 
 for the time and stole away in the darkness. 
 
 Another tragedy had its beginning at Pierre's Hole. 
 The American Fur Company, wishing to find the rich 
 trapping grounds of the Rockies from which their 
 free-trade rivals drew their bountiful supply of 
 pelts, sent two veteran traders to dog the footsteps 
 of the free-trappers and spy out the country. Fitz- 
 patrick and Bridger were at the head of the band whose 
 footsteps Vanderburgh and Drips, the American Fur 
 Company men, were sent to follow. In the splendid 
 beaver country between the Big Horn mountains and 
 the Black Hills the free-trappers discovered that they 
 were being followed and spied upon. Not wishing to 
 share their trapping grounds with rivals, Bridger and 
 Fitzpatrick silently packed up, and crossing over the 
 difficult, snowy passes of the Wind river mountains to 
 the Snake river valley, some three hundred miles to the 
 westward, where they fancied themselves free from 
 their rivals, but whichever way they went Vanderburgh 
 and Drips were sure to find them out sooner or later. 
 Tiring at last of this game of hide and seek the Rocky 
 mountain men deliberately led their rivals into the
 
 242 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 dangerous country of the Blackfeet, and here the pur- 
 suers fell into an ambush and Vanderburgh was killed. 
 Such were the desperate means by which traders 
 sometimes ridded themselves of rivals.
 
 Chapter XXIII 
 Free Traders and Trappers
 
 Free Traders and Trappers 
 
 Canada was the home of organized trade. In Amer- 
 ica the free-trader flourished. In the days of French 
 rule monopolies were granted to a few favored indi- 
 viduals, but all others were prohibited from entering 
 into the trade. We have seen how Radisson and Gro- 
 seilliers fared by violating this prohibition. Others were 
 equally as unfortunate unless they condescended to pay 
 bribes to the officials. The Hudson's Bay Company, 
 backed when necessary by British bayonets, crushed 
 rivals with a ruthless hand. South of the Canadian 
 boundary John Jacob Astor succeeded in monopolizing 
 much of the trade, but always the free-trader and the 
 free-trapper flourished and would not be downed. 
 
 There is something distinctively American in the 
 free-traders' direct methods of dealing, this cutting 
 loose from organizations and going it on one's own 
 initiative. The idea of a few favored folks profiting at 
 the expense of the many was repellant to early Ameri- 
 cans, and much of our wonderful success as a people 
 and as a nation can be traced to individual initiative, 
 rather than to organized or governmental action. 
 
 We have seen how free-traders and free-trappers be- 
 came the real discoverers and trail-blazers of the in- 
 terior of the continent south of the international bound- 
 ary, although most of our historians give all the credit
 
 246 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 to Fremont and other so-called pathfinders of later 
 days. 
 
 In some ways, however, the organized methods of 
 the Canadian traders had an advantage over the free 
 system. The organized trader had a greater opportunity 
 to be beneficial to those who traded with him than did 
 the free-trader; likewise he was able to protect the fur- 
 bearers to a considerable extent, something which the 
 free-trader, of course, could not do. The liquor traffic 
 which worked such fearful havoc among both indians 
 and whites along the border, was discouraged and dis- 
 approved of by the Hudson's Bay Company when its 
 evil effects were noted, but whisky became a chief arti- 
 cle of barter with the free-trader who, while himself 
 depreciating its evil effects, was compelled by the ruth- 
 less methods of rivals to enter into the whisky business 
 also. Of course he charged scandalous prices for the 
 stuff and watered it copiously, but in spite of all this the 
 indian craved it and would have it at any sacrifice. 
 
 The frontier trading posts became the centers of the 
 wildest of orgies. How many murders and wars, how 
 much degradation and sickness and misery can be 
 charged to the free-trader and his vile whisky Heaven 
 alone knows. The government in later years made many 
 efforts to stop the traffic, but while some of the offenders 
 were caught and punished, others took their places and 
 the evil work went on unabated. 
 
 Some of the first trans-Allegheny pioneers were free- 
 traders. Moving from place to place and from tribe to 
 tribe, with their small stock of goods tied to the backs 
 of a few pack-horses or stowed snugly away in a big 
 canoe, these fearless men plied that hazardous trade 
 quite unnoticed by the world at large. It is possible 
 that some of the English or colonial traders may have
 
 FREE TRADERS AND TRAPPERS 247 
 
 been on the Ohio or its upper tributaries even in ad- 
 vance of LaSalle. As long hidden journals and manu- 
 scripts are continually coming to light, perhaps new 
 and valuable information may finally turn up on this 
 subject. English traders were keen competitors with the 
 French on the Ohio and streams farther south before 
 the French and Indian war, and little independent 
 trading posts were scattered all along the Mississippi 
 and its tributaries. Saint Louis became the center of 
 American trade, and early in the last century Andrew 
 Henry built a trading post beyond the first barriers of 
 the Rockies. Later General Ashley and his associates 
 abandoned the idea of fixed trading posts and substi- 
 tuted the rendezvous plan instead. 
 
 The men who were known as free-traders or free- 
 trappers, to designate them from the paid employees of 
 the great organized companies, were generally of pure 
 American stock, there being a predominance of Ken- 
 tucky and Virginia blood in their veins. Also there were 
 men of Spanish or French descent, especially of the lat- 
 ter. One of the most noted of all, old Jim Beckwourth, 
 [or Beckwith as it is sometimes spelled] was a mulatto. 
 
 The free-trappers constituted a class to themselves; 
 they recognized no law or authority except those that 
 they voluntarily subscribed to, but each man depended 
 upon his skill in the chase, his dexterity in the use of 
 firearms, his knowledge of woodcraft, and, above all, 
 in his own reckless bravery to pull him through. They 
 banded together at times for mutual protection and 
 chose leaders, but they did not obey those leaders with 
 the servile docility of the Canadian trapper but con- 
 sidered him merely as an equal with themselves, tem- 
 porarily vested with authority. 
 
 With some tribes of indians the trapper waged per-
 
 248 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 petual war, with others he lived in peace, adopted their 
 manners and even married their women. Many of their 
 half-breed descendants still linger in the west. 
 
 Some of these free-trappers, notably Rose and Beck- 
 wourth, arose to the position of chief of their adopted 
 tribes. A few of these men were educated and refined 
 but the majority were un-lettered, scorning the re- 
 finements and learning of well-ordered civilization. 
 Their dress was typical of their trade, a fur cap, 
 fringed deer-skin hunting shirt and leggins, with 
 moccasins of the same material completed their cos- 
 tume. The unerring rifle and keen, long-bladed hunt- 
 ing knife were inseparable, indispensable companions, 
 and of his prowess with these weapons the most miracu- 
 lous tales are told. When the weather permitted the 
 trapper's roof was the starry heavens; a skin tepee or a 
 rude log hut answered his purposes at other times. 
 
 Many of these men, like the savages among whom 
 they lived, were unspeakably filthy in dress and habits; 
 others, like the dandies of the indian villages, delighted 
 in fringed and beaded hunting shirts and mocassins, and 
 if he chanced to be a "squaw man" he delighted to see 
 his better half decked out in all the paint, beads and 
 other savage finery so dear to the heart of the indian. 
 Like the indian also, the trapper valued a good horse 
 above all other possessions, for his very life often de- 
 pended upon the speed and endurance of his mount. 
 
 With the end of the fur-trade most of these wild 
 blades entered the service of the government as guides, 
 scouts and packers, while a few settled down to try their 
 hand at farming or stock raising- in which tame occu- 
 pation, most of them cut sorry figures. Many amassed 
 fortunes in the fur-trade, but because of their wild
 
 FREE TRADERS AND TRAPPERS 249 
 
 habits and free and easy manners most of their wealth 
 got away from them once they reached the nearest trad- 
 ing post or settlement. Very few retired wealthy and 
 fewer still even retired at all, but ended their days, as 
 they had lived their youth, in some secluded valley, far 
 from the comforts of civilization, dreaming, always 
 dreaming of the eventful past. 
 
 Among the earliest free-traders was a member of the 
 Irish nobility, John Johnson, whom the love of adven- 
 ture had lured away from his Irish estates to enter the 
 life of an indian trader at the Soo. Johnson soon became 
 a famous personage in the Great Lakes region, and was 
 extremely popular with the indians. A chief by the 
 name of Wabogish had a beautiful daughter who was 
 the center of attraction of all aspiring wooers of the 
 tribe. Johnson's heart was won also by this dusky beauty, 
 and forgetting his honorable connections in Europe, 
 as so many wilderness wanderers before and since have 
 done, he asked the chief for the girl's hand. The shrewd 
 old red-skin bade him prove his devotion as well as 
 the honesty of his purpose by returning to Ireland and 
 disposing of his estates. Johnson hastened to comply 
 with the requirements of the chief and thus won the 
 indian beauty and, we presume, he lived happily with 
 her ever after. During the war with England in 1812, 
 Johnson's establishment was burned, and he and his 
 wife had experiences which neither of them would soon 
 forget. 
 
 The fearlessness and heroism of these men are almost 
 beyond comprehension. We have seen how Ezekial 
 Williams, when all his men had been massacred and he 
 alone left to carry the news of his disasters to the settle- 
 ments, tarried along the upper Arkansas to trap the
 
 250 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 beaver which he found plentiful. John Colter, with a 
 single companion, Potts, had gone on a trapping expe- 
 dition into the Blackfoot country, although he knew 
 these indians were among the most cruel and blood- 
 thirsty in the west and that their hostility had been re- 
 cently increased by the killing of one of their number 
 by Captain Lewis during his memorable expedition in 
 company with Captain Clark. 
 
 Dearly did Colter and Potts pay for their reckless- 
 ness. After dodging the Blackfeet for some time they 
 were finally surprised by these human wolves and Potts, 
 who offered resistance, was killed while Colter, seeing 
 his helplessness, quietly surrendered. The Blackfeet 
 turned all the vials of their pent up wrath upon the 
 helpless Colter. Stripping him naked they bade him 
 run for his life, little doubting that their fleet braves 
 would have no trouble in overtaking the white man. It 
 was to be a race for the swift, and the prize was to be 
 Colter's life. Spurred on by the hope of escape Colter 
 did his best and gradually drew ahead of his pursuers, 
 save for one fleet fellow who seemed to be gaining some- 
 what, and who held a spear ready to transfix the white 
 man the moment he succeeded in getting close enough 
 to hurl the weapon. Seeing the hopelessness of outdis- 
 tancing his savage pursuer Colter suddenly turned and 
 faced the indian, the blood streaming from his nose 
 and mouth as a result of his exertions. This so startled 
 and confused the Blackfoot that he tripped and fell, 
 breaking his spear as he did so. Like a flash Colter 
 sprang forward, seized the broken spear and pinned 
 his enemy to the earth, then, turning, he sped on with 
 increased hope and finally eluded his fierce pursuers. 
 
 Naked and unarmed, his feet and body torn and
 
 FREE TRADERS AND TRAPPERS 251 
 
 bleeding from contact with thorns, briars and cactus, 
 with no food except the roots he could find and dig up 
 with his hands, Colter kept on and finally reached a 
 trading-post on the Missouri. 
 
 One would think such an experience would have 
 cured Colter of all desire for the wilderness, yet we find 
 him going again and again into the indian country, 
 lured on by the quest of beaver and the love of adven- 
 ture, but, finally, some one came along who was able to 
 do what the Blackfeet could not. This someone had en- 
 ticing eyes, wore skirts, and wielded such an influence 
 over our adventurer that he quit the wilderness and its 
 terrors and settled down to live with his fair seducer 
 amid the peace and quietude of the settlements. Colter 
 had fallen in love. 
 
 There were acts of cowardice also as well as those of 
 heroism. A party of trappers coming down the Platte in 
 canoes were unfortunate in having their boats upset and 
 supplies and powder lost. In terror the party hurried to 
 the settlements, abandoning a man named Scott who 
 was sick and could not keep pace with his terrified com- 
 panions. Meeting with another party the trappers had 
 their wants relieved, but thinking that their deserted 
 comrade was perhaps dead by this time they said noth- 
 ing about their leaving him to his fate. A year later 
 Scott's body was found near some high bluffs, many 
 miles from the place where he had been deserted. Be- 
 cause of this incident the place became known as Scott's 
 bluffs, and is further commemorated today in the name 
 of a nearby city. 
 
 Another conspicuous case of cowardice on the part 
 of one party and heroism on the part of another was the 
 desertion of Hugh Glass, one of Andrew Henry's men,
 
 252 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 while in the perilous Blackfeet country. Glass had been 
 terribly injured in a scrimmage with a grizzly bear, 
 and his life was despaired of. Henry left Glass in the 
 charge of two men, one a mere boy, which some aver 
 was none other than the later famous Jim Bridger. 
 Frightened at being left alone, with an almost helpless 
 man, in the midst of bloodthirsty and cruel savages and 
 believing that Glass could only live a few days more at 
 best, they deserted him, taking along his rifle and re- 
 porting that he had died. Glass, contrary to expecta- 
 tions, did not die, but succeeded in dragging his weary, 
 lacerated body a full hundred miles to Fort Kiowa on 
 the Missouri, living enroute upon berries and the flesh 
 of a buffalo calf, from whose carcass he had chased 
 away a pack of wolves.
 
 Chapter XXIV 
 Some Famous Free Trappers
 
 Some Famous Free Trappers 
 
 To give an adequate history of the American free- 
 trappers would require volumes rather than a few brief 
 pages, but we cannot turn from them without a fleet- 
 ing glance at a few of the most outstanding figures. We 
 have noticed some of the adventures of Colter, one of 
 the first of the free-trappers in the Rocky mountain 
 region, and have mentioned such others as Rezner, 
 Hoback and Robinson who were with Andrew Henry 
 during the first efforts to establish trade beyond the 
 western mountains. Were we to select any one man, 
 however, as typical of the class, we would choose old 
 Jim Bridger as a fair representative of all. 
 
 James Bridger, or "Old Jim Bridger" as he is best 
 known, first saw the light of day in the district of Co- 
 lumbia in 1807, a year of important happenings in the 
 early fur-trade of the far west, and while still a young 
 lad he drifted westward, following that magnetic im- 
 pulse which has ever drawn youth toward the setting 
 sun. At Saint Louis he enrolled himself in the company 
 being raised by General Ashley, and thus made his 
 debut into the fur-trade of the Rockies. 
 
 Bridger is described as being brave, kind and gen- 
 erous to a fault. Ignorant alike of book learning and the 
 conventionalities of polite society, he fitted nicely into 
 the rude surroundings in which he found himself, and
 
 256 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 he was far more at ease in the skin tepees of his indian 
 associates than he would have been in the civilized sur- 
 roundings of a settler's cabin. Like all of his kind he 
 was superstitious, rough in his speech and somewhat 
 unscrupulous in his treatment of rivals. It goes with- 
 out saying that he was fond of whiskey. We would not 
 have chosen him as typical of his class if he had not. 
 
 Bridger married a squaw and by her had half-breed 
 descendants. After the days of the fur-trade he served 
 as scout and guide to various government expeditions 
 and as guide for several expeditions, notably one head- 
 ed by Sir George Gore, which spent two years in the 
 western wilds. 
 
 An amusing anecdote is related of Bridger when 
 listening to Sir George read of some of the adventures 
 of Baron Munchausen and, of course, not being ac- 
 quainted with literary characters he knew nothing of 
 the Baron's reputation for veracity, and when Sir 
 George had finished reading the trapper remarked that 
 he "be doggoned if he swallered everything" that 
 Munchausen said, and expressed his belief that the 
 Baron was a "darned liar," but, he added that perhaps 
 some of his own exploits would sound just as unreason- 
 able. Bridger in fact had a reputation for his disregard 
 for the truth but little behind that of the Baron him- 
 self, but most of his lies were so utterly unreasonable 
 that we suspect the old fellow did not expect to be be- 
 lieved. 
 
 Bridger's travels took him into many new regions, 
 and he was the first to find his way over the pass now 
 named for him. Another of his exploits was his descent 
 of Bear river to Great Salt lake in a canoe during the 
 summer of 1824, thus being the first white man perhaps
 
 SOME FAMOUS FREE TRAPPERS 257 
 
 to look upon the waters of that great salten sea, al- 
 though this claim is questioned by some authorities. 
 
 Bridger saw and described the wonders of the Yel- 
 lowstone park region, but his story was only set down 
 as "another of Bridger's lies," and so as little attention 
 was paid to him as had been paid to Colter, who had 
 seen and likewise described the same region years be- 
 fore. Bridger finally settled down on a farm near West- 
 port and lived to a ripe old age, his last years being 
 embittered by approaching blindness. Only recently has 
 Bridger's grave been rescued from oblivion and a 
 suitable marker erected over the last resting place of the 
 man who made more real discoveries than all the so- 
 called pathfinders of the later days put together. 
 
 Jim Baker was another noted character of the old 
 west, being one of the few mountain men of those days 
 who was not a southerner. He was an able scout, trap- 
 per, and guide, and possessed all the rude characteris- 
 tics of the rough men of those days. 
 
 Uncle John Smith was another youth to whom the 
 call of the "wild and woolly west" was so strong that 
 in 1826, while yet a lad, he ran away from home and 
 went to live with the Blackfeet. Transferring his al- 
 legiance to the Sioux he lived with that tribe until his 
 heart, being won by a dark beauty of the Cheyenne 
 maidens, he went over to the Cheyennes and married the 
 girl. Smith early entered the fur-trade, and soon won the 
 respect of the savages by his just and honorable deal- 
 ings. He became a powerful personage among the Chey- 
 ennes, and compelled all Mexican traders to pay tribute 
 to him. One party who refused were stripped of all their 
 goods and sent back to the settlements. For these high- 
 handed proceedings the governor of New Mexico of-
 
 258 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 fered a reward for Smith, dead or alive, but no one 
 could be found who wished to take the chances to be 
 incurred in enforcing the order. 
 
 Another famous trapper was Bill Williams, whose 
 name is perpetuated in the chain of mountains said to 
 have been discovered by him. He had been a Metho- 
 dist minister in early life, but had drifted into the fur- 
 trade, moving from tribe to tribe and thoroughly affil- 
 iating himself with the savages and their mode of life. 
 He had a faculty for acquiring languages, and proved 
 of much benefit to the early missionaries in helping 
 them to translate the Bible into the indian tongue. In 
 spite of his early training and sacred calling, however, 
 Williams's conduct was in strange contrast to his pro- 
 fessions, for he gloried in the wild orgies that so often 
 marked the gatherings of trappers and borderers. He 
 was finally killed by the indians, a fate all too common 
 in those days. 
 
 Kit Carson was by far the greatest of all the Rocky 
 mountain men. Not only did he possess all the bravery, 
 skill and daring of Jim Bridger, but he was far more 
 cultured, intelligent and humane than any of his con- 
 temporaries - excepting perhaps the veteran explorer, 
 Jedediah S. Smith, of whose career we are already 
 familiar. 
 
 Carson was born in Kentucky, December 24, 1809. 
 His parents sought to start him in the saddler's trade at 
 the age of fifteen, but so irksome was the task that after 
 two years he deserted the saddler's bench and joined a 
 party of traders bound for far away Santa Fe. The 
 truthfulness, sobriety and pure moral character of the 
 boy was soon noted, and although his entire subsequent 
 life was spent among the rough characters and wild
 
 SOME FAMOUS FREE TRAPPERS 259 
 
 scenes of the savage west, he ever maintained his in- 
 comparable reputation. 
 
 Carson's grit was soon to be subjected to the test. One 
 of the traders had his arm accidentally shattered by a 
 rifle ball and, gangrene setting in, it was soon plain 
 that the man's life could only be saved by amputation 
 of the injured member. No one else volunteering to at- 
 tempt the surgical job, young Kit stepped forward, and 
 with butcher knife and saw promptly cut off the arm 
 and seared over the severed end with a king bolt which 
 he took from one of the wagons and heated in the camp- 
 fire for the purpose. The man recovered and Kit Car- 
 son was a hero. 
 
 Kit found New Mexico very much to his liking and 
 several times, when he had actually started back to his 
 people, he faced about and returned to that alluring 
 country. For some years he was employed as a teamster 
 and traveled over much of the southwest and even down 
 into old Mexico for long distances. In 1829, he joined 
 a party of mountain trappers and made his first venture 
 into the fur-trade. To follow him in all of his wander- 
 ings would be to visit every portion of the west. Per- 
 haps no trapper has covered so much territory as he. 
 With eighteen other trappers he crossed over the deserts 
 of the great basin to California and thence northward 
 for some distance, after which they returned to Santa 
 Fe, selling the furs that they had collected for $24,000, 
 not a small sum for so small a party to earn in one sea- 
 son's work. 
 
 Carson kept continually on the move. We hear of 
 him on Green river, the Platte, the Salmon, the Arkan- 
 sas, the Yellowstone and the Missouri. He was equally 
 at home on the great plains, the Arizona and Califor-
 
 260 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 nia deserts, and amid the wild fastnesses of the Rockies, 
 the Big Horns, the Black Hills and the Sierra Nevadas. 
 Many were the close shaves and hair breadth escapes 
 he experienced with grizzly bears and wounded buf- 
 falo, with indians and Mexicans, and with such small 
 things as thirst, starvation, heat, cold and fatigue thrown 
 in for good measure. 
 
 Although in nearly every expedition Carson held 
 some subordinate position, he nearly always distin- 
 guished himself in some way and came back with a 
 greater reputation than the leader. He understood in- 
 dian warfare as well as did the savages themselves, and 
 the punitive expeditions he led against them were al- 
 ways successful. 
 
 When the trapping of the beaver was no longer a 
 paying occupation, Carson took service with the Bent 
 brothers at their fort on the Arkansas, as a hunter for 
 the establishment. In 1842, he entered the service of 
 Fremont in the same capacity. This was the famous 
 South pass expedition which brought Fremont into 
 prominence, and led to his being further entrusted with 
 the business of "exploring" the west. Carson accom- 
 panied Fremont in all of his long journeys, traveling 
 over ground already familiar to him through his many 
 trapping excursions, and proving himself an invalua- 
 ble aid to the officers in many ways. 
 
 Fremont has come down to us as the great "pathfind- 
 er" and Rocky mountain explorer, but he followed the 
 guidance of Carson, and Carson was but following in 
 the footsteps of Ashley and Smith and Bridger and 
 Walker and Ogden, and a host of other trapper-explor- 
 ers to whom the west had long been an open book. 
 
 Fremont and Carson played a conspicuous part in
 
 SOME FAMOUS FREE TRAPPERS 261 
 
 the winning of California for Uncle Sam during the 
 war with Mexico, and at the close of that conflict Car- 
 son was employed by the government to pacify the in- 
 dians of the southwest. Whenever he could deal with 
 the savages peacefully he did, but when compelled to 
 fight he struck swiftly and terribly. 
 
 During the Civil war he joined the federal forces and 
 was brevetted brigadier-general. 
 
 Carson was twice married, first to an indian woman 
 and lastly to a Mexican. He was ever a loving husband 
 and a kind father. His death occurred at Fort Lyon in 
 1869. 
 
 Jim Beckwourth was of mixed French and negro 
 blood. He came west with Ashley in 1825, and soon rose 
 to prominence as a hunter, trapper, trader, scout and 
 indian fighter. Like many others of his class he married 
 a squaw and eventually arose to the position of chief of 
 the tribe. His daring and bravery are proverbial. Like 
 Bridger he seems to have had scant regard for the truth, 
 and his published biography is a mass of fiction. The 
 historian, Parkman, brands Beckwourth as "a ruffian of 
 the worst class; bloody and treacherous, without honor 
 or honesty." Carson, Lucian Maxwell, the Bent broth- 
 ers and others who were his companions and associates 
 do not agree with Parkman's harsh assertions, and testi- 
 fy to the honesty of the man. 
 
 In 1842, Beckwourth erected a trading post on the 
 upper Arkansas, where the city of Pueblo now stands, 
 and there did a thriving business, being a good mixer 
 and a natural born trader.
 
 Chapter XXV 
 French Voyageurs or Coureurs de bois
 
 French Voyageurs or Coureurs de bois 
 
 As the free-trader and free-trapper were peculiar to 
 the fur-trade within the limits of the United States, so 
 also another distinct class originated in Canada and 
 conducted operations throughout all the vast forests 
 and along the network of rivers and lakes which char- 
 acterizes that north country. This class of men were 
 known as voyageurs or coureurs de bois - hardy wood 
 rangers, skilled in the arts of hunting, trapping and 
 wilderness life, being on a par with the red indian him- 
 self in woodcraft and wilderness lore. These men were 
 mostly of mixed French and indian blood, and in them 
 the best, as well as the worst, traits of both races found 
 expression - their boisterous gaiety, love of song and of 
 fine apparel gave evidence of their Gallic ancestry, 
 while their indian blood was responsible for their fond- 
 ness for the chase, the war path and the lonely forests 
 and prairies. 
 
 With a canoe load of goods one of these men would 
 push out into the current of the great river at Montreal 
 and disappear amid the maze of forests and waters to 
 the westward, to spy out the best fur country and make 
 friends with the indian tribes enroute, perchance to 
 marry one of their women and settle down for life 
 among the savages, whose customs and manner of life 
 he was most adept in adopting as his own.
 
 266 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 For months, perhaps years, these wood rangers would 
 be absent from civilization - even the rude civilization 
 of the fur posts - but finally his feather-like canoe 
 would be observed drifting down the river to Montreal, 
 or some other headquarters of the fur-trade, piled high 
 with valuable pelts, the proceeds of which would be 
 spent in a brief season of wild revelry. On these rare 
 occasions there would be feasting, drinking, singing, 
 dancing, gambling, and the wildest excesses. A writer 
 of the times thus describes these revelries : 
 
 "You would be amazed if you saw how lewd these 
 peddlars are when they return; how they feast and 
 game, and how prodigal they are, not only in their 
 clothes, but upon their sweethearts. Such of them as are 
 married have the wisdom to retire to their own houses, 
 but the bachelors act just as an east indiaman and 
 pirates are wont to do; for they lavish, eat, drink and 
 play away as long as the goods hold out; and when these 
 are gone, they even sell their embroidery, their lace, and 
 their clothes. This done they are forced upon a new 
 voyage for subsistence." 
 
 The wild excesses and slight regard for law and 
 authority entertained by the voyageurs alarmed and dis- 
 gusted the French king and the authorities of Canada 
 to such an extent that stringent laws were enacted for 
 their restriction. Death was made the penalty for trad- 
 ing in the interior without a license, but they might just 
 as well have tried to stop the waters from flowing over 
 the rapids at Lachine as to pass laws prohibiting these 
 wild fellows from taking to the woods. Life in the 
 Canadian colony offered so little in the way of induce- 
 ment to the husbandman, the pay for all work was so 
 meager and one was subjected to all the rigors of the
 
 FRENCH VOYAGEURS OR COUREURS DE BOIS 267 
 
 rule of tyrannical civil officers, as well as of the grasp- 
 ing, jealous minions of the church. With nothing to lose 
 and everything to gain the energetic and ambitious took 
 to the woods and making friends of the savages married 
 their women and settled down in the wilds, laughing 
 at all the mandates of church and state. Allegiance to 
 both king and pope sat very lightly with them, indeed. 
 Occasionally one of them would seek out a priest, ob- 
 tain absolution for the past and then go back to his 
 forest wigwam, his squaw and his half-breed children 
 and begin the wild life all over again, but many of them 
 dispensed with the services of the priests altogether. 
 
 The missionaries detested the voyageurs because they 
 introduced so much of the evils of civilization among 
 the indians and so little of its benefits. 
 
 Especially did the fathers deplore the trade in brandy 
 which so demoralized the natives and undid so much 
 of the work of the church. One of the priests writes: 
 "Our missions are reduced to such extremity that we 
 can no longer maintain them against the infinity of 
 disorder, brutality, violence, injustice, impiety, impur- 
 ity, insolence, scorn and insult which the deplorable 
 and infamous traffic in brandy has spread universally 
 among the indians of these parts." Yet the Jesuits never 
 entirely withheld their services from the offending voy- 
 ageurs, for fear that they would break all connection 
 with the church and prevent the indians from being 
 christianized. 
 
 French officialdom, too, always with an eye open for 
 bribes or tribute money, were never over-anxious to put 
 the king's decrees into effect, and many of them are sup- 
 posed to have been financially interested in the oper- 
 ations of the voyageurs. Certain it is that they were
 
 268 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 never repressed and never interfered with to a great 
 extent. 
 
 Every class of men is sure to produce leaders, and 
 the voyageurs were no exception to the rule. Among 
 these self-made men none were braver, more enterpris- 
 ing or more successful than Daniel Greysolon DuLuth. 
 This daring leader is claimed, on pretty good authority, 
 to have been in league with Frontenac, the governor at 
 Quebec, to defraud the crown in illicit trade with the 
 indians. However unlawful DuLuth's business trans- 
 actions may have been, he certainly did New France 
 great service in exploring the regions about Lake Su- 
 perior and the upper Mississippi, and in establishing 
 posts at various points of vantage - notably one at the 
 point where Fort William was later built and another 
 on the Detroit river in 1686. 
 
 In 1687, DuLuth, with Tonti and Durantaye, both 
 skilled leaders of the wild banditry of the forests, led a 
 party of indians from the upper lakes to aid Denonville 
 in his campaign against the Iroquois. Later on he was 
 in command at Fort Frontenac and performed excellent 
 services in the troubles with the hostile savages. 
 
 Tonti, the able lieutenant of LaSalle in later years, 
 began life in the wilderness as a voyageur, and Nicolas 
 Perrot also varied his services to king and colony with 
 bits of bush ranging and voyaging on his own account. 
 
 The intermarrying of the voyageurs with the indians 
 brought forth a crop of half-breed children, who in 
 later years became the paid employees of the Hudson's 
 Bay and Northwest Fur companies; they also formed 
 no inconsiderable part of the armies with which the 
 French faced the English in the last years of French 
 rule in Canada.
 
 FRENCH VOYAGEURS OR COUREURS DE BOIS 269 
 
 Many of them crossed over into American territory 
 and became free-traders and trappers, French names 
 became common in the west, and everywhere on the 
 map one comes across rivers, lakes and mountains which 
 were either named by or for these wandering free 
 lances. Many of their little trading posts were the gen- 
 esis of a thrifty settlement, and some of our cities have 
 sprung up upon the sites of their rude stockades. 
 
 In later years in the valleys of the Saskatchewan and 
 the Red river of the north, the French half-breeds 
 formed large settlements, and became so powerful that 
 they set the laws of Canada at defiance, and British 
 troops had to be sent against them. A writer who has 
 traveled much in the northwest and has written much 
 concerning its history, describes the Red river half- 
 breeds as being "friendly and kindly in their nature, 
 usually on good terms with white travelers and indians 
 alike, though to be sure occasional attempts at horse 
 stealing by the indians resulted in a collision with those 
 people, but this was unusual." 
 
 True to their breeding these people were unsettled in 
 habit, impetuous in act and quick to resent interference 
 by the government. They depended largely upon the 
 buffalo for food and clothing, and followed in the wake 
 of the great herds much as their indian predecessors 
 had done in the years gone by. When buffalo were plen- 
 tiful they feasted royally and the camp was gay with 
 song and dance and revelry. When the buffalo failed 
 them, they starved. 
 
 The few luxuries and necessities their simple natures 
 craved were obtained from the Hudson's Bay Com- 
 pany's posts in exchange for dried buffalo meat and 
 robes. Their mode of travel while on the hunting trail
 
 27o THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 was the same as had been followed by the indians be- 
 fore them, save for the large two-wheeled carts, known 
 as "Red river carts," made entirely of wood and raw- 
 hide and with no iron or other metal in their construc- 
 tion. The wheels, which were sawed from the ends of 
 logs, turned upon an ungreased wooden axle with a 
 complaining screech which could be heard for miles. 
 
 While the bulk of these people were of French and 
 indian descent, there was a sprinkling of English and 
 Scotch blood among them, and later on American trap- 
 pers were captivated by the dark-eyed daughters of 
 this nomadic people, married them and settled down 
 to become useful citizens. 
 
 The last stand made by these peculiar people against 
 the encroachments of civilization was in 1879, when 
 the Hudson's Bay Company ceded its exclusive terri- 
 torial rights over to the Canadian government. The 
 country was thrown open to white settlers, and seeing 
 that they were sure to be overwhelmed by the inrush 
 of English settlers the Gallic-indian blood of the Red 
 river people flamed up in revolt. Louis Riel headed this 
 hopeless revolt, and when it collapsed he fled over the 
 border into Montana. 
 
 Encouraged by the clemency shown the insurgents 
 and knowing he had the sympathy of the French pop- 
 ulation in general, Riel returned in 1885, and with the 
 aid of a half-breed trader named Dumont, raised a 
 band of rebels and succeeded in beating a Canadian 
 force at Duck lake. A rebellion of the Cree indians 
 followed, and the authorities at Ottawa realized the 
 necessity of promptly quelling the insurrection at all 
 hazards. An army of four thousand volunteers under 
 Major-general Middleton marched to the scene of re-
 
 FRENCH VOYAGEURS OR COUREURS DE BOIS 271 
 
 bellion and soon restored order. Riel and several of his 
 accomplices were hanged, and his forces were scattered 
 never to unite again. 
 
 The extermination of the buffalo soon after, further 
 tended to break up the half-breed settlements. 
 
 The Canadian voyageur or coureur de bois as they 
 were called in the days of the old French regime, no 
 longer form a distinct class in Canada. Like the Amer- 
 ican freertrapper, they have played their little part in 
 the drama of the conquest of the American wilderness 
 and have stepped off the stage forever. Whatever may 
 have been their faults and however great their follies, 
 they had a peculiar niche to fill in the great drama of 
 history, and they played that part well.
 
 Chapter XXVI 
 Forts of the Fur-trade
 
 Forts of the Fur-trade 
 
 Look at any map of Canada or of the early American 
 west and you will notice it dotted with the forts and 
 trading posts of the fur-traders. The trader and trapper 
 was the pioneer of settlement as well as of discovery. 
 Even today in the far north the only sign of the white 
 man or of British authority is a small circle and the 
 magical letters H. B. C, indicating one of the posts of 
 that fur-trade empire which still reigns well nigh su- 
 preme over those desolate Arctic wastes. 
 
 Everywhere in our own land, especially the far west, 
 the advance of settlement followed in the wake of the 
 fur-trader, and the first rude cabins of the settlers were 
 invariably clustered about the walls of some fur-trade 
 post. Many of our great cities have begun their exist- 
 ence as trading posts. A history of these early trading 
 establishments would comprise the greater portion of 
 our pioneer annals. 
 
 The first fort builders in Canada were French and 
 English fur-traders. One of the most famous of these 
 early establishments was Fort Prince of Wales. It was 
 situated on a sand point which extended out into the 
 bay at the mouth of Churchill river. It was square in 
 shape, each of the four walls being three hundred yards 
 long. In three of the four bastions supplies were stored 
 and wells of water for convenience in case of a close
 
 276 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 siege, while in the fourth was a powder magazine. The 
 walls were of stone and were massive, being thirty feet 
 wide at the bottom and twenty feet at the top, and were 
 mounted with forty large cannon. In the center of the 
 court stood the strong stone house of the governor. The 
 warehouses and barracks for the men were ranked 
 along the inner walls. The garrison consisted of thirty- 
 nine men, and in addition were the officers and the 
 clerk, which made a total of over forty men in all. The 
 place was taken and destroyed by the French in 1782, 
 but was reoccupied and rebuilt soon after. 
 
 Within the walls of Fort Prince of Wales was en- 
 acted the cruel and tyrannical acts of old Governor 
 Norton. Outside its walls the old monster's gentle and 
 beautiful daughter perished from starvation and hard- 
 ships when she fled from the French conquerors, her 
 fear of the foreign soldiery being such that she chose 
 death rather than the possibility of dishonor at their 
 hands. 
 
 This fort was also the starting point for Hearne's 
 exploring expeditions, and it was one of the ironies of 
 fate that it was this good man, rather than the villian 
 Norton, who was compelled to lower his flag to the 
 French conquerors. 
 
 The first white visitors to the upper waters of the 
 Mississippi and its tributaries were French trappers 
 and traders, and their posts were the first sign of white 
 occupancy in that land. The rude stockades of LaSalle 
 and Tonti in Illinois and of Radisson at the farther- 
 most end of Lake Superior were followed by others of 
 like character. In 1772, Fort Orleans was built by the 
 French on the Missouri, on an island five miles below 
 the mouth of Grand river. There is a vague story of a
 
 FORTS OF THE FUR-TRADE 277 
 
 desperate battle with savages and of the massacre of the 
 garrison, but nothing positive is known. 
 
 Three French forts were at one time established on 
 the Osage but little is known of their history. Fort 
 Osage, or Fort Clark, was built near the mouth of the 
 Kansas, and was in use for trading or garrison purposes 
 until 1827. 
 
 The Chouteaus had forts at several places in the 
 Missouri valley, and Joseph Robidoux had an estab- 
 lishment at what is now Saint Joseph. Council Bluffs 
 and vicinity was a favorite site for trading posts, no 
 less than twenty being located here in the fifty years 
 following Lewis and Clark's great council with the 
 indians, which had given the place its name. The first 
 of these was called Bellevue and was built in 1805 ; the 
 most important was Fort Lisa, built in 181 2. Trudeau 
 had a trading post on the Missouri as early as 1796, and 
 on up the winding, muddy course of the great river 
 post after post sprang up and flourished, as did Fort 
 Pierre in Dakota, or else vanished after a brief and 
 unprofitable occupancy, leaving nothing but crumbling 
 ruins to mark their passing. 
 
 Lewis and Clark built the first American fort on the 
 Missouri, at the Mandan towns in 1804. Manuel Lisa 
 and his associate traders had a post in the Rockies early 
 in the last century. In later years Fort Benton was a 
 noted post on the upper waters of the Missouri but the 
 most famous of all was Fort Union, built by the Amer- 
 ican Fur Company in 1829. 
 
 All through the Oregon country the British traders 
 scattered their forts and trading posts after ousting the 
 Americans from Astoria. The most important of the 
 British posts was Fort Vancouver.
 
 278 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 In the valley of the Arkansas were many fur-trading 
 posts and forts. Portguese House, Fort William, or 
 Laramie, Fort Platte, Fort Lupton, Fort Saint Vrain 
 and others had a more or less prosperous existence dur- 
 ing the period beginning as far back as 1763 and ex- 
 tending on down to the Mexican war, and later. In 
 1 82 1, an attempt was made to establish a post at what 
 is now the city of Pueblo, but this was not successfully 
 accomplished until Beckwourth built his fort there in 
 1842. French and Mexican traders had forts within a 
 few miles of where later, in 1829, the Bent brothers 
 erected their famous fort, but, like many of these out- 
 posts of trade and of civilization, their history has been 
 forgotten. 
 
 Volumes might be written concerning the Bent broth- 
 ers-Charles, William, George, and Robert -of their 
 fort and its half-civilized, half-savage retinue, of the 
 many interesting events that occurred inside its walls 
 and in the region surrounding it. The Bents were the 
 first permanent white settlers in what is now Colorado, 
 coming into the country in the early '20's. All the 
 brothers married indian or Mexican women, and until 
 their deaths were respected as the most influential and 
 respectable citizens of the territory. 
 
 William Bent was the leading spirit in this family 
 of traders, and his name is associated with the affairs of 
 the fort to a much greater extent than was any of the 
 others. Charles Bent was appointed governor of New 
 Mexico by General Kearny after the latter's conquest 
 of the country. He governed wisely and well, but fell a 
 victim of assassination during the indian and Mexican 
 revolt which followed the army's departure for Cali- 
 fornia. All the Bents were noted for their upright char-
 
 Of IH£ 
 UNIVtRbili OF ILLINOIS
 
 FORTS OF THE FUR-TRADE 281 
 
 acters and their scrupulous honesty in dealing with 
 indians. 
 
 Bent's fort was long the most important American 
 post in the southwest. The author of "Doniphan's Ex- 
 pedition," printed in 1848, describes it as follows: 
 
 "Fort Bent is situated on the north bank of the Ar- 
 kansas, six hundred and fifty miles west of Fort Leaven- 
 worth, in latitude 38 2' north, and longitude 103 3' 
 west from Greenwich. The exterior walls of this fort, 
 whose figure is that of an oblong square, are fifteen feet 
 high and four feet thick. It is one hundred and eighty 
 feet long and one hundred and thirty-five feet wide, and 
 is divided into various compartments, the whole built 
 of adobes or sun dried bricks." On the top of this wall 
 cactus were thickly planted, and this effectually pre- 
 cluded the possibility of any one scaling the walls. 
 
 In addition to Bent's fort, the brothers and their part- 
 ner, Saint Vrain, built a fort, which they named Saint 
 Vrain, on the South Platte for the trade with the Sioux 
 and Northern Cheyennes, and Fort Adobe, on the 
 Canadian, to cater to the wants of the Kiowa, Co- 
 manches and Apaches. The more southern tribes did 
 their trading at Fort Bent. 
 
 Next to Fort Bent on the Arkansas, perhaps most 
 has been written concerning Fort Union on the upper 
 Missouri. Fort Union is said to have been the best built 
 fort in the entire west, being two hundred and forty by 
 two hundred and twenty feet in dimension, and sur- 
 rounded by a palisade or square of hewed timber about 
 a foot thick and twenty feet high. There were bastions 
 on the southwest and northeast corners well provided 
 with cannon. There was a double gate to insure safety 
 in case of any sudden surprise on the part of the savages
 
 282 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 and inside the enclosure were the barracks, magazines, 
 warehouses, workshops, etc. 
 
 It is said that a distillery was also in operation within 
 the walls of the fort. Work on the fort was begun by 
 Kenneth McKenzie in 1829 but not finally completed 
 until 1833. Supplies were brought up the Missouri 
 from Saint Louis, first in Mackinaw boats, fifty feet 
 long, ten feet wide on the bottom, and holding about 
 fourteen tons of merchandise, being towed the whole 
 weary way by a crew of men walking along shore and 
 pulling on ropes. In later years steamboats took the 
 place of Mackinaw boats. 
 
 Tributary posts were scattered about at advanta- 
 geous points, but Fort Union was always the great center 
 station for the American Fur Company, and here Mc- 
 Kenzie reigned like a feudal lord. He could almost say 
 with truth : 
 
 I am monarch of all I survey, 
 My will there is none to dispute. 
 
 Many noted personages visited the fort in the days of 
 McKenzie's glory. Pallisser the hunter, Catlin the art- 
 ist, Audubon the naturalist, Bodmer the painter and 
 Prince Maximilian of Weid, who has left a most valu- 
 able account of the place and what he saw there. To 
 this fort and its tributary posts came Sioux, Blackfeet, 
 Mandan and Gros Ventres, with their beaver, otter, fox, 
 marten and other valuable furs, which they exchanged 
 for tobacco, cloth, knives, blankets, axes, ornaments, and 
 other articles dear to the savage heart, not forgetting 
 alcoholic liquors which, until the government inter- 
 fered in 1834, was the chief article of barter. The strict- 
 est guard was kept at all times against surprise while
 
 FORTS OF THE FUR-TRADE 283 
 
 dealing with tribes known to be hostile or untrust- 
 worthy. 
 
 Fort Laramie, another famous post, was first a log 
 stockade and was built in 1833, by Robert Campbell, 
 and first named Fort William in honor of William 
 Sublette. Later on it was renamed Fort John and still 
 later, being sold to the American Fur Company, it was 
 rebuilt of adobe bricks and the name changed to Fort 
 Laramie. It was a trading point for Sioux and Chey- 
 ennes, and the center of frequent hostilities. In 1849, the 
 California argonauts made it one of their stopping 
 places. The United States government stationed troops 
 at the place after the fur-trade days were over. Park- 
 man visited the fort in 1846, and has left us a very in- 
 teresting account of his stay there. 
 
 Still another famous post of the early fur-trade days 
 was Fort Garry, around which has grown the great city 
 of Winnipeg. How many of the thriving city's popula- 
 tion know the history of Fort Garry? Like the present 
 inhabitants of New York, Albany and Montreal, whose 
 inception was the fur-trade and whose founders were 
 bronzed, bearded, voyageurs, traders and trappers. Fort 
 Garry was two hundred and eighty by two hundred and 
 forty feet in dimension, built of stone and well equipped 
 for defense. Several other forts were built near Winni- 
 peg, and there was some fighting in this region between 
 the Hudson's Bay men and their rivals of the North- 
 west Company. 
 
 We might go on indefinitely to tell of these early 
 posts and forts and their trader occupants, but a halt 
 must be called somewhere. Before taking a final fare- 
 well to these outposts of empire, we will glance briefly 
 at some of the aspects of life as experienced by those 
 who made their homes within their sheltering walls.
 
 Chapter XXVII 
 Life at the Fur Posts
 
 Life at the Fur Posts 
 
 Life at the fur-posts was at times almost unbearably 
 lonesome and monotonous. For months no new faces 
 were to be seen, the same scenes, the same ceaseless, 
 changeless round of duty stared one in the face day 
 after day without variation or change. No wonder the 
 arrival of a stranger was hailed with so much pleasure; 
 no wonder the men indulged in such wild excesses at 
 times. At such times the neighborhood of the forts 
 would be lively enough - sometimes uncomfortably so. 
 
 As most of the trappers and wilderness wanderers 
 were rude and unlettered they were denied the pleasure 
 of reading, the solitary man's consolation, even if read- 
 ing matter were to be had, but, here and there, were to 
 be found men of culture and refinement who were ac- 
 quainted with the best of literature, and some even had 
 accumulated a library. Some were interested in natural 
 history, ornithology, geology, ethnology and kindred 
 subjects, and for them the forests, plains and mountains, 
 the wild animals, the birds and the native indian tribes 
 offered never ending subjects of interest and study. 
 
 Amusements were few, dancing and card playing 
 being the principal pastimes indulged in. There was a 
 billiard table at Bent's fort which had been brought all 
 the long way from Saint Louis. When "flush," the 
 trapper was an inveterate gambler, and frequently 
 spent the proceeds of a whole year's work in one night's
 
 288 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 revelry. The indian, too, was addicted to the baleful 
 influence of games of chance, and it was not uncommon 
 for them to lose all their possessions, including their 
 favorite horses, and even their wives. 
 
 Few white women found their way into the remote 
 regions, and in consequence English, Scotch and Amer- 
 ican traders followed the example of their French 
 predecessors and sought wives and sweethearts in the 
 indian villages where they traded. In the far southwest 
 they succumbed to the graces and wiles of the dark-eyed 
 senoritas of the Mexican settlements and, in conse- 
 quence of these promiscuous marriages, the early native 
 born westerners were of very mixed blood. 
 
 The food served at the fur-posts consisted largely of 
 flesh, buffalo meat and venison, and in the far north 
 rabbit, beaver and sometimes musquash. Of course a 
 large quantity of bacon and biscuits were consumed, 
 while many of the forts had gardens where, in season, 
 fresh vegetables were produced, but, meat was at all 
 times the staple diet. A favorite article of food to be 
 carried on long journeys was pemmican, the pounded 
 marrow and flesh of the buffalo, mixed with wild ber- 
 ries and dried in skin bags weighing something like 
 sixty pounds per bag. This pemmican was considered 
 the most wholesome food obtainable, having the addi- 
 tional virtue of keeping well and taking up so little 
 room in one's pack. On the Canadian frontier dried 
 fish often took the place of dried buffalo meat. 
 
 As was the case with the indians, so also the trapper's 
 fare was usually either a "feast or a famine;" in times 
 of plenty he feasted royally, and no one was more hos- 
 pitable or liberal than he; in the lean times he starved 
 uncomplainingly.
 
 LIFE AT THE FUR POSTS 289 
 
 Whisky was an ever desirable article of trade, being 
 dearly loved by indian and trapper alike. Heavy drink- 
 ing was the rule with most of the border men, and a 
 "teetotaler" was the exception. 
 
 The wildest revelries attended the ingatherings of the 
 trappers at the close of the season's work. Dancing, sing- 
 ing and gambling were the order of the day; lewd 
 squaws reaped a golden harvest; quarrels were fre- 
 quent, often ending fatally for one, perhaps both of the 
 parties concerned. Outside the walls bloody duels were 
 fought with rifle and bowie knife. Even the peace lov- 
 ing and quiet Carson was once obliged to fight a duel 
 with a braggart Frenchman and we may be assured he 
 acquitted himself well, so well, in fact, that the wound- 
 ed braggart was humbled and acknowledged himself in 
 the wrong. 
 
 The liquor traffic had caused much evil among the 
 indians of the Saint Lawrence and the Great Lakes 
 regions, and had given the Jesuits much concern. The 
 Hudson's Bay Company had sought to curb its use, for 
 the factors realized that a drunken indian was a poor 
 hunter, but among the American free-traders it was 
 ever the chief stock of trade, and while the American 
 law of 1834, caused the American Fur Company to 
 restrict its sale, the independent traders laughed at the 
 law and continued the trade. The following descrip- 
 tion of one of the drunken orgies indulged in by the 
 indians and trappers of those days is from an account 
 of an eye witness to the scenes described : 
 
 "The night of our arrival at Fort Platte was the 
 signal for a grand jollification by all hands, with two or 
 three exceptions, who soon got most gloriously drunk, 
 and such an illustration of the beauties of harmony as
 
 29Q THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 was then presented would have rivalled Bedlam itself, 
 or even the famous council chamber beyond the Styx. 
 
 "Yelling, screeching, firing, fighting, swearing, 
 drinking, and such like interesting performances were 
 kept up without intermission. . . 
 
 "The scene was prolonged 'till sundown the next 
 day, and several made their egress from this beastly 
 carousal minus shirts and coats, with swollen eyes, 
 bloody noses, and empty pockets - the latter circum- 
 stances will be understood upon the mere mention of 
 the fact that liquor was sold at four dollars a pint!" 
 
 A more interesting and a more satisfying account is 
 given by Parkman of the domestic affairs at Fort Lara- 
 mie, but even this milder portrayal would hardly tempt 
 a woman of education and refinement to become a per- 
 manent inmate of a western fur-post. Parkman has left 
 us a rather cheerless account of his visit to the Pueblo 
 Fort in 1846: 
 
 "A few squaws and Spanish women, and a few Mex- 
 icans, as mean and miserable as the place itself, were 
 lazily sauntering about. Richard conducted us to the 
 state apartment of the Pueblo. A small mud room, very 
 neatly furnished, considering the material, and garn- 
 ished with a crucifix, a looking glass, a picture of the 
 Virgin, and a rusty horse pistol. There were no chairs, 
 but instead of them a number of chests and boxes 
 ranged about the room. There was another room be- 
 yond, less sumptuously decorated, and here three or 
 four Spanish girls, one of them very pretty, were bak- 
 ing cakes at a mud fireplace in the corner. They brought 
 out a poncho, which they spread upon the floor by way 
 of table cloth. A supper which seemed to us luxurious 
 was soon laid out upon it, and folded buffalo robes were
 
 LIFE AT THE FUR POSTS 291 
 
 placed around it to receive the guests. Two or three 
 Americans besides ourselves were present." 
 
 At Bent's fort liquor was sold at first, but was discon- 
 tinued when its evil effects became apparent, and in 
 consequence no such wild scenes were enacted as at 
 some of the other posts. The Bents were gentlemen, and 
 the place was conducted in a more systematic and or- 
 derly manner than was often the case elsewhere. 
 
 The commanders of some of the larger forts some- 
 time lived in regal style. In Canada they often traveled 
 in state with a retinue of gaily appareled servants. At 
 Fort Prince of Wales Governor Moses Norton reigned 
 like an Oriental despot. He was of indian blood, and 
 his nine years' course of study in England had embod- 
 ied in him all the vices, but few, if any of the virtues of 
 either the red or the white races. He dressed like an 
 indian but attempted to imitate the rule of an Euro- 
 pean prince. Frightful crimes are laid to his door. 
 Poison was his chief method of ridding himself of 
 indians who had incurred his displeasure, while he 
 vented his spleen against his white subordinates with 
 branding iron and whipping post. He maintained a 
 large harem of beautiful indian girls, of whom he was 
 insanely jealous. Attacked at last by a serious illness he 
 had his wives assembled for a last farewell. One of the 
 women began to sob bitterly and an officer present 
 sought to comfort her in her grief. The dying tyrant 
 was furious in an instant and threatened to burn the 
 officer at the stake. He died a few moments later, curs- 
 ing and fuming to the last. 
 
 Kenneth McKenzie also figures in a little affair of 
 jealousy. A free-trapper had drifted into Fort Union 
 with a canoe load of beaver pelts, which he sold and
 
 292 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 at once proceeded to deck himself out in all the finery 
 procurable at the post. No doubt he was a good looking 
 fellow and as he swaggered about, spending money with 
 lavish hand, he came under the observation of McKen- 
 zie's young indian wife. Both parties were very favor- 
 ably impressed with each other and the affair seems to 
 have gone beyond the stage of silent admiration, for the 
 trapper was finally seen running toward the gate at full 
 speed, with the irate commander at his heels flourishing 
 a club. The trapper was not disposed to forgive the 
 commander for his rude expulsion and he loitered 
 about with his rifle, seeking an opportunity to shoot 
 McKenzie, and the latter was obliged to have one of 
 his men shoot the fellow in order to save his own life. 
 The trapper was wounded, carried into the fort and 
 treated kindly until his wound was healed, after which 
 he was bundled out of the country. 
 
 Marriage ceremonies in those days were of the most 
 simple nature. If the bride were an indian the trapper 
 would present the bride's father with a few horses or 
 other articles of value to the indian, and that was about 
 all there was to the ceremony. In the southwest the 
 Mexican girls were more particular and required the 
 services of a catholic priest. Funeral services were of an 
 equally simple nature. 
 
 As the country began to settle up most of the trap- 
 pers and traders sought to do the right thing for their 
 children and sent them away to school, but they them- 
 selves continued to retreat before the advancing civili- 
 zation and ended their days in some remote mountain 
 valley, unnoticed and unremembered. 
 
 The fur-posts were one by one abandoned and fell 
 rapidly into decay. Many were taken over and garri-
 
 LIFE AT THE FUR POSTS 293 
 
 soned by the United States army and thus took on a 
 new lease of life. An effort should be made, before it is 
 too late, to suitably mark the sites of those old land- 
 marks - those early outposts of our civilization. The 
 memory of these old posts and of the brave men who 
 built and lived in them is just as worthy of remem- 
 brance as are our battlefields which we are so careful 
 to mark and set aside as national parks. The tattered 
 buckskin of those conquerors of the wilderness is every 
 bit as honorable a uniform as is the gold braid, epau- 
 lets, and other trappings of our organized soldiers of 
 later days.
 
 Chapter XXVIII 
 Later Days
 
 Later Days 
 
 The fur-trade saw its best days before the middle of 
 the thirties. As one author says: "After 1834 it was no 
 longer profitable to trap the beaver." From that date 
 onward the fur-trade continued to decline in magni- 
 tude and importance. By the time of the war against 
 Mexico, the west was also an explored country, and all 
 that was required afterward was the working out of the 
 details. 
 
 The fur-trade and the exploration of America went 
 hand in hand; the trapper and the trader were the dis- 
 coverers and explorers of all our vast country back 
 from the narrow fringe of sea coast on both sides of the 
 continent. A few seekers after golden cities or mines of 
 precious stones, like Narvaez, DeVaca, Coronado and 
 DeSoto, a few government equipped expeditions such 
 as led by Lewis and Clark, and Pike, and Long, being 
 the exception to the general rule. 
 
 Fremont, one of the best known of the later so-called 
 pathfinders, traveled over country, every mile of which 
 had already been traveled over by some wandering free 
 lance of the fur-trade. It was Radisson, Groseilliers, 
 Brule, DuLuth, and others of their stamp who made 
 known the secrets of the Great Lakes, the upper Mis- 
 sissippi and the plains of the northwest; it was Veren- 
 drye, the trader, whose eyes first beheld the Rockies;
 
 298 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 it was Mackenzie, Fraser, Hearne, Henry, Ogden, 
 Smith, Ashley, Bridger, Walker, Thompson and others 
 like them that first traversed and made known the 
 secrets of the interior regions of the vast continent. 
 Even Lewis and Clark, those incomparable explorers, 
 traveled in the wake of the fur hunter until beyond the 
 rocky defiles of the "Shining Stonies." It was Samuel 
 Hearne who first crossed overland to Arctic shores; it 
 was Alexander Mackenzie who first pierced the moun- 
 tain barriers which had turned Verendrye back and 
 passed on to the blue waters of the Pacific. It was the 
 fur-trader, Jedediah S. Smith, who first crossed the 
 central part of the continent and on to the western 
 ocean by way of Great Salt lake, the Nevada deserts 
 and the Sierra Nevadas. Fremont did much valuable 
 work in making the public familiar with the great 
 west, but it was his able and ready pen which accom- 
 plished this, his actual travels being all over known 
 territory. 
 
 It was the fur-trade that established Montreal far 
 up the Saint Lawrence, and our own great metropolis 
 of Gotham was first a trading post, the site of which 
 was purchased for a few strings of cheap beads. Al- 
 bany, Detroit, Saint Louis all had their inception in the 
 fur-trade, and the same may be said of many other 
 cities of less importance. Radisson's post near the head 
 of Lake Superior and Verendrye's stations on the Sas- 
 katchewan and elsewhere were the first establishments 
 of the white man in the far northwest. Andrew Henry's 
 tragic experiences at fort building in the Rocky moun- 
 tain region was the first American enterprise of that 
 character in the far west. Bent's fort on the Arkansas 
 was the first white settlement of what is now Colorado.
 
 LATER DAYS 299 
 
 Garces and other Spaniards had explored the desert 
 regions of the far southwest and Franciscan mission- 
 aries had been the first to settle California but the fur- 
 trader Gray had first found the Columbia, while As- 
 tor's fur-traders had followed and flung the "Stars and 
 Stripes" to the breeze in the land "where rolls the 
 Oregon" before any rival had penetrated into that 
 region. Farther northward, at Nootka, the English- 
 man, Meares, had raised the British flag over his rude 
 trading post, and still farther northward Russian trad- 
 ers and sea otter hunters had won Alaska for the czar. 
 
 American historians have never seemed to fully real- 
 ize the tremendous importance the fur-trade has had on 
 the early history of the country, nor the debt America 
 and Canada owes those bold, rugged adventurers who 
 paved the way for the westward march of civilization. 
 
 To attempt to give in figures the extent and value of 
 all this early trade would be impossible, as only a small 
 part of the figures are obtainable, but the totals would 
 be enormous. 
 
 After the beaver had been pretty well thinned out 
 and it became no longer profitable to trap for them, the 
 fur-trade began to languish in the American west, al- 
 though it still continued in the frozen, snow bound for- 
 ests of northern Canada. The old trappers turned to 
 other occupations, such as guiding military forces and 
 emigrant trains, hunting for army posts, etc. When the 
 demand came for buffalo robes there was a fearful ex- 
 termination of those animals, first for their hides and 
 then for their bones. For unknown centuries the indian 
 had looked to the buffalo for all the necessities of life; 
 their flesh was nourishing and there was a never failing 
 supply of meat at all times; the rude weapons of the
 
 3 oo THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 plains indians, their bows, arrows and spears, enabled 
 them to make great killings, and at times they adopted 
 the expedient of driving the herds over precipices or 
 into pounds and pitfalls where great numbers were 
 slaughtered. 
 
 With the coming of the white man, with swift horses 
 and accurate shooting firearms, the slaughter of the 
 buffalo was greatly augmented, and when a goodly 
 price was offered for the animals' hide and bones the 
 grassy prairies became a shambles. The buffalo were 
 killed in numbers which surpassed all records of 
 slaughter. Colonel Inman and others who were in the 
 west in the period preceding and following the great 
 slaughter have collected data which staggers the imag- 
 ination. The slaughter was greatest during the late 
 seventies and by 1883 the buffalo were practically ex- 
 terminated. Inman estimates that in Kansas alone 
 31,000,000 buffalo carcasses were purchased by various 
 manufacturing concerns in Saint Louis and elsewhere, 
 and that the price paid for same amounted to $2,500,- 
 000. Estimates have placed the value of the beef and 
 hides during the period of active slaughter at from 
 $15,000,000 to $20,000,000. 
 
 The only consolation we can get out of the story of 
 this ruthless destruction of the buffalo is in the fact that 
 it was a death blow to the hard-riding, hard-fighting 
 Sioux, Cheyennes and other buffalo eating tribes. Their 
 meat supply, cut off, at one fell swoop as it were, they 
 were forced to give up their roving habits and become 
 reservation indians. There were yet to be occasional out- 
 breaks and bloody fighting, but the long protracted 
 indian wars were a thing of the past. 
 
 With the passing of the buffalo the wild indian went
 
 LATER DAYS 301 
 
 also, and his place was taken by prosaic farmers and 
 stock raisers of another race. Farms and ranches now 
 flourish in the river valleys once dotted with the herd 
 of game and the skin tepees of the savages; cities occupy 
 the sites of the old trading posts; the trapper as a class 
 has now disappeared and henceforth will be only a 
 memory; "the wild and woolly west" is of the past 
 tense. 
 
 Only in the cold forests and barren grounds of north- 
 ern Canada does the fur-trade continue as an organized 
 business. The Hudson's Bay Company still lingers in 
 wild and isolated sections of the great empire over 
 which it once ruled supreme, and life within the walls 
 of its scattered stations is now prosaic enough. The glor- 
 ious epic of the American fur-trade has passed into his- 
 tory, leaving a continent explored, settled and civilized 
 in its wake.
 
 Index
 
 Index 
 
 Abanel, Charles: on Hudson's Bay, 
 
 9i 
 Acadia: named, 20, 109 
 Adirondack mountains: 28 
 Adventure, The: built, 145 
 Agriculture: 22, English promote, 40 
 Alaska: fur-trade in, 142; ruled by 
 
 Baranoff, 148; 172; Hunt sails to, 
 
 180 
 Albany (N. Y.) : important fur-trade 
 
 station, 39 ; 298 
 Algonquin indians: seek protection 
 
 of Quebec, 24; ally with French, 
 
 32; battle with Iroquois, 50 
 Allegheny river: 60 
 Allen [Ethan] : 61 
 Allouez, Father [Claude Jean] : 67 
 American Fur Company: founded by 
 
 Astor, 171, 189; competes with 
 
 Rocky Mountain Company, 237, 
 
 241, 282 
 Andastes indians: 33 
 Anticosti: 17 
 
 Appalachian mountains: 59 
 Arikara indians: 201 
 Arikara river: 157 
 Arizona: 259 
 Arkansas river: 58, 61, 78, 83, 166, 
 
 238 
 Arnold, Benedict: 61 
 Ashley, William: 196; with Henry, 
 
 201 ; explorations, 215; rendezvous 
 
 plan, 247; 298 
 Assiniboine river: fur-post on, 103; 
 
 104, 123 
 Astor, John Jacob: 171-182, 185, 188; 
 
 instrumental in abolishing govern- 
 ment trade, 190; 194, 207; monoply 
 
 of trade, 245 
 
 Audubon [John James] : naturalist, 
 282 
 
 Baffin land: explored by Button, 89 
 
 Baird, — : Jesuit priest, 23 
 
 Baker, Jim: scout, 257 
 
 Balboa [Vasco Nunez de] : mention- 
 ed, 136 
 
 Baranoff, Alexander: 147; death, 148 
 
 Bayley, Charles: governor of Hud- 
 son's Bay Co., 91 
 
 Bear river: 185, 194 
 
 Beaujeu, Capt. — : French naval 
 force under, 81, no 
 
 Beaver skins; burned to create scar- 
 city 47 ; value, 112 
 
 Beaver, The: Astor's supply ships, 
 180 
 
 Becknell, Capt. — : 167 
 
 Beckwourth, Jim: 156, 157; married 
 indian woman, 228; noted free- 
 trappers, 247, 261 
 
 Bent brothers: 228, first settlers in 
 Colorado, 278 
 
 Bering, Vitus: mentioned, 142 
 
 Biddle, Capt. — : sent to repossess 
 Oregon country, 188 
 
 Big game: buffalo, 58, 82; LaSalle 
 feasts on, 70; elk and sheep, 105; 
 caribou, 114; grizzly bear, 154; 
 abundant on Yellowstone, 237; 
 value of buffalo, 300 
 
 Big Horn river: Lisa builds fort at, 
 157, 236 
 
 Big White: Mandan chief, 164 
 
 Blackfeet indians: hostile to whites, 
 158; 195, 200, 236, 240; cruelty, 250 
 
 Black Hills (S. Dak.): 105, 226, 260 
 
 Block, Adrien: Dutch navigator, 39
 
 306 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Blue Earth river: ioo 
 Bodmer [Karl]: painter, 282 
 Bonneville, Capt. Benjamin: 216; 
 
 travels, 225-231 
 Boone, Daniel: mentioned, 59 
 Bourbon, — : 89 
 Bourgmont, — : builds fort on Grand 
 
 river, 101 
 Bow indians: 105 
 Bowman, J : 155 
 Bridger, Jim: 156, 157; on Great 
 
 Salt lake, 196; with Henry, 202; 
 
 with Sublette and Fitzpatrick, 221, 
 
 241 ; described, 255-257, 298 
 Broughton, Lieut. — : 147 
 Brule, Etienne: tortured by Iroquois, 
 
 33; 42, 59, 297 
 Buffalo: see Big Game 
 Burgoyne [John] : mentioned, 61 
 Burnt river: 196 
 Burr, Aaron: conspiracy, 162-163 
 Button, Thomas: explorer, 89 
 
 California: 104, 147, 193; McKay 
 in, 199; Smith's expeditions, 215- 
 222, 230, 259, 261, 299 
 
 Calumet river: 60 
 
 Cameron, Duncan: 208 
 
 Campbell, Robert: mentioned, 235 
 
 Canada: 13, 17, 23-24; protestants 
 denied, 34; catholics permitted to 
 enter, 34 ; mistaken policy of 
 France, 40; many crooked officials, 
 42; La Salle, 65; 69, 75, 77, 78; 
 colonization hampered by French, 
 no; 120; surrendered to England, 
 151 ; 210, 245 
 
 Canceau: Pontgrave captures fur- 
 traders, 20 
 
 Carheil, Father [Etienne de]: de- 
 nounces liquor, 124 
 
 Carson, Kit: married indian woman, 
 228; described, 258-259 
 
 Cartier [Jacques]: 18 
 
 Cartwright, Sir George: trading post 
 on Hudson's Bay, 90 
 
 Carver [John]: 152 
 
 Catholics: permitted to enter Canada, 
 34; no 
 
 Catlin [George] : 282 
 
 Cerre, M. S: 226 
 
 Champlain, Samuel de: 19; under 
 De Monts, 20; winter quarters, 21 ; 
 at Quebec, 23-24; seeks relief for 
 Quebec, 27; 28, 29; fur-trade posi- 
 tion, 30; and N. Vignau, 31; wel- 
 comes religious men, 32; retreat 
 before Iroquois, 33; retires 34; 37, 
 39, 59, 60 
 
 Chanderie river: 61 
 
 Chautauqua river: 60 
 
 Chauvin, Capt. — : at Tadoussac, 19 
 
 Chicago river: 59 
 
 Chickasaw Bluffs: LaSalle builds 
 fort at, 78 
 
 China (Canton) ; fur market, 143 
 
 Chinese: indians mistaken for, 42 
 
 Chouteau, Auguste: 167 
 
 Chouteau brothers: 157; organize 
 Missouri Fur Company, 158; 277 
 
 Churchill river: mouth discovered by 
 Munck, 89 ; 275 
 
 Clark, Captain William: 125, 152; 
 with Lewis on exploring tour, 153- 
 158; 193, 215, 250, 297 
 
 Colorado river: 219, 298 
 
 Colter John: leaves command of 
 Lewis and Clark, 156; discovers 
 geyser regions of Yellowstone, 157; 
 experience with Blackfeet, 250-251 ; 
 
 255 
 Columbia river: Thompson first to 
 
 explore upper, 123; found and 
 
 named, 146; 155, 172, 175, 185, 193 
 Columbia, The: 143; first American 
 
 ship to circumnavigate globe, 145 
 Columbus, Christopher: mentioned, 99 
 Comanche indians: 222 
 Comcomly, Chief: McDougal weds 
 daughter of, 178; 181 
 Company of the North: organized, 91 
 Connecticut river: 39
 
 INDEX 
 
 307 
 
 Cook [James]: mentioned, 134; dis- 
 covers Hawaiian islands, 142-143 
 
 Coppermine river: expedition to find, 
 112 
 
 Coronado [Francisco Vasques de] : 
 mentioned, 99 ; 297 
 
 Corstianesen, Hendrick: Dutch navi- 
 gator, 39 
 
 Cortez [Hernando]: mentioned, 99 
 
 Council Bluffs (Iowa) : 153, 277 
 
 Coureurs de bois: described, 41; 43; 
 homes along St. Lawrence, 59 ; 
 no; criticized, 124; 265-271 
 
 Cree indians: in starving condition, 
 89 ; 270 
 
 Crooks, Ramsay: 180, 189 
 
 Crow indians: 157, 227 
 
 Custer [George A.] : mentioned, 201 
 
 Cuyahoga river: 60 
 
 Dale, H. C: 199 
 
 Dead river: 61 
 
 DeChaste, — : 19; Champlain learns 
 
 of death of, 20 
 DeLeon, — : mentioned, 99 
 Denonville [Jacques Rene de Bre- 
 
 say] : 268 
 Deschutes river: 196 
 DeSoto [Hernando] : 49, 67, 99, 297 
 Des Plaines river: 60 
 Detroit river: 66, 70, 75, 268 
 DeVaca [Cabeza] : mentioned, 297 
 Diskeau, — : 61 
 
 Dogs: used to transport furs, 211 
 Dolbeau, — : missionary to Montag- 
 
 nais, 32 
 Dollard, Adam: Heroic battle to save 
 
 Montreal, 50-51 
 Drake, Sir Francis: mentioned, 136 
 Drips [Andrew] : of American Fur 
 
 Company, 241 
 DuLuth, Daniel Greysolon: 78, 99, 
 
 268, 297 
 Durantaye, — : 268 
 Dutch West India Company: form- 
 ed, 39 
 
 Du Tisne, — : mentioned, 101 
 
 Elk: see Big Game 
 Erie river: 60 
 
 Eskimo: village massacred by 
 Hearne's indians, 115 
 
 Fitzpatrick, Thomas: first user of 
 South pass, 185; associated with 
 Henry, 202 ; in business with Sub- 
 lette and Bridger, 221, 241 
 
 Florida: 101 
 
 Floyd, Sergt. Charles: death, 153 
 
 Fontenelle, Mr. — : rivalry between 
 and Bonneville, 226, 227 
 
 Fort Adobe: 281 
 
 Fort Albany: 91 ; besieged by Can- 
 adians, 92 
 
 Fort Astoria: 175; renamed Fort 
 George, 181; fall of, 181, 182, 185 
 
 Fort Atkinson: 201 
 
 Fort Bellevue: 277 
 
 Fort Bent: described, 281 
 
 Fort Benton: 277 
 
 Fort Boise: established, 193 
 
 Fort Bourbon: established, 103 
 
 Fort Caldwell: 221 
 
 Fort Cass: 236 
 
 Fort Chippewau: 129, 133, 134; life 
 at, 137 
 
 Fort Clatsop : erected by Lewis and 
 Clark, 156 
 
 Fort Coleville: established, 193 
 
 Fort Cowlitz: established, 193 
 
 Fort Crevecoeur: LaSalle builds, 71; 
 burned, 76; 77 
 
 Fort Dauphin: established, 103 
 
 Fort Disappointment: established, 193 
 
 Fort Douglass: 208; taken, 209 
 
 Fort Flathead: established, 193 
 
 Fort Frontenac: built by LaSalle, 67; 
 described, 68; 76; seized, 80 
 
 Fort Garry [Winnipeg] : 208 ; de- 
 scribed, 283 
 
 Fort George: 193; see also Fort As- 
 toria
 
 308 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Fort Gibraltar: burned, 208 
 
 Fort Hall: Wyeth builds, 238 
 
 Fort Hayes: 91; captured by Can- 
 adians, 92 
 
 Fort Kiowa: 252 
 
 Fort Kootenai: established, 193 
 
 Fort LaReine: established, 103; 104, 
 105 
 
 Fort Lisa: 277 
 
 Fort Lupton: 278 
 
 Fort Maurepas: established, 103 
 
 Fort Nelson [York Factory] : 91 ; 
 principal English post, 96 
 
 Fort Nisqualli: established, 193 
 
 Fort Oakanagan: established, 193 
 
 Fort Orleans: 276 
 
 Fort Osage [Clark] : 277 
 
 Fort Pierre: 277 
 
 Fort Platte: 278 
 
 Fort Prud'homme: built, 78 
 
 Fort Prince of Whales: 96, 112, 114, 
 115; described, 275-276; 291 
 
 Fort Rupert: 91; captured by Can- 
 adians, 92 
 
 Fort Saint Charles: established, 103 
 
 Fort Saint Louis: built, 80 
 
 Fort Saint Pierre: erected by Veren- 
 drye, 103 
 
 Fort Saint Vrain: 278 
 
 Fort Ticonderoga: 28 
 
 Fort Umpqua: established, 193 
 
 Fort Union: headquarters of K. Mc- 
 Kenzie, 189, 190, 237, 277; de- 
 scribed, 281-282; 291 
 
 Fort Vancouver: established, 193; 
 220, 236, 277 
 
 Fort Walla Walla: established, 193 
 
 Fort William [Laramie, John]: 60; 
 center of social activity, 121 ; 122, 
 130; Northwest company's head- 
 quarters, 187; surrender of, 209; 
 268, 278; described, 283 
 
 Fox [Luke]: mentioned, 89 
 
 Fox river: 58, 59 
 
 Fraser, Simon: mentioned, 122; to 
 Pacific ocean, 125 ; 298 
 
 Frazer river: 135 
 
 Fremont, John C: 186, 216; path- 
 finder, 297 
 
 French revolution: 152 
 
 French river: 59 
 
 Frobrishers: associated with North- 
 west Company, 121 
 
 Frontenac, Count [Louis de Buade 
 de] : French governor, 58, 65 ; en- 
 courages LaSalle, 67, 69, 80, 268 
 
 Fuca, Juan de: mentioned, 145 
 
 Fund ay, Bay of: 20 
 
 Fur-trade: 13; beginnings of, 17-24; 
 Montreal, early site of, 30; rival- 
 ry °f» 37"43 I France, as early lead- 
 er in, 37; no records of, kept, 38; 
 growth of English, 47; 50; Radis- 
 son and Groseilliers open new re- 
 gion to, 51 ; daily routine at posts 
 of, 53 ; Canada's source of wealth, 
 69; 87; supremacy of, 109; on 
 Pacific coast, 141-148; perpetuates 
 Santa Fe trail, 168; John Jacob 
 Astor and, 171-182 ; in Oregon, 193- 
 203 ; War, 208-209 ! later days of, 
 297-301 
 
 Gates [Horatio] : mentioned, 61 
 
 Ghent: terms of peace of, 188 
 
 Gillem, Zachariah: sea captain offers 
 ship for Hudson's Bay voyage, 90 
 
 Glass, Hugh: with Henry and Ash- 
 ley, 202; desertion of, 251 
 
 Gore, Sir George: mentioned, 256 
 
 Grand river: 101, 276 
 
 Grant, Cuthbert: 208, 209 
 
 Gray, Robert: 143; meets Meares at 
 Nootka, 144 ; first American to cir- 
 cumnavigate globe, 145 ; 193, 299 
 
 Great Salt Lake: 195, 196, 202, 203, 
 215, 218, 228, 256 
 
 Green Bay (Wis.): 42; Radisson 
 and Groseilliers winter at, 48; 77 
 
 Greenbriar river: 61 
 
 Green mountains: 28 
 
 Green river: 185, 226, 235
 
 INDEX 
 
 309 
 
 Griffin, The: first vessel built on up- 
 per lakes, 69, 70; 71, 75 ; wrecked, 
 
 75 
 Grinnell, Geo. Bird: mentioned, 14 
 Groseilliers, Medard Chouart: 47-53; 
 disobeys civil and religious au- 
 thority, 52; 57, 66, 87; starts with 
 Radisson for Hudson's Bay, 88; 
 imprisoned, 89; deserts to English, 
 90; establishes trading posts on 
 Hudson's Bay, 91 ; retires from 
 fur trade, 92; 120, 216, 245, 297 
 Gros Ventres river: forts built along, 
 158 
 
 Harding, A.R: 14 
 
 Hawaiian islands: discovered, 143; 
 
 145 
 
 Hearne, Samuel: 109-116; sets out 
 to find Coppermine river, 112; first 
 white man to reach Artie over- 
 land, 115; succeeds Norton as gov- 
 ernor, 115; surrenders to La 
 Perouse, 115; 119, 120, 298 
 
 Hecla, — : 145 
 
 Hennepin, Father — : joins LaSalle, 
 69; LaSalle sends, to explore Illi- 
 nois river, 77; publishes inaccurate 
 account of his exploits, 78 ; 99 
 
 Henry, Alexander the younger: 122; 
 journal of, 123; 181; drowned, 181 
 
 Henry, Andrew: builds first Amer- 
 ican trading post west of Rockies, 
 x 58; 179, 193; first to engage in 
 Rocky mountain trade, 200, 201, 
 202, 298 
 
 Henry iv, of Navarre: victor of Ivry, 
 19; assassinated, 29 
 
 Henrys, — : associated with North- 
 west Company, 121 
 
 Hoback [John]: trapper, 179; 255 
 
 Hochelaga (Canada) : early indian 
 town, 19 
 
 Holland: interest of, in fur-trade, 39 
 
 Horse indians: 105 
 
 Horses: significance of use of, 124; 
 
 appearance of among indians, 165 ; 
 traders subsist on meat of, 187; as 
 means of fur transportation, 194 
 Hough, Emerson: work cited, 221 
 Howe [Gen. Wm.] : mentioned, 61 
 Hudson, Henry: 29, 38, 87, 99 
 Hudson river: 39, 40, 61 
 Hudson's Bay: no overland route to, 
 87; questioned arrival of Radisson 
 and Groseilliers at, 89; explorers 
 of, 89; 90; supremacy in fur-trade 
 of, 109; last triumph of French on, 
 
 "5 
 
 Hudson's Bay Company: 37, 87-96; 
 organized, 91 ; masters of fur 
 trade, in; 119; efforts to abolish 
 liquor, 125; 171, 194; unites with 
 Northwest Company, 195; 207-212; 
 massacre of men of, 209 ; 245 ; 
 cedes territorial rights to Canada, 
 270, 301 
 
 Humboldt river: 229 
 
 Hunt, Wilson Price: associated with 
 Astor, 172; 179, 185 
 
 Huron indians: 32, Champlain visits, 
 33'» 50 > destruction of causes fur- 
 trade loss, 87 
 
 Iberville, Pierre Ie Moyne d': 92; 
 attacks and defeats English on 
 Hudson's Bay, 95-96; 100, 120 
 
 Iberville, Serigny d': 95 
 
 Idaho: 123, 185, 194, 195 
 
 Illinois indians: 77 
 
 Illinois river: 59, 66, 71, 75, 79, 83 
 
 Immell [Michael]: 201 
 
 Independence (Mo.) : 235 
 
 Indiana: 60 
 
 Indians: trade with, 17; cruelty of 
 the traders to, 23 ; seek protection, 
 24; word of, not reliable, 28; in- 
 termarriage of early adventurers 
 with, 31; at trading post fair, 42; 
 first to locate portage paths, 59 ; 
 rout Spanish invaders, 101 ; steal 
 survey instruments, 114; effect of
 
 3io 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 liquor on, 124-125 ; Mackenzie 
 makes peace with, 135; attack The 
 Tonquin and crew, 177-178; see 
 various tribes. 
 
 Inman, Col. [Henry] : estimates on 
 buffalo trade, 300 
 
 Iroquois indians: hostility of, 24, 27; 
 defeated by Champlain's allies, 28, 
 30; surprise Radisson and Groseil- 
 liers, 48; battle Algonquins, 50; 60, 
 
 68, 77, *95 
 Irving, Washington: 216, 225 
 Isaac Todd, The: 180 
 
 Jackson, David: associated with 
 Henry and Ashley, 202; partner of 
 Smith and Sublette, 217; sells out 
 business, 221, 226 
 
 James [Thomas]: 89 
 
 James river: 61 
 
 Jamestown (Va.) : 27, 34; first Eng- 
 lish settlement, 37; 38 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas: 152 
 
 Jesuits: 23; 29, 59; busy building 
 missions, 67; oppose LaSalle, 68; 
 mission at Mackinaw, 70; start for 
 Hudson's Bay, 88 ; missionaries 
 timely assistance to traders, 100; 
 no 
 
 John Day river: 196 
 
 Johnson [ Wm.] : mentioned, 61 
 
 Johnson, John: 249 
 
 Joliet [Louis]: 49; 57-62; refused 
 trade permission in regions explor- 
 ed, 58; meets LaSalle, 66 
 
 Jones [Robert] : fur trader, 201 
 
 July, The: French naval vessel, 80 
 
 Juniata river: 61 
 
 Kanawha river: 61 
 Kankakee river: 60 
 Kansas: 161 
 Kansas indians: 166 
 Kendrick, Captain John: 143 
 Kennebec river: 21, 61 
 Kentucky: 59, 66 
 
 Kirk [David]: 34 
 Kirk, Mary: marries Radisson, 90 
 Kootenai house: first fur-post on Col- 
 umbia river, 123 
 Kootenai indians: 62 
 
 Lachine rapids: 20, 30, 266 
 
 Lady Washington, The: 143; Kend- 
 rick sails for China in, 145 
 
 La Harpe [Benard de] : mentioned, 
 101 
 
 Lake Champlain: 28, 61 
 
 Lake Erie: 60, 66; LaSalle on, 70; 75 
 
 Lake George ; 61 
 
 Lake Huron: 32, 33; portage between 
 and French river, 59; 60, 66, 71, 
 121 
 
 Lake Manitoba: fur-post on, 103 
 
 Lake Michigan: 42 ; Marquette buried 
 on shores of, 58; 59, 66, 71, 75, 78 
 
 Lake Nipigon: 102 
 
 Lake Nipissing: 33; portage between 
 and Ottawa river, 59 
 
 Lake of the Woods: 60; fur-post on, 
 103 
 
 Lake Ontario: 24, 60, 65; LaSalle 
 builds fort on, 67; 76 
 
 Lake Pepin: Perrot on, 100 
 
 Lake Simcoe: 33, 60 
 
 Lake Superior: 60, 66, 78, 88, 99, 
 102, 103, 112, 121, 122, 187 
 
 Lake Winnipeg: 103, 112, 122, 187 
 
 Lake Winnipegoosis: 123 
 
 La Lande, — : 161 
 
 La Perouse [Jean Franqois de 
 Galaup] : Hearne surrenders to, 
 115 ; 119, 120 
 
 La Roche, — : granted fur-trade mon- 
 opoly, 18 
 
 LaSalle, Rene Rob't. cavalier de: 50; 
 granted trade permission refused 
 Joliet, 59 ; 65-71 ; birth, 65 ; meets 
 Joliet, 66 ; builds first vessel on 
 upper lakes, 69; 75-83; learns of 
 loss of Griffin, 75 ; ill at Prud' 
 homme, 79 ; relieved of duty on
 
 INDEX 
 
 3ii 
 
 Illinois river, 80; quarrels with 
 
 Beaujeu, 81; murdered, 82-83; 99, 
 
 106, 247 
 Leavenworth, Col. [Henry] : weak 
 
 attack on Arikara indians, 201 
 Le Caron [Joseph] : missionary to 
 
 Hurons, 32; at Lake Huron, 32; 
 
 33 
 Lemhi river: 195 
 Le Roux, — : 130 
 Lescarbot [Marc] : takes charge of 
 
 Fort Royal, 21 ; creates Ordre de 
 
 bon temps, 22 
 Le Sueur [Pierre Charles] : mention- 
 ed, 99 ; excursion of, into Sioux 
 
 country, 100 
 Lewis [Meriweather] : 125, 152; with 
 
 Clark on exploring tour, 153-158; 
 
 193, 215, 250, 297 
 Liquor Trade: evil of, 124; 246, 289 
 Lisa, Manuel: systematizes Missouri 
 
 Fur Company, 158; altercation 
 
 with Hunt, 179; leading factor in 
 
 fur-trade, 200 
 Long [Stephen H.] : mentioned, 297 
 Longfellow, H. W: Evangeline, 20 
 Louis xiv : French king, approves La- 
 
 Salle's plans, 68, 69; Louisiana 
 
 named for, 79 ; 80, 95, 102 ; loses 
 
 American possessions, no 
 Louisbourg (Nova Scotia) : returned 
 
 to France, 109 
 Louisiana: named, 79; 92, 100; 
 
 bought by U. S., 152; 161 
 Louisville (Ky.) : 66 
 
 McCracken, Mr. — : 154 
 
 McDonell, Miles: surrenders Fort 
 Douglass, 208 
 
 McDougal, Duncan: associated with 
 Astor, 172; unfriendly to Thorn, 
 x 75; loyalty questioned, 176; 
 threatened indians with smallpox, 
 178; turns Astoria over to enemies, 
 181 
 
 McGillivroys: associated with North- 
 west Company, 121 
 
 Mackay, Alexander: Mackenzie's 
 clerk, 134; associated with Astor, 
 172; killed, 177 
 
 McKay, Donald: 199 
 
 Mackenzie, Alexander: 122, 125; en- 
 ters fur-trade, 129; completes 
 journey to Arctic ocean, 133; 
 reaches Pacific, 136; Voyages from 
 Montreal to Frozen and Pacific 
 Oceans, 137; death, 137; 152, 215, 
 298 
 
 McKenzie, Donald: associated with 
 Astor, 172; 194 
 
 McKenzie, Kenneth: in Astor's em- 
 ploy, 189; 282, 291-292 
 
 Mackenzie river: 211 
 
 McKenzies: associated with North- 
 west Company, 121 
 
 Mackinaw Company: 171; bought by 
 Astor, 172, 189 
 
 Mackinaw (Mich.): Jesuit mission 
 at, 70 
 
 McLoughlin, Dr. John: policy of, 
 199, 220; forbids sale of liquor, 238 
 
 McTavish, Donald: commands The 
 Isaac Todd, 180 
 
 McTavish, John George: 181 
 
 McTavishes: associated with North- 
 west Company, 121 
 
 Maine, 21 
 
 Mallet brothers: 161 
 
 Malplaquet (France) : 102 
 
 Mandan indians: 50, 104, 105 
 
 Manhattan island (N. Y.) : 38 
 
 Marias river: 154 
 
 Marlborough, Duke of: 119 
 
 Marquette [Jacques] : unjustly cred- 
 ited with discovery of Mississippi 
 river, 49; 57-62; death of, 58; 67 
 
 Marriage ceremonies: 292 
 
 Martinez [Francisco] : 145 
 
 Massachusetts Bay: 21 
 
 Massi [Ennemond] : Jesuit priest, 23 
 
 Matagorda Bay: 81
 
 312 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Matanzas river: 17 
 
 Matonabbee: indian chief with 
 
 Hearne, 114 
 Maumee river: 60 
 Maximilian, Prince of Weid: 282 
 Maxwell, Lucian: 261 
 Meares, Captain: builds first ship on 
 
 northwest coast, 143 
 Merced river: 218, 219 
 Menendez, Pedro: 17 
 Mexico: LaSalle proposes to conquer 
 
 northern, 80; 161; pack-train orig- 
 inated in, 165 ; 215 
 Mey, Cornelius: Dutch navigator, 39 
 Michaux [Andre]: mentioned, 152 
 Michigan: 66, 70, 129 
 Michillimackinac: 41; LaSalle's furs 
 
 seized at, 76; rejoins Tonti at, 79; 
 
 124; headquarters of Mackinaw 
 
 Company, 171 
 Middleton, Maj.-gen — : 270 
 Miles [Nelson A.] : mentioned, 201 
 Miller, Mr. — : 185 
 Minnesota: 123 
 Mississippi river: first seen in north, 
 
 49; Marquette and Joliet on, 58; 
 
 60, 66, 67, 68, 71, 78; LaSalle 
 
 reaches mouth of, 79; 81, 83, 87, 
 
 100, 102, 161, 162 
 Missouri: 235 
 Missouri Fur Company: organized, 
 
 158 
 Missouri river: 50, 58; used by first 
 
 American trappers, 61, 78, 100, 104, 
 
 105, 157, 172 
 Mohave desert: 218 
 Mohawk river: 28, 39, 60, 67 
 Monongahela river: 61 
 Monroe, Hugh: 122, 125 
 Montagnais indians: 32 
 Montcalm [Louis Joseph]: 61; killed 
 
 no 
 Monterey (Calif.): 219; Walker at, 
 
 230 
 Montgomery [Richard] : 61 
 Montreal (Canada) : early site of 
 
 fur-trade, 30; permanent fur-trade 
 station, 33; 42; Radisson and 
 Groseilliers raise company of in- 
 dians at, 48; 50, 66, 76, 87; 
 Verendrye starts overland for the 
 Pacific from, 102; 103; as store- 
 house of Northwest Company, 120; 
 122, 187 
 
 Monts, Sieur de: given fur-trade 
 monopoly, 20; begins operations in 
 Acadia, 20; in winter quarters, 
 21 ; monopoly of, rescinded, 23 ; 
 defies royal power, 29 
 
 Moose Factory: 95 
 
 Morrison, — : first American to at- 
 tempt trade in southwest, 161 
 
 Mount Royal: 19, 20 
 
 Munchausen, Baron — : mentioned, 
 256 
 
 Muskingum river: 60 
 
 Mutiny: Champlain quells, 24; at 
 Fort Crevecoeur, 76 ; 82 
 
 Napoleon: Sells Louisiana, 152 
 Narvaez [Panfilo de] : mentioned, 
 
 297 
 Natchez indians: 79 
 Natchitoches (La.) : LaHarpe starts 
 
 from, ioi 
 Nelson river: 89 
 Nevada: 199 
 
 New Amsterdam (N. Y.) : 38, 40 
 New Mexico: 101, 259 
 New York: 33; New Amsterdam 
 
 founded, 38; 60 
 Nez Perce indians: 227 
 Niagara Falls: 60, 67 
 Nicolet, Jean: 41; deluded, 42; 52, 
 
 58 
 
 Nonsuch, The: Groseilliers sails for 
 Hudson's Bay in, 90 
 
 North Dakota: 123 
 
 Northwest American, The: first ves- 
 sel launched on western coasts, 
 
 144 
 Northwest Company: 60, 119-125;
 
 INDEX 
 
 313 
 
 organized, 120; system of business, 
 121 ; efforts to abolish liquor, 125 ; 
 154, 171, 187, 193, 194; united with 
 Hudson's Bay Company, 195, 207- 
 212 
 
 Norton, Moses: Hudson's Bay gov- 
 ernor, 112; death, 115; 276, 291 
 
 Nuttall, Thomas: naturalist, 238 
 
 Ogden, Peter Skene: 194; explora- 
 tions, 195-196, 298 
 
 Ogden river: 229 
 
 Ohio: 60 
 
 Ohio river: 58, 60; LaSalle interest- 
 ed to find, 65, 68, 78 
 
 Ohio valley: claimed by France, 109 
 
 Old Establishment: Mackenzie's time- 
 ly arrival at, 134 
 
 Onondaga indians: 66 
 
 Ordre de bon temps: creation of, 22 
 
 Oregon: 123, 188, 193-203, 215, 220, 
 221, 277 
 
 Oregon trail: 236, 238 
 
 Ottawa river: 30, 31; portage be- 
 tween and Lake Nipissing, 59 ; 87, 
 92 
 
 Pack-train: described, 165-166 
 Palliser [John]: hunter, 282 
 Parkman [Francis]: 51 
 Pawnee indians: defeated by Kansas 
 
 tribe, 167 
 Peace river: 134, 135 
 Penobscot river: 21 
 Perrot [Nicolas]: mentioned, 99; 
 
 established on Lake Pepin, 100 
 Pierre's Hole: 235, 236; described, 
 
 238-239 
 Pike, Capt. Zebulon: 156; sent to 
 
 investigate southwest, 162, 163; 
 
 discovers Pike's Peak, 163; 297 
 Pizarro [Francisco] : mentioned, 99 
 Plains of Abraham: famous battle of, 
 
 no 
 Platte river: 61, 226 
 Plymouth (Mass.) : 27, settled, 38 
 
 Plymouth Bay: 21 
 
 Point Pelee: 75 
 
 Pontgrave [Francois] : at Tadoussac, 
 19; takes service under DeMonts, 
 20; left in charge of Port Royal, 
 21; 22, 27; wounded by free- 
 traders, 29 
 
 Pontiac War: 151 
 
 Portage paths: 57-62 
 
 Portguese House: fur-post, 278 
 
 Port Royal: Poutrincourt names, 21; 
 description of, 22 ; abandoned, 23 ; 
 27, 90 
 
 Potomac river: 61 
 
 Pottawattomie indians: Tonti takes 
 refuge among, 77 
 
 Potts, — : with Colter, 250 
 
 Poutrincourt, Baron de: receives 
 grant of land, 20-21 ; returns to 
 Port Royal, 23 
 
 Prince Edward island: Lord Selkirk 
 on, 207 
 
 Protestants: government refuses emi- 
 gration of, to Canada, 34; no 
 
 Provot, Etienne: 185, 196 
 
 Pursley, James: 162 
 
 Quebec (Canada) : established, 23- 
 24; first winter at, 27; LeCaron 
 arrives at, 32; permanent fur-trade 
 station, 33; Radisson and Groseil- 
 liers at, 51; 61, 65, 69; enemies of 
 LaSalle at, 70; 71, 80, 87, 91; 
 returned to France, 109; no 
 
 Racoon, The: 180 
 
 Radisson, Pierre Esprit: 47-53; an 
 extreme liberal, 49; disobeys civil 
 and religious authority, 52 ; 57, 66, 
 87; refused permission for Hud- 
 son's Bay exploration, 88; travels 
 extensively in Sioux country, 89; 
 deserts to English, 90; marries, 91; 
 establishes trading posts on Hud- 
 son's Bay, 91; 99, 120, 216, 245, 
 297
 
 314 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Railways: 210 
 
 Rainy lake: 60; fur-post on, 103 
 
 Recollet friars: 32 
 
 Red river: 101 ; Henry establishes 
 
 post on, 123 ; Pike ordered to find, 
 
 164; 269 
 Rezner [Jacob]: trapper, 179; 255 
 Ribaut [Jean] : 17 
 Richelieu river: 30; see also Saint 
 
 Johns river 
 Riel, Louis: 270, 271 
 Rio Grande river: Pike builds fort 
 
 on, 164 
 Riviere des Irquois: see Saint Johns 
 
 river 
 Roberval [Jean Francois]: 18 
 Robidoux, Joseph: 277 
 Robinson [Edward]: trapper, 179, 
 
 255 
 Rochelle: French expedition sails 
 
 from, 81 
 Rocky Mountain Fur Company: 230 
 Rocky mountains: 50, 102; northern 
 part first seen by white man, 106 ; 
 Thompson explores, 123 ; 235, 297 
 Rose, Edward: 167, 179, 202 
 Ross, Alexander: 194, 195, 217 
 Rupert, Prince: interested in fur- 
 trade, 90; first governor of Hud- 
 son's Bay Company, 91; 119 
 Russian — American Company: 142 
 
 Sacajawea (bird woman) : guide of 
 
 Lewis and Clark, 155 
 Saguenay river: 19, 87, 88 
 Saint Anthony falls: discovered by 
 
 Hennepin, 77 
 Saint Augustine (Fla.) : 22 
 Saint Croix river: 78 
 Saint Dennis, Juchereau de: 101 
 Saint Domingo: 81 
 Saint Francis river: 61 
 Saint Johns [Sorel, Richelieu] river: 
 
 17, 28 
 Saint Joseph (Mo.) : 277 
 Saint Joseph river: 60; LaSalle 
 
 builds fort on, 71; fort destroyed, 
 
 76; 77 
 Saint Lawrence river: 17, 23, 24, 29, 
 
 30, 31, 51, 67; Griffin wrecked at 
 
 mouth of, 75 ; 83, 87, 88 
 Saint Louis (Mo.) : 154, 179, 186, 
 
 200, 247 
 Saint Louis River: 60 
 Saint Maurice river: 87 
 Saint Peter river: 100 
 Salmon: Wyeth's plan for canning 
 
 of, 235 
 Sandusky river: 60 
 San Joaquin river: 218, 219 
 San Jose (Calif.): Smith in jail at, 
 
 219 
 Santa Fe (N. Mex.) : 161, 164 
 Santa Fe trail: 168; wagons on, 226 
 Saskatchewan river: 123, 187, 269 
 Sault Sainte Marie strait: 41 
 Schuyler [Philip]: 61 
 Scioto river: 60 
 
 Scott, — : Scotts Bluffs named for, 251 
 Scurvy: curse of early explorers, 21; 
 
 raged on The Columbia, 144 
 Sea otter: skins in demand, 142 
 Selkirk, Lord : in control of Hudson's 
 
 Bay Company, 207; Fort William 
 
 surrenders to, 209 
 Semple, Governor: murdered, 209 
 Seneca indians: LaSalle visits coun- 
 try of, 65 
 Seven Oaks: massacre, 209 
 Shapleigh, — : 89 
 Sheep: see Big Game 
 Shelikoff, Gregory: mentioned, 147 
 Shoshone indians: 228 
 Sinclair, — : 239, 240 
 Sioux indians: fur-traders' treaty 
 
 with, 89 ; ally with traders against 
 
 Arikaras, 201 
 Slave lake: Mackenzie on, 130 
 Smith, Donald: 212 
 Smith, Jedediah: American trapper, 
 
 195 ; associated with Henry and
 
 INDEX 
 
 3i5 
 
 Ashley, 202; California expedi- 
 tions, 215-222, 226, 298 
 
 Smith, Capt. John: 37 
 
 Smith, Uncle John: fur-trader, 257 
 
 Snake indians: 104, 106 
 
 Snake river: 180, 185, 193 
 
 Sorel river: See Saint Ju/ins river 
 
 South pass: question of first users of, 
 185; 202; Bonneville through, 226 
 
 Spaulding, — : 236 
 
 Starved Rock: Fort Saint Louis built 
 on, 79-80 
 
 Stuart, David: asociated with Astor, 
 172 
 
 Stuart, Robert: associated with Astor, 
 172; 185; in winter quarters, 186; 
 189 
 
 Sublette, Milton: 227; Wyeth with, 
 236; 240 
 
 Sublette, William: associated with 
 Henry and Ashley, 202 ; in business 
 with Smith and Jackson, 217; sells 
 business, 221, 226; Wyeth joins, 
 235, 240 
 
 Susquehanna river: 61 
 
 Swan river: 123 
 
 Sweetwater river: 185 
 
 Tadoussac (Canada): 19, 29; rival 
 traders at, 30; permanent fur-trade 
 station, 33 
 
 Thames river: 40 
 
 Thompson, David: associated with 
 Northwest Company, 121 ; 122, 176, 
 193, 298 
 
 Thorn, Capt. — : in command of The 
 Tonquin, 175; not schooled in In- 
 dian treachery, 176; killed, 177 
 
 Three Rivers: permanent fur-trade 
 station, 33 ; 41, 48, 88 
 
 Tobacco: 144 
 
 Tonquin, The: 175 
 
 Tonti, Henri de: aids LaSalle, 69; 
 70; La Salle gives command to, 
 75; 76; reunited with LaSalle, 77; 
 79, 80, 83, 268 
 
 Trading-posts: early, 17; life at, 22; 
 permanent, 33; on the Hudson 
 river, 39 ; annual fair at, 42 ; 
 daily routine at, 53; established 
 on Hudson's Bay, 91 ; significance 
 of French, 102 ; established by 
 Verendrye, 103 ; of Northwest 
 Company, 120; in Alaska, 142; 
 established by Astor, 172; estab- 
 lished by Northwest Company, 193 ; 
 275-283 ; life at, 287-293 ; see also 
 Port Royal, Port Nelson, and vari- 
 ous forts 
 
 Trent river: 33, 60 
 
 Troyes, Chevalier de: Canada sends 
 to Hudson's Bay, 92; 95 
 
 Umpqua river: Smith's camp mas- 
 sacred on, 220 
 
 Vancouver, Captain George: sent to 
 Pacific, 146; 193 
 
 Vanderburgh [Henry]: of American 
 Fur Company, 241 
 
 Vasquez, Louis: 202 
 
 Verendrye, Chevalier: 105 
 
 Verendrye, Jean: killed by Sioux, 103 
 
 Verendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varen- 
 nes de la; 59, 99-106; interested in 
 overland road to Pacific, 102; 112, 
 120, 134, 136, 152, 297 
 
 Verendrye, Pierre, Jr: 104; first 
 white man to see northern Rockies, 
 106 
 
 Vignau, Nicolas: incident of impos- 
 ture of, 31-32 ; 33 
 
 Vincennes (Ind.) : 60 
 
 Virginia: 27, 34; first English settle- 
 ment at Jamestown, 37 
 
 Wabash river: 60 
 Wabogish, Chief — : 249 
 Walker, I. R: travels of, 225-231, 298 
 Washington (state) : 123 
 Washington, George: no
 
 3i6 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE 
 
 Wayne, Gen. [Anthony]: fortifies 
 
 portages, 60 
 White mountains; 21 
 Whitman, Marcus: 226, 236 
 Wilkinson: mentioned, 162 
 Williams, Bill: fur-trader, 258 
 Williams, Ezekial: 164; hardships 
 
 encountered, 166; 238, 249 
 Wisconsin: 42, 49; lake region of, 
 
 58; 123 
 Wisconsin river: 59 
 Wolfe [James]: killed, no 
 
 Work, John: 194 
 
 Wyeth, Nathaniel J: 235-242 
 
 X. Y. Company: incorporated with 
 Northwest Company, 171 
 
 Yellowstone river: 156, 157; Fort 
 Union at mouth of, 189; 202; Fort 
 Cass on, 236 
 
 York Factory: 95; see also Fort Nel- 
 son
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 917 8V287F C001 
 
 THE FUR-TRADE AND EARLY WESTERN EXPLORAT 
 
 3 0112 025344117