The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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Having thus given the reader some idea of the actual state of the fur
trade in the interior of our vast continent, and made him acquainted
with the wild chivalry of the mountains, we will no longer delay the
introduction of Captain Bonneville and his band into this field of their
enterprise, but launch them at once upon the perilous plains of the Far
West.




2.

Departure from--Fort Osage--Modes of transportation--Pack-
horses--Wagons--Walker and Cerre; their characters--Buoyant
feelings on launching upon the prairies--Wild equipments of
the trappers--Their gambols and antics--Difference of
character between the American and French trappers--Agency
of the Kansas--General--Clarke--White Plume, the Kansas
chief--Night scene in a trader's camp--Colloquy between--
White Plume and the captain--Bee-hunters--Their
expeditions--Their feuds with the Indians--Bargaining talent
of White Plume


IT WAS ON THE FIRST of May, 1832, that Captain Bonneville took his
departure from the frontier post of Fort Osage, on the Missouri. He had
enlisted a party of one hundred and ten men, most of whom had been
in the Indian country, and some of whom were experienced hunters and
trappers. Fort Osage, and other places on the borders of the western
wilderness, abound with characters of the kind, ready for any
expedition.

The ordinary mode of transportation in these great inland expeditions
of the fur traders is on mules and pack-horses; but Captain Bonneville
substituted wagons. Though he was to travel through a trackless
wilderness, yet the greater part of his route would lie across open
plains, destitute of forests, and where wheel carriages can pass in
every direction. The chief difficulty occurs in passing the deep ravines
cut through the prairies by streams and winter torrents. Here it is
often necessary to dig a road down the banks, and to make bridges for
the wagons.

In transporting his baggage in vehicles of this kind, Captain Bonneville
thought he would save the great delay caused every morning by packing
the horses, and the labor of unpacking in the evening. Fewer horses also
would be required, and less risk incurred of their wandering away, or
being frightened or carried off by the Indians. The wagons, also, would
be more easily defended, and might form a kind of fortification in case
of attack in the open prairies. A train of twenty wagons, drawn by oxen,
or by four mules or horses each, and laden with merchandise, ammunition,
and provisions, were disposed in two columns in the center of the party,
which was equally divided into a van and a rear-guard. As sub-leaders or
lieutenants in his expedition, Captain Bonneville had made choice of Mr.
J. R. Walker and Mr. M. S. Cerre. The former was a native of Tennessee,
about six feet high, strong built, dark complexioned, brave in spirit,
though mild in manners. He had resided for many years in Missouri, on
the frontier; had been among the earliest adventurers to Santa Fe, where
he went to trap beaver, and was taken by the Spaniards. Being liberated,
he engaged with the Spaniards and Sioux Indians in a war against the
Pawnees; then returned to Missouri, and had acted by turns as
sheriff, trader, trapper, until he was enlisted as a leader by Captain
Bonneville.

Cerre, his other leader, had likewise been in expeditions to Santa Fe,
in which he had endured much hardship. He was of the middle size,
light complexioned, and though but about twenty-five years of age, was
considered an experienced Indian trader. It was a great object with
Captain Bonneville to get to the mountains before the summer heats
and summer flies should render the travelling across the prairies
distressing; and before the annual assemblages of people connected
with the fur trade should have broken up, and dispersed to the hunting
grounds.

The two rival associations already mentioned, the American Fur Company
and the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had their several places of
rendezvous for the present year at no great distance apart, in Pierre's
Hole, a deep valley in the heart of the mountains, and thither Captain
Bonneville intended to shape his course.

It is not easy to do justice to the exulting feelings of the worthy
captain at finding himself at the head of a stout band of hunters,
trappers, and woodmen; fairly launched on the broad prairies, with his
face to the boundless West. The tamest inhabitant of cities, the veriest
spoiled child of civilization, feels his heart dilate and his pulse beat
high on finding himself on horseback in the glorious wilderness; what
then must be the excitement of one whose imagination had been stimulated
by a residence on the frontier, and to whom the wilderness was a region
of romance!

His hardy followers partook of his excitement. Most of them had already
experienced the wild freedom of savage life, and looked forward to a
renewal of past scenes of adventure and exploit. Their very appearance
and equipment exhibited a piebald mixture, half civilized and half
savage. Many of them looked more like Indians than white men in their
garbs and accoutrements, and their very horses were caparisoned in
barbaric style, with fantastic trappings. The outset of a band of
adventurers on one of these expeditions is always animated and joyous.
The welkin rang with their shouts and yelps, after the manner of the
savages; and with boisterous jokes and light-hearted laughter. As they
passed the straggling hamlets and solitary cabins that fringe the skirts
of the frontier, they would startle their inmates by Indian yells and
war-whoops, or regale them with grotesque feats of horsemanship,
well suited to their half-savage appearance. Most of these abodes were
inhabited by men who had themselves been in similar expeditions; they
welcomed the travellers, therefore, as brother trappers, treated them
with a hunter's hospitality, and cheered them with an honest God speed
at parting.

And here we would remark a great difference, in point of character
and quality, between the two classes of trappers, the "American" and
"French," as they are called in contradistinction. The latter is meant
to designate the French creole of Canada or Louisiana; the former, the
trapper of the old American stock, from Kentucky, Tennessee, and others
of the western States. The French trapper is represented as a lighter,
softer, more self-indulgent kind of man. He must have his Indian wife,
his lodge, and his petty conveniences. He is gay and thoughtless, takes
little heed of landmarks, depends upon his leaders and companions to
think for the common weal, and, if left to himself, is easily perplexed
and lost.

The American trapper stands by himself, and is peerless for the service
of the wilderness. Drop him in the midst of a prairie, or in the heart
of the mountains, and he is never at a loss. He notices every landmark;
can retrace his route through the most monotonous plains, or the most
perplexed labyrinths of the mountains; no danger nor difficulty can
appal him, and he scorns to complain under any privation. In equipping
the two kinds of trappers, the Creole and Canadian are apt to prefer the
light fusee; the American always grasps his rifle; he despises what
he calls the "shot-gun." We give these estimates on the authority of
a trader of long experience, and a foreigner by birth. "I consider one
American," said he, "equal to three Canadians in point of sagacity,
aptness at resources, self-dependence, and fearlessness of spirit. In
fact, no one can cope with him as a stark tramper of the wilderness."

Beside the two classes of trappers just mentioned, Captain Bonneville
had enlisted several Delaware Indians in his employ, on whose hunting
qualifications he placed great reliance.

On the 6th of May the travellers passed the last border habitation,
and bade a long farewell to the ease and security of civilization. The
buoyant and clamorous spirits with which they had commenced their march
gradually subsided as they entered upon its difficulties. They found
the prairies saturated with the heavy cold rains, prevalent in certain
seasons of the year in this part of the country, the wagon wheels sank
deep in the mire, the horses were often to the fetlock, and both steed
and rider were completely jaded by the evening of the 12th, when they
reached the Kansas River; a fine stream about three hundred yards wide,
entering the Missouri from the south. Though fordable in almost every
part at the end of summer and during the autumn, yet it was necessary to
construct a raft for the transportation of the wagons and effects. All
this was done in the course of the following day, and by evening, the
whole party arrived at the agency of the Kansas tribe. This was under
the superintendence of General Clarke, brother of the celebrated
traveller of the same name, who, with Lewis, made the first expedition
down the waters of the Columbia. He was living like a patriarch,
surrounded by laborers and interpreters, all snugly housed, and provided
with excellent farms. The functionary next in consequence to the
agent was the blacksmith, a most important, and, indeed, indispensable
personage in a frontier community. The Kansas resemble the Osages in
features, dress, and language; they raise corn and hunt the buffalo,
ranging the Kansas River, and its tributary streams; at the time of the
captain's visit, they were at war with the Pawnees of the Nebraska, or
Platte River.

The unusual sight of a train of wagons caused quite a sensation among
these savages; who thronged about the caravan, examining everything
minutely, and asking a thousand questions: exhibiting a degree of
excitability, and a lively curiosity totally opposite to that apathy
with which their race is so often reproached.

The personage who most attracted the captain's attention at this place
was "White Plume," the Kansas chief, and they soon became good friends.
White Plume (we are pleased with his chivalrous soubriquet) inhabited
a large stone house, built for him by order of the American government:
but the establishment had not been carried out in corresponding style.
It might be palace without, but it was wigwam within; so that, between
the stateliness of his mansion and the squalidness of his furniture, the
gallant White Plume presented some such whimsical incongruity as we see
in the gala equipments of an Indian chief on a treaty-making embassy
at Washington, who has been generously decked out in cocked hat and
military coat, in contrast to his breech-clout and leathern legging;
being grand officer at top, and ragged Indian at bottom.

White Plume was so taken with the courtesy of the captain, and pleased
with one or two presents received from him, that he accompanied him
a day's journey on his march, and passed a night in his camp, on the
margin of a small stream. The method of encamping generally observed by
the captain was as follows: The twenty wagons were disposed in a square,
at the distance of thirty-three feet from each other. In every interval
there was a mess stationed; and each mess had its fire, where the men
cooked, ate, gossiped, and slept. The horses were placed in the centre
of the square, with a guard stationed over them at night.

The horses were "side lined," as it is termed: that is to say, the fore
and hind foot on the same side of the animal were tied together, so as
to be within eighteen inches of each other. A horse thus fettered is for
a time sadly embarrassed, but soon becomes sufficiently accustomed to
the restraint to move about slowly. It prevents his wandering; and his
being easily carried off at night by lurking Indians. When a horse that
is "foot free" is tied to one thus secured, the latter forms, as it
were, a pivot, round which the other runs and curvets, in case of alarm.
The encampment of which we are speaking presented a striking scene.
The various mess-fires were surrounded by picturesque groups, standing,
sitting, and reclining; some busied in cooking, others in cleaning their
weapons: while the frequent laugh told that the rough joke or merry
story was going on. In the middle of the camp, before the principal
lodge, sat the two chieftains, Captain Bonneville and White Plume, in
soldier-like communion, the captain delighted with the opportunity of
meeting on social terms with one of the red warriors of the wilderness,
the unsophisticated children of nature. The latter was squatted on his
buffalo robe, his strong features and red skin glaring in the broad
light of a blazing fire, while he recounted astounding tales of the
bloody exploits of his tribe and himself in their wars with the Pawnees;
for there are no old soldiers more given to long campaigning stories
than Indian "braves."

The feuds of White Plume, however, had not been confined to the red men;
he had much to say of brushes with bee hunters, a class of offenders
for whom he seemed to cherish a particular abhorrence. As the species
of hunting prosecuted by these worthies is not laid down in any of
the ancient books of venerie, and is, in fact, peculiar to our western
frontier, a word or two on the subject may not be unacceptable to the
reader.

The bee hunter is generally some settler on the verge of the prairies; a
long, lank fellow, of fever and ague complexion, acquired from living
on new soil, and in a hut built of green logs. In the autumn, when the
harvest is over, these; frontier settlers form parties of two or three,
and prepare for a bee hunt. Having provided themselves with a wagon, and
a number of empty casks, they sally off, armed with their rifles, into
the wilderness, directing their course east, west, north, or south,
without any regard to the ordinance of the American government, which
strictly forbids all trespass upon the lands belonging to the Indian
tribes.

The belts of woodland that traverse the lower prairies and border the
rivers are peopled by innumerable swarms of wild bees, which make their
hives in hollow trees and fill them with honey tolled from the rich
flowers of the prairies. The bees, according to popular assertion,
are migrating like the settlers, to the west. An Indian trader, well
experienced in the country, informs us that within ten years that he has
passed in the Far West, the bee has advanced westward above a hundred
miles. It is said on the Missouri, that the wild turkey and the wild bee
go up the river together: neither is found in the upper regions. It is
but recently that the wild turkey has been killed on the Nebraska, or
Platte; and his travelling competitor, the wild bee, appeared there
about the same time.

Be all this as it may: the course of our party of bee hunters is to
make a wide circuit through the woody river bottoms, and the patches
of forest on the prairies, marking, as they go out, every tree in which
they have detected a hive. These marks are generally respected by any
other bee hunter that should come upon their track. When they have
marked sufficient to fill all their casks, they turn their faces
homeward, cut down the trees as they proceed, and having loaded their
wagon with honey and wax, return well pleased to the settlements.

Now it so happens that the Indians relish wild honey as highly as do the
white men, and are the more delighted with this natural luxury from its
having, in many instances, but recently made its appearance in their
lands. The consequence is numberless disputes and conflicts between them
and the bee hunters: and often a party of the latter, returning, laden
with rich spoil, from one of their forays, are apt to be waylaid by the
native lords of the soil; their honey to be seized, their harness cut
to pieces, and themselves left to find their way home the best way
they can, happy to escape with no greater personal harm than a sound
rib-roasting.

Such were the marauders of whose offences the gallant White Plume made
the most bitter complaint. They were chiefly the settlers of the western
part of Missouri, who are the most famous bee hunters on the frontier,
and whose favorite hunting ground lies within the lands of the Kansas
tribe. According to the account of White Plume, however, matters were
pretty fairly balanced between him and the offenders; he having as often
treated them to a taste of the bitter, as they had robbed him of the
sweets.

It is but justice to this gallant chief to say that he gave proofs of
having acquired some of the lights of civilization from his proximity
to the whites, as was evinced in his knowledge of driving a bargain. He
required hard cash in return for some corn with which he supplied the
worthy captain, and left the latter at a loss which most to admire, his
native chivalry as a brave, or his acquired adroitness as a trader.




3.

Wide prairies Vegetable productions Tabular hills--Slabs of
sandstone Nebraska or Platte River--Scanty fare--Buffalo
skulls--Wagons turned into boats--Herds of buffalo--Cliffs
resembling castles--The chimney--Scott's Bluffs Story
connected with them--The bighorn or ahsahta--Its nature and
habits--Difference between that and the "woolly sheep," or
goat of the mountains

FROM THE MIDDLE to the end of May, Captain Bonneville pursued a western
course over vast undulating plains, destitute of tree or shrub, rendered
miry by occasional rain, and cut up by deep water-courses where they had
to dig roads for their wagons down the soft crumbling banks and to throw
bridges across the streams. The weather had attained the summer heat;
the thermometer standing about fifty-seven degrees in the morning,
early, but rising to about ninety degrees at noon. The incessant
breezes, however, which sweep these vast plains render the heats
endurable. Game was scanty, and they had to eke out their scanty fare
with wild roots and vegetables, such as the Indian potato, the wild
onion, and the prairie tomato, and they met with quantities of "red
root," from which the hunters make a very palatable beverage. The only
human being that crossed their path was a Kansas warrior, returning from
some solitary expedition of bravado or revenge, bearing a Pawnee scalp
as a trophy.

The country gradually rose as they proceeded westward, and their route
took them over high ridges, commanding wide and beautiful prospects.
The vast plain was studded on the west with innumerable hills of conical
shape, such as are seen north of the Arkansas River. These hills have
their summits apparently cut off about the same elevation, so as to
leave flat surfaces at top. It is conjectured by some that the whole
country may originally have been of the altitude of these tabular hills;
but through some process of nature may have sunk to its present level;
these insulated eminences being protected by broad foundations of solid
rock.

Captain Bonneville mentions another geological phenomenon north of
Red River, where the surface of the earth, in considerable tracts of
country, is covered with broad slabs of sandstone, having the form and
position of grave-stones, and looking as if they had been forced up by
some subterranean agitation. "The resemblance," says he, "which these
very remarkable spots have in many places to old church-yards is curious
in the extreme. One might almost fancy himself among the tombs of the
pre-Adamites."

On the 2d of June, they arrived on the main stream of the Nebraska or
Platte River; twenty-five miles below the head of the Great Island. The
low banks of this river give it an appearance of great width. Captain
Bonneville measured it in one place, and found it twenty-two hundred
yards from bank to bank. Its depth was from three to six feet, the
bottom full of quicksands. The Nebraska is studded with islands covered
with that species of poplar called the cotton-wood tree. Keeping up
along the course of this river for several days, they were obliged,
from the scarcity of game, to put themselves upon short allowance,
and, occasionally, to kill a steer. They bore their daily labors and
privations, however, with great good humor, taking their tone, in all
probability, from the buoyant spirit of their leader. "If the weather
was inclement," said the captain, "we watched the clouds, and hoped
for a sight of the blue sky and the merry sun. If food was scanty,
we regaled ourselves with the hope of soon falling in with herds of
buffalo, and having nothing to do but slay and eat." We doubt whether
the genial captain is not describing the cheeriness of his own breast,
which gave a cheery aspect to everything around him.

There certainly were evidences, however, that the country was not always
equally destitute of game. At one place, they observed a field decorated
with buffalo skulls, arranged in circles, curves, and other mathematical
figures, as if for some mystic rite or ceremony. They were almost
innumerable, and seemed to have been a vast hecatomb offered up in
thanksgiving to the Great Spirit for some signal success in the chase.

On the 11th of June, they came to the fork of the Nebraska, where
it divides itself into two equal and beautiful streams. One of these
branches rises in the west-southwest, near the headwaters of the
Arkansas. Up the course of this branch, as Captain Bonneville was well
aware, lay the route to the Camanche and Kioway Indians, and to the
northern Mexican settlements; of the other branch he knew nothing. Its
sources might lie among wild and inaccessible cliffs, and tumble and
foam down rugged defiles and over craggy precipices; but its direction
was in the true course, and up this stream he determined to prosecute
his route to the Rocky Mountains. Finding it impossible, from
quicksands and other dangerous impediments, to cross the river in this
neighborhood, he kept up along the south fork for two days, merely
seeking a safe fording place. At length he encamped, caused the bodies
of the wagons to be dislodged from the wheels, covered with buffalo
hide, and besmeared with a compound of tallow and ashes; thus forming
rude boats. In these, they ferried their effects across the stream,
which was six hundred yards wide, with a swift and strong current. Three
men were in each boat, to manage it; others waded across pushing the
barks before them. Thus all crossed in safety. A march of nine miles
took them over high rolling prairies to the north fork; their eyes being
regaled with the welcome sight of herds of buffalo at a distance, some
careering the plain, others grazing and reposing in the natural meadows.

Skirting along the north fork for a day or two, excessively annoyed by
musquitoes and buffalo gnats, they reached, in the evening of the 17th,
a small but beautiful grove, from which issued the confused notes of
singing birds, the first they had heard since crossing the boundary
of Missouri. After so many days of weary travelling through a naked,
monotonous and silent country, it was delightful once more to hear
the song of the bird, and to behold the verdure of the grove. It was
a beautiful sunset, and a sight of the glowing rays, mantling the
tree-tops and rustling branches, gladdened every heart. They pitched
their camp in the grove, kindled their fires, partook merrily of their
rude fare, and resigned themselves to the sweetest sleep they had
enjoyed since their outset upon the prairies.

The country now became rugged and broken. High bluffs advanced upon the
river, and forced the travellers occasionally to leave its banks and
wind their course into the interior. In one of the wild and solitary
passes they were startled by the trail of four or five pedestrians, whom
they supposed to be spies from some predatory camp of either Arickara
or Crow Indians. This obliged them to redouble their vigilance at
night, and to keep especial watch upon their horses. In these rugged
and elevated regions they began to see the black-tailed deer, a
species larger than the ordinary kind, and chiefly found in rocky and
mountainous countries. They had reached also a great buffalo range;
Captain Bonneville ascended a high bluff, commanding an extensive view
of the surrounding plains. As far as his eye could reach, the country
seemed absolutely blackened by innumerable herds. No language, he says,
could convey an adequate idea of the vast living mass thus presented to
his eye. He remarked that the bulls and cows generally congregated in
separate herds.

Opposite to the camp at this place was a singular phenomenon, which
is among the curiosities of the country. It is called the chimney. The
lower part is a conical mound, rising out of the naked plain; from the
summit shoots up a shaft or column, about one hundred and twenty feet
in height, from which it derives its name. The height of the whole,
according to Captain Bonneville, is a hundred and seventy-five yards.
It is composed of indurated clay, with alternate layers of red and white
sandstone, and may be seen at the distance of upward of thirty miles.

On the 21st, they encamped amidst high and beetling cliffs of indurated
clay and sandstone, bearing the semblance of towers, castles, churches,
and fortified cities. At a distance, it was scarcely possible to
persuade one's self that the works of art were not mingled with these
fantastic freaks of nature. They have received the name of Scott's
Bluffs, from a melancholy circumstance. A number of years since, a party
were descending the upper part of the river in canoes, when their frail
barks were overturned and all their powder spoiled. Their rifles being
thus rendered useless, they were unable to procure food by hunting
and had to depend upon roots and wild fruits for subsistence. After
suffering extremely from hunger, they arrived at Laramie's Fork, a small
tributary of the north branch of the Nebraska, about sixty miles above
the cliffs just mentioned. Here one of the party, by the name of Scott,
was taken ill; and his companions came to a halt, until he should
recover health and strength sufficient to proceed. While they were
searching round in quest of edible roots, they discovered a fresh trail
of white men, who had evidently but recently preceded them. What was to
be done? By a forced march they might overtake this party, and thus be
able to reach the settlements in safety. Should they linger, they might
all perish of famine and exhaustion. Scott, however, was incapable of
moving; they were too feeble to aid him forward, and dreaded that such
a clog would prevent their coming up with the advance party. They
determined, therefore, to abandon him to his fate. Accordingly, under
presence of seeking food, and such simples as might be efficacious in
his malady, they deserted him and hastened forward upon the trail.
They succeeded in overtaking the party of which they were in quest, but
concealed their faithless desertion of Scott; alleging that he had died
of disease.