The Adventures of Captain Bonneville

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The travellers had now attained so high an elevation that on the 23d of
July, at daybreak, there was considerable ice in the waterbuckets,
and the thermometer stood at twenty-two degrees. The rarefy of the
atmosphere continued to affect the wood-work of the wagons, and the
wheels were incessantly falling to pieces. A remedy was at length
devised. The tire of each wheel was taken off; a band of wood was nailed
round the exterior of the felloes, the tire was then made red hot,
replaced round the wheel, and suddenly cooled with water. By this means,
the whole was bound together with great compactness.

The extreme elevation of these great steppes, which range along the
feet of the Rocky Mountains, takes away from the seeming height of their
peaks, which yield to few in the known world in point of altitude above
the level of the sea.

On the 24th, the travellers took final leave of the Sweet Water, and
keeping westwardly, over a low and very rocky ridge, one of the most
southern spurs of the Wind River Mountains, they encamped, after a march
of seven hours and a half, on the banks of a small clear stream, running
to the south, in which they caught a number of fine trout.

The sight of these fish was hailed with pleasure, as a sign that they
had reached the waters which flow into the Pacific; for it is only on
the western streams of the Rocky Mountains that trout are to be taken.
The stream on which they had thus encamped proved, in effect, to be
tributary to the Seeds-ke-dee Agie, or Green River, into which it flowed
at some distance to the south.

Captain Bonneville now considered himself as having fairly passed the
crest of the Rocky Mountains; and felt some degree of exultation in
being the first individual that had crossed, north of the settled
provinces of Mexico, from the waters of the Atlantic to those of the
Pacific, with wagons. Mr. William Sublette, the enterprising leader
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, had, two or three years previously,
reached the valley of the Wind River, which lies on the northeast of the
mountains; but had proceeded with them no further.

A vast valley now spread itself before the travellers, bounded on one
side by the Wind River Mountains, and to the west, by a long range of
high hills. This, Captain Bonneville was assured by a veteran hunter
in his company, was the great valley of the Seedske-dee; and the same
informant would have fain persuaded him that a small stream, three feet
deep, which he came to on the 25th, was that river. The captain was
convinced, however, that the stream was too insignificant to drain so
wide a valley and the adjacent mountains: he encamped, therefore, at an
early hour, on its borders, that he might take the whole of the next day
to reach the main river; which he presumed to flow between him and the
distant range of western hills.

On the 26th of July, he commenced his march at an early hour, making
directly across the valley, toward the hills in the west; proceeding at
as brisk a rate as the jaded condition of his horses would permit. About
eleven o'clock in the morning, a great cloud of dust was descried in the
rear, advancing directly on the trail of the party. The alarm was given;
they all came to a halt, and held a council of war. Some conjectured
that the band of Indians, whose trail they had discovered in the
neighborhood of the stray horse, had been lying in wait for them in some
secret fastness of the mountains; and were about to attack them on
the open plain, where they would have no shelter. Preparations
were immediately made for defence; and a scouting party sent off to
reconnoitre. They soon came galloping back, making signals that all was
well. The cloud of dust was made by a band of fifty or sixty mounted
trappers, belonging to the American Fur Company, who soon came up,
leading their pack-horses. They were headed by Mr. Fontenelle, an
experienced leader, or "partisan," as a chief of a party is called in
the technical language of the trappers.

Mr. Fontenelle informed Captain Bonneville that he was on his way from
the company's trading post on the Yellowstone to the yearly rendezvous,
with reinforcements and supplies for their hunting and trading parties
beyond the mountains; and that he expected to meet, by appointment, with
a band of free trappers in that very neighborhood. He had fallen
upon the trail of Captain Bonneville's party, just after leaving the
Nebraska; and, finding that they had frightened off all the game, had
been obliged to push on, by forced marches, to avoid famine: both men
and horses were, therefore, much travel-worn; but this was no place to
halt; the plain before them he said was destitute of grass and water,
neither of which would be met with short of the Green River, which was
yet at a considerable distance. He hoped, he added, as his party
were all on horseback, to reach the river, with hard travelling, by
nightfall: but he doubted the possibility of Captain Bonneville's
arrival there with his wagons before the day following. Having imparted
this information, he pushed forward with all speed.

Captain Bonneville followed on as fast as circumstances would permit.
The ground was firm and gravelly; but the horses were too much fatigued
to move rapidly. After a long and harassing day's march, without pausing
for a noontide meal, they were compelled, at nine o'clock at night,
to encamp in an open plain, destitute of water or pasturage. On the
following morning, the horses were turned loose at the peep of day; to
slake their thirst, if possible, from the dew collected on the sparse
grass, here and there springing up among dry sand-banks. The soil of a
great part of this Green River valley is a whitish clay, into which the
rain cannot penetrate, but which dries and cracks with the sun. In
some places it produces a salt weed, and grass along the margins of the
streams; but the wider expanses of it are desolate and barren. It
was not until noon that Captain Bonneville reached the banks of the
Seeds-ke-dee, or Colorado of the West; in the meantime, the sufferings
of both men and horses had been excessive, and it was with almost
frantic eagerness that they hurried to allay their burning thirst in the
limpid current of the river.

Fontenelle and his party had not fared much better; the chief part had
managed to reach the river by nightfall, but were nearly knocked up
by the exertion; the horses of others sank under them, and they were
obliged to pass the night upon the road.

On the following morning, July 27th, Fontenelle moved his camp across
the river; while Captain Bonneville proceeded some little distance
below, where there was a small but fresh meadow yielding abundant
pasturage. Here the poor jaded horses were turned out to graze, and take
their rest: the weary journey up the mountains had worn them down in
flesh and spirit; but this last march across the thirsty plain had
nearly finished them.

The captain had here the first taste of the boasted strategy of the
fur trade. During his brief, but social encampment, in company with
Fontenelle, that experienced trapper had managed to win over a number of
Delaware Indians whom the captain had brought with him, by offering them
four hundred dollars each for the ensuing autumnal hunt. The captain was
somewhat astonished when he saw these hunters, on whose services he had
calculated securely, suddenly pack up their traps, and go over to the
rival camp. That he might in some measure, however, be even with his
competitor, he dispatched two scouts to look out for the band of free
trappers who were to meet Fontenelle in this neighborhood, and to
endeavor to bring them to his camp.

As it would be necessary to remain some time in this neighborhood, that
both men and horses might repose, and recruit their strength; and as it
was a region full of danger, Captain Bonneville proceeded to fortify his
camp with breastworks of logs and pickets.

These precautions were, at that time, peculiarly necessary, from the
bands of Blackfeet Indians which were roving about the neighborhood.
These savages are the most dangerous banditti of the mountains, and the
inveterate foe of the trappers. They are Ishmaelites of the first order,
always with weapon in hand, ready for action. The young braves of the
tribe, who are destitute of property, go to war for booty; to gain
horses, and acquire the means of setting up a lodge, supporting a
family, and entitling themselves to a seat in the public councils.
The veteran warriors fight merely for the love of the thing, and the
consequence which success gives them among their people.

They are capital horsemen, and are generally well mounted on short,
stout horses, similar to the prairie ponies to be met with at St. Louis.
When on a war party, however, they go on foot, to enable them to skulk
through the country with greater secrecy; to keep in thickets and
ravines, and use more adroit subterfuges and stratagems. Their mode
of warfare is entirely by ambush, surprise, and sudden assaults in the
night time. If they succeed in causing a panic, they dash forward with
headlong fury: if the enemy is on the alert, and shows no signs of fear,
they become wary and deliberate in their movements.

Some of them are armed in the primitive style, with bows and arrows; the
greater part have American fusees, made after the fashion of those of
the Hudson's Bay Company. These they procure at the trading post of the
American Fur Company, on Marias River, where they traffic their peltries
for arms, ammunition, clothing, and trinkets. They are extremely fond
of spirituous liquors and tobacco; for which nuisances they are ready
to exchange not merely their guns and horses, but even their wives and
daughters. As they are a treacherous race, and have cherished a lurking
hostility to the whites ever since one of their tribe was killed by
Mr. Lewis, the associate of General Clarke, in his exploring expedition
across the Rocky Mountains, the American Fur Company is obliged
constantly to keep at that post a garrison of sixty or seventy men.

Under the general name of Blackfeet are comprehended several tribes:
such as the Surcies, the Peagans, the Blood Indians, and the Gros
Ventres of the Prairies: who roam about the southern branches of the
Yellowstone and Missouri Rivers, together with some other tribes further
north.

The bands infesting the Wind River Mountains and the country adjacent
at the time of which we are treating, were Gros Ventres of the Prairies,
which are not to be confounded with Gros Ventres of the Missouri, who
keep about the lower part of that river, and are friendly to the white
men.

This hostile band keeps about the headwaters of the Missouri, and
numbers about nine hundred fighting men. Once in the course of two or
three years they abandon their usual abodes, and make a visit to the
Arapahoes of the Arkansas. Their route lies either through the Crow
country, and the Black Hills, or through the lands of the Nez Perces,
Flatheads, Bannacks, and Shoshonies. As they enjoy their favorite state
of hostility with all these tribes, their expeditions are prone to be
conducted in the most lawless and predatory style; nor do they hesitate
to extend their maraudings to any party of white men they meet with;
following their trails; hovering about their camps; waylaying and
dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary
trapper. The consequences are frequent and desperate fights between them
and the "mountaineers," in the wild defiles and fastnesses of the Rocky
Mountains.

The band in question was, at this time, on their way homeward from one
of their customary visits to the Arapahoes; and in the ensuing chapter
we shall treat of some bloody encounters between them and the trappers,
which had taken place just before the arrival of Captain Bonneville
among the mountains.




6.

Sublette and his band--Robert--Campbell--Mr. Wyeth and a
band of "down-easters"--Yankee enterprise--Fitzpatrick--His
adventure with the Blackfeet--A rendezvous of mountaineers--
The battle of--Pierre's Hole--An Indian ambuscade--
Sublette's return

LEAVING CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE and his band ensconced within their fortified
camp in the Green River valley, we shall step back and accompany a party
of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company in its progress, with supplies
from St. Louis, to the annual rendezvous at Pierre's Hole. This
party consisted of sixty men, well mounted, and conducting a line of
packhorses. They were commanded by Captain William Sublette, a partner
in the company, and one of the most active, intrepid, and renowned
leaders in this half military kind of service. He was accompanied by
his associate in business, and tried companion in danger, Mr. Robert
Campbell, one of the pioneers of the trade beyond the mountains, who had
commanded trapping parties there in times of the greatest peril.

As these worthy compeers were on their route to the frontier, they fell
in with another expedition, likewise on its way to the mountains. This
was a party of regular "down-easters," that is to say, people of New
England, who, with the all-penetrating and all-pervading spirit of their
race, were now pushing their way into a new field of enterprise with
which they were totally unacquainted. The party had been fitted out and
was maintained and commanded by Mr. Nathaniel J. Wyeth, of Boston. This
gentleman had conceived an idea that a profitable fishery for salmon
might be established on the Columbia River, and connected with the fur
trade. He had, accordingly, invested capital in goods, calculated, as he
supposed, for the Indian trade, and had enlisted a number of eastern men
in his employ, who had never been in the Far West, nor knew anything of
the wilderness. With these, he was bravely steering his way across the
continent, undismayed by danger, difficulty, or distance, in the same
way that a New England coaster and his neighbors will coolly launch
forth on a voyage to the Black Sea, or a whaling cruise to the Pacific.

With all their national aptitude at expedient and resource, Wyeth and
his men felt themselves completely at a loss when they reached the
frontier, and found that the wilderness required experience and
habitudes of which they were totally deficient. Not one of the party,
excepting the leader, had ever seen an Indian or handled a rifle; they
were without guide or interpreter, and totally unacquainted with "wood
craft" and the modes of making their way among savage hordes, and
subsisting themselves during long marches over wild mountains and barren
plains.

In this predicament, Captain Sublette found them, in a manner becalmed,
or rather run aground, at the little frontier town of Independence,
in Missouri, and kindly took them in tow. The two parties travelled
amicably together; the frontier men of Sublette's party gave their
Yankee comrades some lessons in hunting, and some insight into the art
and mystery of dealing with the Indians, and they all arrived without
accident at the upper branches of the Nebraska or Platte River.

In the course of their march, Mr. Fitzpatrick, the partner of the
company who was resident at that time beyond the mountains, came
down from the rendezvous at Pierre's Hole to meet them and hurry them
forward. He travelled in company with them until they reached the Sweet
Water; then taking a couple of horses, one for the saddle, and the
other as a pack-horse, he started off express for Pierre's Hole, to make
arrangements against their arrival, that he might commence his hunting
campaign before the rival company.

Fitzpatrick was a hardy and experienced mountaineer, and knew all the
passes and defiles. As he was pursuing his lonely course up the Green
River valley, he described several horsemen at a distance, and came to
a halt to reconnoitre. He supposed them to be some detachment from the
rendezvous, or a party of friendly Indians. They perceived him, and
setting up the war-whoop, dashed forward at full speed: he saw at once
his mistake and his peril--they were Blackfeet. Springing upon his
fleetest horse, and abandoning the other to the enemy, he made for
the mountains, and succeeded in escaping up one of the most dangerous
defiles. Here he concealed himself until he thought the Indians had gone
off, when he returned into the valley. He was again pursued, lost his
remaining horse, and only escaped by scrambling up among the cliffs. For
several days he remained lurking among rocks and precipices, and almost
famished, having but one remaining charge in his rifle, which he kept
for self-defence.

In the meantime, Sublette and Campbell, with their fellow traveller,
Wyeth, had pursued their march unmolested, and arrived in the Green
River valley, totally unconscious that there was any lurking enemy at
hand. They had encamped one night on the banks of a small stream, which
came down from the Wind River Mountains, when about midnight, a band
of Indians burst upon their camp, with horrible yells and whoops, and
a discharge of guns and arrows. Happily no other harm was done than
wounding one mule, and causing several horses to break loose from their
pickets. The camp was instantly in arms; but the Indians retreated with
yells of exultation, carrying off several of the horses under cover of
the night.

This was somewhat of a disagreeable foretaste of mountain life to some
of Wyeth's band, accustomed only to the regular and peaceful life of New
England; nor was it altogether to the taste of Captain Sublette's men,
who were chiefly creoles and townsmen from St. Louis. They continued
their march the next morning, keeping scouts ahead and upon their
flanks, and arrived without further molestation at Pierre's Hole.

The first inquiry of Captain Sublette, on reaching the rendezvous,
was for Fitzpatrick. He had not arrived, nor had any intelligence been
received concerning him. Great uneasiness was now entertained, lest
he should have fallen into the hands of the Blackfeet who had made
the midnight attack upon the camp. It was a matter of general joy,
therefore, when he made his appearance, conducted by two half-breed
Iroquois hunters. He had lurked for several days among the mountains,
until almost starved; at length he escaped the vigilance of his enemies
in the night, and was so fortunate as to meet the two Iroquois hunters,
who, being on horseback, conveyed him without further difficulty to
the rendezvous. He arrived there so emaciated that he could scarcely be
recognized.

The valley called Pierre's Hole is about thirty miles in length and
fifteen in width, bounded to the west and south by low and broken
ridges, and overlooked to the east by three lofty mountains, called the
three Tetons, which domineer as landmarks over a vast extent of country.

A fine stream, fed by rivulets and mountain springs, pours through
the valley toward the north, dividing it into nearly equal parts. The
meadows on its borders are broad and extensive, covered with willow and
cotton-wood trees, so closely interlocked and matted together as to be
nearly impassable.

In this valley was congregated the motley populace connected with the
fur trade. Here the two rival companies had their encampments,
with their retainers of all kinds: traders, trappers, hunters, and
half-breeds, assembled from all quarters, awaiting their yearly
supplies, and their orders to start off in new directions. Here, also,
the savage tribes connected with the trade, the Nez Perces or Chopunnish
Indians, and Flatheads, had pitched their lodges beside the streams, and
with their squaws, awaited the distribution of goods and finery. There
was, moreover, a band of fifteen free trappers, commanded by a gallant
leader from Arkansas, named Sinclair, who held their encampment a little
apart from the rest. Such was the wild and heterogeneous assemblage,
amounting to several hundred men, civilized and savage, distributed in
tents and lodges in the several camps.

The arrival of Captain Sublette with supplies put the Rocky Mountain Fur
Company in full activity. The wares and merchandise were quickly opened,
and as quickly disposed of to trappers and Indians; the usual excitement
and revelry took place, after which all hands began to disperse to their
several destinations.

On the 17th of July, a small brigade of fourteen trappers, led by
Milton Sublette, brother of the captain, set out with the intention of
proceeding to the southwest. They were accompanied by Sinclair and his
fifteen free trappers; Wyeth, also, and his New England band of beaver
hunters and salmon fishers, now dwindled down to eleven, took this
opportunity to prosecute their cruise in the wilderness, accompanied
with such experienced pilots. On the first day, they proceeded about
eight miles to the southeast, and encamped for the night, still in the
valley of Pierre's Hole. On the following morning, just as they were
raising their camp, they observed a long line of people pouring down a
defile of the mountains. They at first supposed them to be Fontenelle
and his party, whose arrival had been daily expected. Wyeth, however,
reconnoitred them with a spy-glass, and soon perceived they were
Indians. They were divided into two parties, forming, in the whole,
about one hundred and fifty persons, men, women, and children. Some were
on horseback, fantastically painted and arrayed, with scarlet blankets
fluttering in the wind. The greater part, however, were on foot. They
had perceived the trappers before they were themselves discovered, and
came down yelling and whooping into the plain. On nearer approach, they
were ascertained to be Blackfeet.

One of the trappers of Sublette's brigade, a half-breed named Antoine
Godin, now mounted his horse, and rode forth as if to hold a conference.
He was the son of an Iroquois hunter, who had been cruelly murdered by
the Blackfeet at a small stream below the mountains, which still bears
his name. In company with Antoine rode forth a Flathead Indian, whose
once powerful tribe had been completely broken down in their wars with
the Blackfeet. Both of them, therefore, cherished the most vengeful
hostility against these marauders of the mountains. The Blackfeet came
to a halt. One of the chiefs advanced singly and unarmed, bearing the
pipe of peace. This overture was certainly pacific; but Antoine and the
Flathead were predisposed to hostility, and pretended to consider it a
treacherous movement.

"Is your piece charged?" said Antoine to his red companion.

"It is."

"Then cock it, and follow me."

They met the Blackfoot chief half way, who extended his hand in
friendship. Antoine grasped it.

"Fire!" cried he.

The Flathead levelled his piece, and brought the Blackfoot to the
ground. Antoine snatched off his scarlet blanket, which was richly
ornamented, and galloped off with it as a trophy to the camp, the
bullets of the enemy whistling after him. The Indians immediately threw
themselves into the edge of a swamp, among willows and cotton-wood
trees, interwoven with vines. Here they began to fortify themselves;
the women digging a trench, and throwing up a breastwork of logs
and branches, deep hid in the bosom of the wood, while the warriors
skirmished at the edge to keep the trappers at bay.

The latter took their station in a ravine in front, whence they kept up
a scattering fire. As to Wyeth, and his little band of "downeasters,"
they were perfectly astounded by this second specimen of life in the
wilderness; the men, being especially unused to bushfighting and the use
of the rifle, were at a loss how to proceed. Wyeth, however, acted as
a skilful commander. He got all his horses into camp and secured them;
then, making a breastwork of his packs of goods, he charged his men to
remain in garrison, and not to stir out of their fort. For himself,
he mingled with the other leaders, determined to take his share in the
conflict.

In the meantime, an express had been sent off to the rendezvous for
reinforcements. Captain Sublette, and his associate, Campbell, were at
their camp when the express came galloping across the plain, waving his
cap, and giving the alarm; "Blackfeet! Blackfeet! a fight in the upper
part of the valley!--to arms! to arms!"

The alarm was passed from camp to camp. It was a common cause. Every one
turned out with horse and rifle. The Nez Perces and Flatheads joined.
As fast as horseman could arm and mount he galloped off; the valley was
soon alive with white men and red men scouring at full speed.

Sublette ordered his men to keep to the camp, being recruits from St.
Louis, and unused to Indian warfare. He and his friend Campbell prepared
for action. Throwing off their coats, rolling up their sleeves, and
arming themselves with pistols and rifles, they mounted their horses
and dashed forward among the first. As they rode along, they made their
wills in soldier-like style; each stating how his effects should be
disposed of in case of his death, and appointing the other his executor.

The Blackfeet warriors had supposed the brigade of Milton Sublette all
the foes they had to deal with, and were astonished to behold the
whole valley suddenly swarming with horsemen, galloping to the field
of action. They withdrew into their fort, which was completely hid from
sight in the dark and tangled wood. Most of their women and children
had retreated to the mountains. The trappers now sallied forth and
approached the swamp, firing into the thickets at random; the Blackfeet
had a better sight at their adversaries, who were in the open field, and
a half-breed was wounded in the shoulder.