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Full text of "The history of Wyoming from the earliest known discoveries"

M.L. 

Gc 

978.7 
C83h 
1478510 



GENEALOGY COLLECTION 



ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 



3 1833 01104 5801 




THE AUTHOR. 



"\ 



(yS^«^<^ <7'(^.,ta^^^ 



THE 



History of Wyoming^ 



FROM THE EARLIEST KNOWN DISCOVERIES. 



IN THREE VOLUMES. 



C. G. COUTANT. 



VOLUME I. . 



Laramie, Wyoming: 
Chaplin. Spafford & Mathison, Printers. 



fUa.^j ^^e Uff'i %' 






To the memory of those pioneers, living- 
and dead, who explored our mountains 
and valleys regardless of the dangers 
which beset them on every hand and who 
finally conquered the wilderness and 
made it possible to organize here a com- 
monwealth, these pages are reverently 
dedicated. 

THE A UTHOR. 



Copyrisht, 1899, by C. G. Coutant. 



1478510 

PREFACE. 



In the preparation of this work I have endeavored to 
trace the early explorers who came to Wyoming. It will 
be observed that, with a single exception, every account 
given is based upon authentic history; the exception being 
the chapter devoted to ''Spanish Occupation." While it 
must be admitted that these traditions are reasonable and 
interesting, I have deemed it better to utilize only a small 
portion of the Spanish claims. It would have been possible 
to have gone back to 1591 and traced the expedition of Don 
Juan de Onate from Mexico through Colorado and the north- 
west. It is believed that he explored the South and North 
Platte and if he did he must have reached Wyoming. While 
interesting speculations might be indulged in regarding 
numerous Spanish expeditions to the north, I have refrained 
from this for the reason that these are tradition and not 
history. The more modern explorations and occupations 
are quite as interesting as those of the sixteenth and seven- 
teenth centuries. The searcher after facts will find many 
surprises in regard to the early occupation of this country 
by white men. When Robert Stuart passed down the Sweet- 
water and North Platte in 1812-13, he met Doruin and Roi, 
two white traders, not far below Grand Island on the Platte 
River. At that early date there were many white trappere 
in this part of the west. John B. Sarpey, his brother Peter 
A. Sarpey, Godfrey Gerry and Elbridge Gerry, two brothers, 
came during the twenties and remained permanently. The 
Gerrys were grandsons of Elbridge Gerry, one of the sign- 
ers of the Declaration of Independence. I have every reason 
to believe that Manuel Lisa's trappers also visited eastern 



iv Preface. 

Wyoming as early as 1809. The Chouteau brothers of St. 
Louis sent their men into this part of the west at an early 
date, that is previous to 1815. Just what time they reached 
the upper waters of the Platte, it is impossible to say with 
any degree of certainty. Desiring to confine this work to 
matters of known record, I have carefully avoided entering 
the realm of tradition. 

The fur trading period forms a distinct epoch in the 
history of Wyoming. The prosecution of this business, to 
a large extent, changed the conditions of the Indians, the 
white men and the country. Few of the great leaders in 
the fur trade cared to interest themselves in explorations. 
Previous to 1832 only General W. H. Ashley, of all the fur 
traders and trappers, took an interest in exploring the coun- 
try. Following this renowned leader, came the first official 
explorer, Captain B. L. E. Bonneville, Much care has been 
taken to point out the official character of this, the first ex- 
pedition to enter Wyoming under instructions of the gov- 
ernment. Irving's charming story of Captain Bonneville, 
to some extent, was regarded as a romance at the time of its 
publication, but I hope I have succeeded in showing that 
the expedition was intended to accomplish a scientific and 
usefnl purpose. Because of the official character of Captain 
Bonneville, I have made copious extracts from his report 
and it must be admitted that his investigations in this coun- 
try form a reliable part of our early history. Fremont came 
ten years later and the scientific nature of his work in this 
section, as well as its high official character and importance, 
has demanded at my hands no less space than is accorded it. 

Great pains have been taken to search out all that re- 
lates to the Overland trail, including the depredations com- 
mitted by Indians along this famous highway, the Oregon, 
Mormon and California emigration, the establishing of the 
mail line across the mountains, the starting of the Pony Ex- 
press, the building of the telegraph line and all the incidents 
of a public nature which contribute to the history of the 
times. The Indian wars which followed are covered by ofll- 



Preface. v 

cial reports, which have been used and which form the basis 
of the history of all military operations connected with the 
protection of emigrants. 

I make no claim that this history is entirely free from 
error, but I will assure the reader that every precaution has 
been taken in its preparation, and, as far as possible, dates, 
incidents and circumstances have been secured from official 
reports and from other reliable sources. 

The illustrations in this volume, for the most part, have 
intrinsic value, and some of them have been secured with 
difficulty. The portrait of Captain B. L. E. Bonneville was 
kindly furnished me by the Hon. N. P. Langford. That of 
Father De Smet was secured through the kindness of Bish- 
op Lenihan. T. Jeff Carr presented the portrait of General 
Connor. These are rare portraits and difficult to obtain at 
this late day. Most of the illustrations along the Overland 
trail are by the Wyoming artist, M. D. Houghton, who pro- 
duced them after much study and investigation. They are 
not mere ideal drawings, but were made with the assistance 
of pioneers who took the trouble to visit, with the artist, 
the locality, and explain the forts, buildings, bridges, etc. 
These drawings have stood the test of critical examinations 
on the part of many old timers who were familiar with the 
appearance of everything along the Overland road in the 
old days. 

This work will be completed in three volumes, each of 
which will have a table of contents, and the last book will 
contain a full index covering the subjects treated upon in the 
three volumes and these subjects will be subdivided and in- 
dexed for the convenience of those in search of information. 
The index will also give names, battles, incidents and all 
matter connected with the history of the State, so that the 
reader will be enabled to find, without delay, any subject, 
incident or name mentioned in the work. 

I owe it to myself to say that the undertaking has grown 
on my hands and has become of greater magnitude than was 
contemplated. Other states have histories that simply re- 



vi Preface. 

late to events which are a part only of their occupation and 
settlement; while Wyoming was the highway where con- 
verged all roads leading across the plains to the territories 
beyond. This made our State the theater of bloody wars from 
the time of the discovery of South Pass, for more than seventy 
years. Kansas, Nebraska and Colorado each have histories 
filled with thrilling tales of the border; while our State had 
to bear the concentrated warfare engendered in the territo- 
ries named. Our mountain passes afforded opportunity for 
ambush suited to the character of the savage tribes who 
disputed the passage of white men through the country. 
This holds good from the earliest record of trappers and 
traders, down through the emigrant days, the building of 
the railroad, and only ended when the government succeeded 
in utterly crushing the red warriors. This volume covers 
many startling situations and yet the happenings of the 
territorial period, which are told in the second volume, are 
no less dramatic. This is now in preparation and will be 
completed in a few months. It opens with the history of the 
founding of Cheyenne, the organization of Laramie County, 
the founding of Laramie City, the organization of Albany 
and other counties, together with the commencement of the 
Territorial Government. These events were intended for the 
first volume, but a proper division of the matter, after it was 
prepared forced me to assign these subjects to the second 
volume. By this change a large number of illustrations, 
which go with the matter mentioned, are left out of this vol- 
ume, but will appear in the next. 

THE AUTHOR. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE. 
Introductory Remarks 17 

Grand Possibilities — Mineral Wealth — Backbone of the 
Continent — Fountain Head of Mighty Rivers — Boundary of 
Wyoming — Names of Rivers and Mountains. 

CHAPTER II. 
Spanish Occupation 23 

The Claims of the Spaniards Regarding the Northwest — 
What Different Writers Say — Where Did the White Blood of 
the Mandans Come From? — Relics of Iron Tools Found in 
Northern Wyoming and Montana — Evidences of Mining and 
Agriculture Carried on Probably in the Seventeenth Cen- 
tury — The Subject Referred to Future Historians. 

CHAPTER III. 
French Canadian Explorations 33 

The De la Verendryes Lead an Expedition from Canada 
to the Headwaters of the Mississippi Across to the Missouri 
into the Yellowstone and Wind River Countries — Turned 
Back by the Shoshones, Who Persuade the Explorers That 
They Will be Killed by the Sioux at South Pass — Eleven 
Years Spent in the Wilderness — Return to Montreal — Second 
Expedition Is Prevented by the Death of De la Verendrye 
— Unprincipled Politicians Rob the De la Verendrye Family 
and Get Their Hands in the Coffers of the King — Fur Trade 
Under English Ownership of Canada— American Revolution 
Leads to Great Changes in the Fur Trade. 

CHAPTER IV. 

The First American Explorers 43 

History of Western Course of Empire — Thomas Jefferson 
Becomes a Leader and Finally Succeeds in His Cherished 
Scheme of Sending Expeditions up the Headwaters of the 
Missouri to Search For a Gateway Through the Rocky 
Mountains — The Lewis and Clark Expedition— They Winter 



viii Contents. 

PAGE. 

at the Mandan Village on the Upper Missouri in 1804 — In 1805 
Spend the Winter at the mouth of the Columbia — Re- 
turn to St. Louis in 1806. 

CHAPTER V. 

The Famous John Colter 61 

The First American to Enter Wyoming — A Member of 
the Lewis and Clark Expedition — Remains in the Vicinity of 
the Yellowstone From 1806 to 1810— He Traps Along the Big 
Horn, Big Wind River, and Crosses the Range to the Pacific 
Slope in 1807— Returns by the Way of the Yellowstone 
National Park, of Which He Was the Discoverer — His Ad- 
venture With the Blackfeet— A Race for Life— Relates His 
Story to Captain Clark, Bradbury and Others. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Ezekiel Williams' Party in Wyoming 70 

They Follow Up the Yellowstone and are Attacked by 
Blackfeet — Cross Over to the Big Horn and go South — Reach 
the Sweetwater — Another Attack by Indians — Retreat South 
Across the Laramie Plains and Reach the Headwaters of 
the South Platte — Comanches Attack the Party and Kill all 
But Three — Williams Returns to St. Louis and the Two 
Others go to Southern California — The Leader Again Visits 
the Sweetwater in 1809. 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Astoria Expedition 74 

The Tonauin Sails For the Mouth of the Columbia — 
Wilson P. Hunt Organizes a Land Expedition and Goes up 
the Missouri — The Party Reaches the Country Which Is 
Now Wyoming — Numerous Attempts Made to Cross the Big 
Horn Mountains — Finally Ascend the Middle Fork of the 
Powder River and Reach the No Wood — Journey Up the Big 
Horn and Big Wind Rivers — Cross Sheridan Pass to the 
Headwaters of Green River — First View of the Grand Tetons 
— Crossing the Green River Valley — They Reach the Head- 
waters of the Columbia. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Astorians in Wyoming 85 

Hunt and His Party Follow Down the Mad (Snake) River 
— They Reach Henry's Fort — Build Canoes and Attempt the 



Contents. ix 

PAGE. 

Further Journey by Water — Three Hundred and Forty Miles 
•Below Again Take to the Land — Great Suffering of the Party 
Through Hunger and Cold — At Last Reach the Falls of the 
Columbia — Balance of the Journey Made by Canoes — Arrival 
at Astoria. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Conditions at Astoria 91 

Aarrival of the Tonquin — David Stuart's Expedition to 
Establish a New Trading Post — David Thompson, of the 
Northwest Company, Comes Down the Columbia to Plant 
the British Flag at the Mouth of that River, But Is Too Late 
— Disaster to the Tonquin and the Murder of Her Crew by 
Indians — Mr. Lewis' Terrible Revenge — Indians at Astoria 
Held in Check by Threats of Spreading Small-pox Among 
Them — Arrival of the Beaver From New York — Departure 
of Hunt For New Archangel and the Sandwich Islands — 
Treachey of McDougal — Abandonment of Astoria. 

CHAPTER X. 

Great Overland Trail Discovered 101 

Robert Stuart and His Little Band of Six Pass Around 
the South End of the Wind River Range during the Early 
Winter of 1812 — Discovery of the Sweetwater River and 
Passage Down That Stream — They Camp at Bessemer for the 
Winter — Leave Their Winter Camp For Fear of Indians — 
Great Suffering of the Party as They Journey Down the 
Platte — Discovery of the Platte River Canon— Second Winfer 
Encampment — Journey Down the River in the Spring of 
1813. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Ashley's Trappers in Wyoming 119' 

Trapping on the Yellowstone, Big Horn, Big Wind, and 
Other Sources of the Missouri — Names the Sweetwater and 
Changes the Name Spanish River to Green River — Employs 
Over Three Hundred Trappers — His Expedition to Salt Lake 
— Marvelous Success As a Fur Trader — Makes a Fortune and 
Sells Out to Sublette, Campbell, Bridger and Others — His 
Speech to the Mountain Men— Changes the Character of the 
Trapper by Mounting Him on Horseback — A Lifelong Per- 
sonal Friend of Every Trapper Who Shared With Him the 
Dangers of the Mountains — Author's Tribute to the American 
Trapper. 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER XII. PAGE. 

Fur Trappers and Traders 130 

Captain William Sublette Succeeds General Ashley — He 
Organizes the Rocky Mountain Fur Company With Jedediah. 
S. Smith, David E. Jackson and Others as Partners — Brilliant 
Campaign Planned and Carried Out — Names Jackson's Hole 
and Lake — Introduces Wagons Into the Service in Wyoming 
— Captain Nathaniel J. Wyeth — Battle of Pierre's Hole — 
Death of Vanderberg — Bridger's Affair With the Chief of the 
Blackfeet — Success Attends the Fur Trade. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Captain Bonneville in Wyoming 148 

Leaves Fort Osage With Twenty Wagons and One Hun- 
dred and Ten Men — Reaches the Platte River Below Grand 
Island — Scott's Bluffs and Origin of the Name — Follows the 
North Fork of the Platte — Crosses Over to the Sweetwater — 
Experience of Tom Cain — Rejoicings After Crossing the Con- 
tinental Divide — Fontenelle Overtakes the Bonneville Party — 
Arrival at Green River — Fortifies His Camp — Free Trappers 
Visited by Blackfeet. 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Bonneville Sends Out His Trappers 157 

Various Detachments in the Field — Main Party Pass 
Through Jackson's Hole and Pierre's Hole on the Way to 
Solomon River — Meets the Nez Perces — His Opinion of This 
Tribe — Experiences During the Winter — Rendezvous on. 
Green River in 1833 — Stories of His Several Leaders — Scenes 
at the Rendezvous — A Digression by the Author, in Which 
He Tells of the Relations Between Captain Bonneville attd 
Washington Irving — Valuable Services Rendered the Govern- 
ment. 

CHAPTER XV. 
Bonneville Leaves Wyoming 171 

Furs Collected, Convoyed to the Big Horn and Shipped 
by Bull Boats — Interesting Incidents of the Journey North — 
Discovery of the Great Tar Spring — Dangers and Difficulties 
of the Return Trip — Discovery of the Big Hot Spring Near 
the Present Site of Fort Washakie — Captain Bonneville At- 
tempts to Work His Way Through the Wind River Range — 
Ascent of Mount Bonneville — Toilsome Journey — Discovers 



Contents. xi 

PAGE. 

a Community of Beavers — Returns to His Caches on Green 
River by Way of South Pass — Crosses the Wind River Range 
at the Head of Green River — Many Incidents of His Second 
Journey to the Columbia — Last Winter in the Mountains — 
Rendezvous in the Wind River Valley— Returns to Civiliza- 
tion. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Sketches of Trappers and Traders 188 

Trappers First Permanent Settlers in Wyoming — Per- 
sonal Mention of Jim. Beckwourth — Nathaniel J. Wyeth — 
James Bridger — Kit Carson — Jedediah S. Smith — Joshua 
Pilcher — George W. Ebberts — Robert Newell — Captain 
William Sublette — Thomas Fitzpatrick — Frapp — Jervaise — 
Fontenelle — Jennings — LeRoy — Ross — Sinclair Brothers — 
Dripps — Vasques — Goodale — Pappen — Tulleck. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Opening of First Highway— 1835-1843 207 

The Missionaries, Parker and Whitman, Pass Up the 
Platte, Sweetwater, and Reach Green River— Dr. Whitman 
Returns to the States — A Romantic Wedding Tour — First 
Two White Women in Wyoming — Remarkable Fourth of 
July Celebration at South Pass — Grand Reception Given the 
Pioneer Women at Green River — Arrival in Oregon — Perilous 
Ride of Dr. Whitman — Passes Through Wyoming With a 
Thousand Settlers— The Indian Massacre — The Hero of West- 
ern Civilization. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Father Peter De Smet 229 

His Arrival in Wyoming and Passage Up the North 
Platte and Sweetwater — The Flatheads Meet Him at Green 
River — Wonderful Interest Shown by the Indians in This 
Priest — He Tells of His Experiences and Future Labors — 
Many Visits to Wyoming— Incident Among the Crows — 
Supposed Knowledge of Gold in the Big Horn Mountains — 
His Death at St. Louis — What Is Thought of Father DeSmet 
in Wyoming. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming 238 

The First Military Expedition to Visit Our State— The Main 
Detachment Follows the North Platte to Fort Laramie — Fre- 



xii Contents. 

PAGE. 

mont, With a Small Party, Visits Fort St. Vrain and Passes 
North to Fort Laramie — Description of the Fort as It Appear- 
ed in 1842 — Indians Invite Them to Partake of a Dog Feast 
—Indian Chiefs Warn the Party that if They Go Further 
West, They Will Be Killed— Fremont's Speech of Defiance- 
Expedition Goes Forward — Observations Regarding For- 
mations, Soil, Climate, Etc. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming (Continued) 255 

Meets a Band of Ogalalla Sioux — Discouraging Reports 
of the Condition of the Country — Severe Drought and a 
Grasshopper Plague — Advised to Give up the Expedition — 
Boldly Pushes Forward — Journey Up the Sweetwater — 
Crosses South Pass — Penetrates the Wind River Range — 
Climbs Fremont's Peak — The Return Journey — Engraves a 
Cross on Independence Rock — More Carefully Explores the 
North Platte — Returns to Fort Laramie — Follows the Platte 
to the Missouri — Goes Down the Missouri in a Ten-Oared 
Boat — Arrives at St. Louis. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Fremont's Second Expedition Through Wyoming 274 

The Start From the Missouri — Follow the Kansas River — 
Command Divided — Explorations in Colorado — Two Divi- 
sions Meet at Fort St. Vrain — Twenty-Five Men With the 
Baggage Go By Way of Fort Laramie to Fort Hall — Fremont 
and Thirteen Men Explore Laramie Plains and Proceed 
Westward to Eastern Rim of Red Desert — Proceed North to 
Sweetwater — Journey to Bear River — Explore Great Salt 
Lake — Join Balance of Command at Fort Hall — Explorations 
in Oregon — Winter Campaign in the Mountains of Cali- 
fornia—Third Exploring Expedition and Experiences in 
California — Fourth Exploring Expedition — Great Suffering of 
the Party and Eleven Deaths — Fremont's Public Services. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

Discoveries in Yellowstone Park 286 

Joseph Meek Strays Into the Park in 1829 and Tells What 
He Saw — An Unknown Explorer in 1833 Writes the First 
Description of Geysers — Jim Bridger in 1850 Takes His 
Friends to See the Curiosities at the Head of the Yellowstone, 
Which He Had Been Telling About for Twenty-five Years— 



Contents. xiii 

PAGE. 

Reynolds' Expedition in 1860 Is Prevented by Deep Snow 
From Entering the Geyser Country — Numerous Prospectors 
See the Thermal Springs and Geysers — The Folsom Ex- 
pedition of 1869 — Organization of the Washburn Expedition 
in 1870. 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

History of Fort Laramie 296 

A Noted Post in the Wilderness — Story of Jacques 
Laramie — Naming Laramie River — Robert Campbell Builds 
Fort William— Name Changed to Fort Laramie — Purchased 
by Milton Sublette, Jim Bridger and others — Sold to Ameri- 
can Fur Company — Becomes the Capital of the Wilderness 
— Palmy Days at the Old Trading Post — Important Station 
on the Overland Trail — Closing Days of the Fur Traders at 
Fort Laramie. 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

History of Fort Laramie (Continued) 310 

Purchase of Fort Laramie by United States Government 
— The Price Paid — The First Garrison — Reinforcements — Re- 
building of the Fort — Scurvy Attacks the Soldiers — Cholera 
at Scott's Bluffs — Captain Ketchum Relieves Major Sander- 
son as Commander — American Fur Company Retires Down 
the River to Scott's Bluffs — Emigrant Trains — Indians for 
the Most Part Peaceable — Valuable Services of American 
Fur Company to Emigrants — Treaty of 1851. 

CHAPTER XXV. 
History of Fort Laramie (Continued) 320 

Unpleasant Side of the Service at Fort Laramie — Shut up 
in the Wilderness — Gloom and Despondency — Insolent Sav- 
ages — Indians Severely Punished — Lieutenant Grattan and 
Thirty Soldiers Massacred — Sioux Tribes on the War Path — 
Fort Laramie Reinforced — Major Hoffman Takes Command 
— The Sioux Make War on Emigrant Trains — Sir George 
Gore's Hunting Expedition — Bridger Becomes Guide — 
Terrible Conditions Along the Overland Trail — Government 
Urged to Protect Emigrants — War Department Aroused at 
Last. 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

The Oregon Emigration 330 

Dr. Elijah White's Train of 1842— Trials and Tribula- 



xiv Contents. 

PAGK. 

tions by the Way— Fitzpatrick the Guide — Emigrants of 1844 
— Extravagant Prices at Fort Laramie That Year — One 
Thousand Four Hundred and Seventy-five People Go to 
Oregon in 1844 — Senator Benton's Prophecy — The Business 
of the Trail in 1845— The Rush in 1846— Indians Say White 
Men Are as Numerous as the Leaves of the Forest — Scenes at 
Fort Laramie — Increasing Emigration of 1847-8 — The "Days 
of Forty-Nine." 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Mormon Emigration 34© 

Brigham Young's Pioneer Train — An Incident on the 
Eastern Border of Wyoming — Arrival at Fort Laramie^ 
Crossing the Platte Above Caspar With Boats and Rafts — 
The Train Crosses South Pass — Reaches the Big Sandy and 
Green River — Jim Bridger Meets Brigham Young— The Stop 
at Fort Bridger — Train Passes Out of Wyoming — Arrival in 
Salt Lake. Valley — Incidents Connected with the Mormon 
Settlement — Character of Brigham Young. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

History of Fort Bridger 34^ 

First a Trappers' and Traders' Rendezvous — Bridger 
Builds a Block House — The Bridger and Vasquez Partnership 
The Mormons Settle Around the Fort in 1853 — Rebuilt in 
1855 — Occupied by Government Troops, Winter of 1857-8 
— Troops on Short Rations — Captain Marcy's Winter Journey 
— Fort Rebuilt by the Government — Practically Abandoned 
in 1861 — Judge Carter Orgajiizes a Company of Mountaineers 
to Garrison the Fort — California and Nevada Volunteers 
Occupy the Post From 1862 to 1866— Arrival of United States 
Troops to Replace Volunteers — Troops Protect Overland 
Stages and Engineers of Union Pacific Railway — Abandoned 
in 1890. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

Events on the Overland 359 

What Came of Fremont's Explorations — Hockaday and 
Liggett's Monthly Stage from the Missouri to Salt Lake — Fort 
Kearney, South Pass and Honey Lake Wagon Road — Winter 
Camp in the Wind River Valley — Colonel F. W. Lander and 
the Shoshone Indians — Russell, Majors and Waddell, the 
Freighters— Daily Stage Line— The Pony Express— Fight Be- 
tween the Shoshones and Sioux— Death of War Chief Wash- 
akie's Eldest Son— Construction of the Telegraph Line. 



Contents. xv 

CHAPTER XXX. page. 

Changing the Overland Trail 374 

Ben Holliday Becomes Proprietor of the Stage Line — 
Shoshones Capture all the Horses For a Distance of 200 Miles 
— The Mormon Battalion — Arrival of Volunteer Troops — The 
Emigrant Road Expedition — Colonel P. Edward Connor Takes 
Charge of the Military District of Utah — Fort Douglass Lo- 
cated — Fort Bridger Garrisoned — Mormon Effort to Have 
Troops Removed From Fort Douglass — Colonel Connor's 
Letter to the War Department — Removal of the Stages to the 
Laramie Plains and Bridger Pass Route — Whisky Gap Named 
— Thorough Equipment of the Holliday Line. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

Indian Depredations on the Overland 390 

Colonel Connor's Winter Campaign — Battle of Bear River 
— Two Hundred and Twenty-Four Indians Killed — Colonel 
Connor Made a Brigadier General — Southern Utes Go on the 
War Path — Additional Troops Asked For — General Connor 
Makes a Statement to the War Department Regarding the 
Mormons — Major Wynkoop Ordered to the Overland Trail — 
Hostiles Attack Sweetwater Station — Utes Attack Stage 
Station on Laramie Plains — The Bannocks and Snakes Want 
Peace — Wyoming Attached to the Military District of 
Colorado — Utes Sue For Peace in Utah — The Career of the 
Notorious Joseph A. Slade In Wyoming — His Execution by 
Vigilantes in Montana. 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

Indian Troubles on the Overland 406 

Events of 1864 — A Glance Backward — The Crow Country 
— The Crow Character — What Robert Campbell Says of Them 
—The Bozeman Road— The Man Who Laid It Out and His 
Death — Overland Stage Company Complains — General Con- 
nor's Policy With the Indians Successful — Return of Stolen 
Property — General Connor Ordered to Protect the Over- 
land From Salt Lake to Fort Kearney — Mormons Attempt 
to Have Camp Douglass Removed — General Connor's Trouble 
With the Mormons — The Outlook for 1865. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

The Bloody Year on the Plains 422 

Indians Become Experts in Killing and Robbing— Hos- 



xvi Contents. 

PAGE. 

tilities Open on January 7 — Captain O'Brien's Desperate 
Fight Against Overwhelming Numbers — The Burning of 
Julesburg Station — The Attack on Mud Springs Station — 
Colonel Collins Brings Relief — Fight at Rush Creek — De- 
struction of the Telegraph Line — Colonel Collins Returns to 
Fort Laramie — His Recommendations to the Government 
— Organization of the Department of the Plains — General 
Connor Placed in Command — Indians Attack Deer Creek 
Station — Colonel Moonlight's Expedition to Wind River — 
Renewed Trouble at Julesburg — Capture of Two Face and 
Blackfoot — Their Execution at Fort Laramie — Rescue of Mrs. 
Bubanks — The Schuyler Colfax Party. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

The Bloody Year on the Plains (Continued) 445 

Headquarters Removed From Denver to Julesburg — 
Colonel Moonlight Places Additional Troops on the Telegraph. 
Line — District Inspectors Appointed — Commanders of the 
Different Posts — Indians Attack Rock Ridge and Sweetwater 
Stations — Attack and Burning of St. Mary's Station — Affair 
at Platte Bridge — Trouble at Sage Creek.Pine Grove an* 
Bridger Pass Stations — Second Attack on Sage Creek Station 
— The Stage Company Refuses to Run Coaches — Soldiers 
Mutiny — So-Called Friendly Indians Mutiny — Colonel Moon- 
light's Troubles — General Connor Getting Ready For a Cam- 
paign on Powder River — Troops Delayed By Bad Roads — 
Additional Troubles on the Telegraph Line and the Stage 
Route Across Laramie Plains — Niobrara and Montana Wagon 
Road. 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

The Bloody Year on the Plains (Continued) 469 

The Massacre at Platte Bridge — Lieutenant Caspar W. 
Collins Goes Out to Insure the Safety of a Wagon Train and 
Is Killed Together With Eight of His Men and Seven More 
Wounded — Twenty-One Men Belonging to the Wagon 
Train Are All Killed But Three — Three Thousand Indians 
Threaten Platte Bridge — How Fort Caspar Received Its 
Name — Able Letter on the Indian Question by Major General 
John Pope — Indian Affairs Discussed by the Author — Mis- 
takes Made by the Government in the Management of the 
Indians— General Connor Is Given a New Command — General 
Wheaton Assumes Command of the District of Nebraska, 



Contents. xvli 

PAGE. 

With Headquarters at Port Laramie — Reduction of the Army 
on the Plains — Its Effect on the Savages — The Much Talked 
of Peace Conference to be Held at Fort Laramie, May, 1866. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 
The Bloody Year on the Phiins (Continued) 491 

Troops Operating Against Savages — Divided Into Small 
Detachments — Red Men Have Things Their Own Way — In- 
dian Affairs and the Indian Question — The Powder River 
Campaign Discussed and Determined by Generals Pope, 
Dodge and Connor — General Connor Issues His Instructions 
to Colonel Cole and Makes Known His Plan of Campaign — 
Departure of the Expedition — Captain George F. Price Left In 
Command at Fort Laramie — Pope Abolishes the District of 
the Plains — Assigns Connor to the District of Utah — General 
F. Wheaton Assigned to the District of Nebraska With Head- 
quarters at Fort Laramie — Indian Depredations on the Tele- 
graph and Mail Line After General Connor's Departure For 
Powder River. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

Report of the Powder River Expedition 505 

Captain Palmer's Dairy — The Army of Invasion Starts 
North — Crossing the Platte at LaBonta's Ranch — Incidents by 
the Way — Building of Fort Connor — A Running Fight — 
Twenty-Four Indians Killed — A Skirmish — Visits Lake De 
Smet — Something About Jim Bridger — Battle of Tongue 
River — Exciting Scenes on the Field of Carnage — The March 
Down Tongue River — Anxiety About Colonel Cole's Com- 
mand — Scouring the Country For Indians — Colonel Cole 
Heard From and His Troops Reported to Be in a Starving 
Condition — He Fails to Meet General Connor at the Appoint- 
ed Place of Rendezvous — Return of the Various Commands 
to Fort Laramie. 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

Thrilling^ Events of the Bozeman Road 541 

Mountain District Organized — Colonel H. B. Carrington 
Assumes Command — Expedition Moves From Fort Kearney 
— The Peace Conference at Fort Laramie— Red Cloud's 
Position and Brave Words — The March to Fort Reno — The 
Building of the New Fort — Selecting a Site for Fort Phil. 
Kearney— Erection of the Post Commenced — Conference 



xviii Contents. 

PAGE. 

With Hostiles— First Encounter With the Savages— Attack 
on Train at Clear Creek— Lieutenant Daniels Killed— Fort 
C. F. Smith located — General Hazen Inspects the Posts — Fort 
Phil. Kearney Practically Completed October 31st. 

CHAPTER XXXIX. 

Thrilling Events of the Bozeman Road (Continued)' 560 

Description of Fort Phil. Kearney — Colonel Carrington's 
Address and Hoisting the Flag— A Night Attack— The Gar- 
rison Harassed by Night and by Day— Fight of December 
6th, Lieutenant Bingham and Sergeant Bowers Killed— The 
Fetterman Massacre — Eighty-One Brave Men Meet Death — 
Scenes at the Fort— Burial of the Dead— John Phillips' Daring 
Ride for Help— His Arrival at Fort Laramie — Reinforce- 
ments Go to Fort Phil. Kearney— Suffering of the Troops 
From the Cold on the Journey — A Review of the Causes 
Which Led to the Massacre. 

CHAPTER XL. 

Red Cloud Continues the War 1807 580 

Government Wants Peace — Red Cloud Jubilant — Brig- 
adier General Wessels Takes Command of Fort Phil. Kearney 
— Carrington Goes to Fort McPherson— General P. St. George 
Cooke Removed and General Augur Assumes Command of 
the Department of the Platte — Report of Congressional Com- 
mittee on the Fetterman Massacre — Red Cloud, With a Large 
Force, Hovers About Fort Phil. Kearney — Makes Preparations 
to Storm the Fort — Major Powell's Desperate Fight With 
Red Cloud— Indians Severely Beaten— Recruits His Forces 
From Other Tribes — Spotted Tail Punishes Deserters — 
Building of Fort Fetterman — Fort D. A. Russell I^ocated. 

CHAPTER XLI. 

Mistaken Policy of the Government 1868 .598 

Indians Continue Hostilities — Record for the Month of 
March — Peace Commissioners Assemble at Fort Laramie 
— Red Cloud Agrees to Terms But Does Not Sign — Six Hun- 
dred of His Warriors Dissatisfied and Withdraw— The 
Marauding Bands Continue the War — Forts Reno, Phil. 
Kearney and C. F. Smith Abandoned — Several Regiments 
Withdraw From the Plains — General Sheridan Points Out 
the Mistakes of the Peace Policy of the Government — Indian 
Troubles Renewed — Schuyler Colfax's Message to the War 



Contents. xix 

PAGE. 

Department — Governor Hunt of Colorado Asks for Arms — 
General Sherman's Reply — Generals Sheridan and Custer 
Take the Field — Text of the Sioux Treaty — Building of Fort 
Fred. Steele. 

CHAPTER XTJT. 

The Territory of Wyoming 1868 621 

The Building of a Railroad Necessitates a Government — 
The Name Wyoming and Its Origin — The First Bill in Con- 
gress — Dr. Hiram Latham Sent to Washington as an Agent of 
the People — Circular Distributed Among the Senators and 
Members of the House of Representatives— Bill Passes the 
Senate — Difficulties Encountered in the House — It was 
Finally Passed and Signed by the President — Territorial Offi- 
cers Nominated by President Johnson But Not Confirmed 
by the Senate — Bill Delayed Until General Grant Becomes 
President — The Act Organizing the Territory. 

CHAPTER XLIII. 

South Pass Gold Discoveries 1842-1869 636 

A Georgian Makes the First Discovery in 1842 — Thirteen 
Years Later Forty Men Arrived and Made Rich Discoveries — 
Next Year They Are Driven Out of the Country by United 
States Troops— The Attempts at Mining From 1858 to 1864 — 
Lieutenant Brown's Discoveries — Major Baldwin Outfits Two 
Prospectors — Organization of the Lincoln Mining District — 
Discovery of Carissa in 1867 — Killing of Captain Lawrence 
and Tony Shields by Indians — Mad Rush to South Pass in 
1868 — Numerous Rich Mines Discovered That Year — Attack 
by Indians — Building of Sawmills and Quartz Mills — Dis- 
coveries of 1869 — More Indian Depredations — Murders of 
the Year — Pioneers of the Camps. 

CHAPTER XLIV. 
Building the Union Pacific 675 

National Surveys — Chartered by Congress — Subsidy in 
Lands — Government Bonds Loaned — The Road a National 
Necessity — Patriotic Private Citizens Furnish Money and 
Construct the Road — The Government Secures Great Benefits 
For Which It Pays Practically Nothing — Incidents in th»> 
History of Construction — Marvelous Speed of the Track 
Layers — A Well Organized Army of Builders — Building 
Across Wyoming— Bear River Riot— Close of 1888. 



XX Contents. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER XLY. 

Pioneers and Origin of Names 685 

August Lucius, First Government Interpreter at Fort 
Laramie — Sergeant Leodiger Schneider — Ward and Guerrier 
and Other Post Traders at Fort Laramie — James Baker — 
Origin of the Name of Independence Rock — Richard Wootten 
in Wyoming — Origin of the Name Platte River — B. F. Lowe, 
Henry Perri — Old Trappers and Traders — Origin of Names 
of Big Horn River and Mountains, Big Wind River, Wind 
River Range, Shoshone Range, Popo Agie Rivers, Teton 
Range and Peaks — Climbing the Grand Teton. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Opposite 
Page 

Ames, Oakes 681 

Amoretti, E 656 

Author, The Frontispiece 

Baker, Jim 689 

Baker, Jim., Residence of 544 

Baldwin, Major Noyes 672 

Baldwin, Mrs. Noyes 672 

Bonneville, Capt. B. L. E 192 

Bridger, James 192 

Bridger's Ferry 368 

Bucknum, C. K 704 

Cannon, George Q 344 

Carson, Kit 256 

Cheney, Ervin F 672 

Connor, Maj. Gen. and Staff 512 

Connor, Maj. Gen. P. E 512 

Deer Creek Overland Stage Station 361 

De Smet, Father Peter 192 

Devil's Gate 264 

Dickinson, Mrs. Margaret 664 

Dillon, Sidney 681 

Durant, Thos. C 681 

Emigrants Crossing the Platte 336 

Fetterman Massacre, Map of Ground 570 

Fort Caspar 480 

Fort Fetterman 320 

Fort Philip Kearney 561 

Fort Laramie, 1836 304 

Fort Laramie, 1871 304 

Fort Laramie, 1889 320 

Fort Reno 544 

Fremont, Gen. John C 256 

Fremont's Speech at Fort Laramie 256 

Fremont's Peak 272 

Gould, Jay 681 

Hoback Canon, Entrance to 88 



xxii Illustrations. 

Opposite 
Page 

Hooper, W. H 344 

Hyde, Orson 344 

Independence Rock 264 

Indian Attack on Overland Stage 480 

Irwin, Dr. James 664 

Kelly, H. B 465 

Kime, James 672 

La Bonte Stage Station 368 

Lander, Gen. F. W 465 

Langford, Nathaniel P 192 

McAuley, Robert 649 

McAvoy, James A 664 

Mormon Pioneers 344 

Morris, Esther, at age of 50 640 

Natural Bridge 112 

Nickerson, Capt. H. G 649 

O'Brien, Capt. N. J 512 

Palmer, Capt. H. B 512 

Platte Canon, Looking South 112 

Platte Canon, Looking North 112 

Phillips, John 465 

Phillips, John, at Horse Shoe Station 592 

Pony Express Station 361 

Pratt, Orson 344 

Ramsey, Mrs. Addie 664 

Red Cloud, Chief, at age of 72 592 

Richards, Lieut. A. V 512 

Ricketts, R. M 672 

Sawyers, Col. James A 465 

Scott, Thos. A 681 

Sharp, John 344 

Spangler, Samuel L 672 

Sun, Tom 704 

Taylor, John 344 

Tetons, from Jackson's Lake 88 

Ware, Lieut. Eugene F 512 

Wells, Mayor Daniel H 344 

Wiggins, O. P 192 

Wind River Range 272 

Woodruff, J. D 649 

Woodruff, W 344 

Young, President Brigham , 344 



INTRODUCTION. 

BY JUDGE J. H. HAYFORD. 

Having been one of the earliest pioneers in Wyoming, 
the oldest journalist in the State, being intimately acquaint- 
ed with the author, having had free access to the advance 
sheets of this history during all its preparation; is my apol- 
ogy for accepting an invitation to write a brief introduction 
to this great work. 

It is fortunate for the State that the task of writing 
its history has fallen into the hands of one so well qualified 
and equipped for the undertaking as C. G. Coutant. From 
his youth he has engaged in literary work, for many years 
connected with the Metropolitan Press of New York City, 
by which he w^as detailed to examine proposed railroad 
routes across the continent, and later he followed along 
the lines of the great trans-continental railways during the 
period of their construction. Since the year 1859 he has 
been familiar with all parts of the Rocky Mountain coun- 
try and been personally acquainted with many of the noted 
pioneers. The events which make up the history of Wyo- 
ming, have to a greater or less extent been familiar to him 
from his boyhood. These circumstances and his literary ex- 
perience have especially qualified him to write the story of 
Wyoming's past. 

The public can never know or realize the vast amount 
of travel, research, experience and hard work which was 
necessary in going back into the misty past to gather from 
tradition, from early explorers, from oflQcial data contained 
in the War Department; as well as the investigation of per- 
sonal adventures of individuals, all necessary in the produc- 
tion of a work of this character. It was truly a Herculean 



xxiv tntroducUon. 

task. It has been pioneer work. No history of Wyoming 
had ever been written. The author has felt an overwhelm- 
ing sense of responsibility of the task in writing a history 
which is to be a record, not only for this, but for coming 
generations. It must be accurate and in every way reliable 
and it is this that made the undertaking laborious and dif- 
ficult. This experienced writer and searcher after facts 
has done his work with a most scrupulous and conscientious 
regard to accuracy in every particular. The conclusions 
drawn from the facts of history are given fairly and impar- 
tially, without flattery on the one hand or censoriousness 
on the other. 

The work will be found to be, not only reliable history 
of our State, but more intensely and thrillingly interesting 
than any romance of the period. The hardships, privations 
and hair-breadth escapes of the pioneers, the adventures of 
the hunters and trappers of a century ago and the Indian 
wars of later times are all graphically and accurately writ- 
ten out. The work, when completed, will be of the greatest 
value and of the most absorbing interest, not ouly to the pi- 
oneers and citizens generally of the State, but to coming 
generations and to the whole country. Let us all hope and 
pray that Mr. Coutant may live to complete this lasting 
monument to his honorable and useful labors of a lifetime. 



HISTOET OF WYOMING. 



CHAPTER I. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 



Grand Possibilities — Mineral Wealth — Backbone of the Continent 
— Fountain Head of Mighty Rivers — Boundary of Wyoming — 
Names of Rivers and Mountains. 

With beauty as rare and scenery as grand as can be 
found in the known world; with a wealth of mineral re- 
sources which will equal, if not surpass, all other geographi- 
cal divisions of the United States, Wyoming is found in the 
closing years of the 19th century possessing great possibili- 
ties in the way of future development. The vast storehouses 
filled with coal, oil, iron, copper, gold, silver and countless 
other minerals, await capital and enterprise to unlock the 
deposits and make them available for the use of man. 

Side by side with the mineral wealth is to be found a 
soil to produce a food supply sufficient for the wants 
of more than two million of population. The inexhaust- 
ible quantity of water for irrigation insures the success of 
agriculture for all time to come, and hand in hand all these 
await the coming of those who are in search of opportunities 
to earn their bread in the manner set forth in the divine law 
governing the affairs of the children of men. As the story of 
Wyoming proceeds it will be seen that its people have laid 
a broad and solid foundation whereon to build a great and 
prosperous commonwealth. 

Wyoming, is, so to speak, the backbone as well as the 
heart of the continent. From her almost inaccessible 

-(2) 



l8 History of Wyoming. 

mountains flow the headwaters which form the mighty 
rivers of the West. Thus our State is the fountain head 
of the great streams that find their way into the Atlantic, 
the Pacific and the Gulf of California, insuring us water 
wherewith to fertilize our many valleys and broad plains. 
Here under the very shadow of awe inspiring mountain 
peaks, a vast population has ample opportunity to build 
homes and develop farms which shall never suffer from 
drought but will year after year give an abundant harvest 
to the husbandman. AVhere else on this or any other con- 
tinent has nature bestowed so many rich blessings to be 
utilized by mankind? In many locations are to be found 
rich minerals which are in demand the world over, and as 
if to induce man to develop them, fuel is found in abundance 
for manufacturing purposes and within the same territory, 
rich farming lands abound. Added to all this is a cli- 
mate of so equitable a temperature as to make it the desir- 
able home of man. 

In these pages I have grouped together the conditions 
of the wilderness at the time when white men first attempted 
to bring civilization into these solitudes. The story of the 
trapper and trader will be found full of interest and the 
reader will unconsciously become an admirer of the brave 
men who plied their vocation along our mountain streams. 
The more scientific man — the explorer — closely follows the 
trapper and trader and completes the conquest of the wild- 
erness. The work of these two classes forms a story of 
pioneer days which for all time will thrill the heart of 
American youth and make the history of Wyoming compare 
in interest with that of any other State. 

This was while the savage hordes lurked in the dark 
defiles of our mountains and before our pioneers had freed 
the land from dangers seen and unseen. Before our cities, 
churches and school houses were built. Before our civil 
institutions were founded and law and order had come to 
rule the State! Before the great battle of civilization had 
been fought and won! 

The opening of that great highway, the Overland trail, 



Introductory Remarks. 19 

across our State, is a story of all-absorbing interest, from 
tke time (1812) when Robert Stuart and Ms little band 
lost themselves in the then unknown and unnamed interior 
of what is now Wyoming and wandered aimlessly through 
the deep snows of winter, down to the banks of the Sweet- 
water and followed on, only hoping and believing that they 
had discovered a stream which would eventually empty its 
waters into the Missouri. The path marked out by these 
wanderers became, in a few years, a great highway over 
which passed a restless tide of humanity numbering hun- 
dreds of thousands, until every mile of the way was 
marked with the blood of innocent children, their loving 
mothers and brave defenders. The march of empire west- 
ward brought bands of steel to bind together the two shores 
of a continent. 

Savage men and savage beasts no longer lurk at will 
in our mountains or roam through our valleys. That great 
law of nature, *'the survival of the fittest," has been applied 
and has done its perfect work. It will be found that what 
comes after is even more wonderful. The building of the 
railroads, the introduction of the stock business, the founding 
of cities and counties were all interspersed with tragedies, 
Indian wars and thrilling personal adventures. All these 
things are the foundation upon which was builded a com- 
monwealth having for its cornerstone equal rights for ils 
sons and daughters. For the pioneers it was a glorious 
achievement, and as we look back at the record we cannot 
help saying that the past is safe, and when we turn to the 
future it is not without hope, for it naturally follows that 
the sons and daughters of such progenitors will hold sacred 
the institutions founded by their fathers. Those who pur- 
sue this story of the building up of a State will hardly fail 
to notice that the newspaper, the school house and the 
church played a conspicuous part in every community in 
pioneer days. These were the great engines of civilization 
and to their influence must be attributed results which have 
placed Wyoming in the highest rank of intelligence. But 
what of the future? Will the brave blood of the pioneer 



20 History of Wyoming. 

when assisted by the pure air of these high altitudes result 
in a race of men and women bordering on physical as well 
as intellectual giants? All we can answer is that the 
foundation has been laid for such a result. Time alone will 
answer the question. 

The Wyoming of which I have written is bounded as 
follows: Commencing at the intersection of the twenty- 
seventh meridian of longitude west from Washington with 
the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, and running thence 
west to the thirty-fourth meridian of west longitude; thence 
south to the forty-first degree of north latitude; thence 
â– east to the twenty-seventh meridian of west longitude, and 
thence north to the place of the beginning. 

While Wyoming is known and must forever be classed 
as a mountain State, it is in fact made up largely of broad 
plains, out of which rise mountain ranges of great beauty, 
and from these flow the headwaters of innumerable rivers. 
Commencing near the southeast comer of the State is the 
Laramie range which extends to the northwest, the highest 
point being Laramie Peak, located 84 miles in a direct line 
from the southern boundary of the State and 72 miles west 
of the eastern boundary. This range is made up of broken 
and detached mountain spurs which extend into vast plains 
on nearly all sides. West and south is the Snowy Range 
and further west are the Medicine Bow Mountains, a spur 
of the latter range; to the northwest of these is the Sweet- 
water Range, made up in part of Seminole and Green 
Mountains, and continuing northwest, is the Wind River 
Range, one of the main barriers of the Rocky Mountains, 
forming the Continental Divide. Beyond this are the Gros 
Ventre and Teton Ranges. To the south on the west border 
of the State is the Snake River Range, and south of this, 
the group of mountains known as the Salt River Range. 
Commencing again on the east line of the State and north of 
the Laramie range, are the Black Hills, which are properly 
a part of the latter, also the Powder River Range. North 
of the center of the State are the famous Big Horn Moun- 
tains, like the Wind River Range, a continuation of the main 



Introductory Remarks. 21 

chain of the Rocky Mountains; west of this range are the 
Owl Creek Mountains and to the northwest of the latter 
are found the Shoshone Mountains. The mountains above 
mentioned are divided into numerous groups which for my 
purpose need not be explained here. 

The water courses of Wyoming are very numerous. 
Commencing in the southeastern portion of the State they 
are, the North Platte with its branches, the Big and Little 
Laramie and Sweetwater. These drain the southeastern 
portion of the State. The North Platte rises in Colorado, flow- 
ing generally in a northwesterly direction as far as Sage 
Creek, from which point it continues due north until it 
reaches the mouth of the Sweetwater where it takes a 
northeastely course around the end of Caspar Mountain, 
from which point it flows directly east for a distance of 50 
miles and from thence takes a southeasterly course, re- 
ceiving the waters of the Laramie River, and passes into 
the State of Nebraska. The Laramie River rises in the 
mountains of Colorado and after reaching Wyoming flows 
northeast for a distance of 25 miles and then north for 50 
miles; it then takes a northeasterly course for a distance 
of 100 miles where it empties into the North Platte River. 
The Little Laramie rises in the Medicine Bow Mountains, 
flows northeast a distance of about 30 miles where it joins 
the Laramie River. The Sweetwater, rising as far west as 
the south end of the Wind River Range, flows eastwardly 
about 100 miles where it empties into the North Platte. 
Cheyenne River is located in the eastern portion of the 
State, about 100 miles from the northern boundary. It» 
tributaries are Beaver, Black Thunder, Bear, Walker, 
Twenty-mile and Hat Creeks, with a dozen other smaller 
streams. The Belle Fourche rises northeast of the central 
portion of the State and flows 100 miles to the northwest 
where it turns abruptly to the southeast for 20 miles and 
here enters South Dakota. Its principal tributaries are, 
Beaver, Miller, Inyan Kara, Wind, Buffalo, Horse, Donkey 
and Iron Creeks. The Little Missouri rises in the northeast 
part of the State and flows in a northeasterly direction and 



22' History of Wyoming. 

enters Montana. Its principal tributaries are, North Fork, 
Prairie and Thompson Creeks. The Little Powder River 
rises west of the Little Missouri and flows north into Mon^ 
tana, where it joins Powder River Its principal tributaries 
are Horse, Wild Cat, Buffalo Hide and Cottonwood Creeks. 
Powder River rises east of the Big Horn Mountains, nearly 
opposite their southern end, flows north about 100 miles 
into Montana where it becomes a tributary of the Yellow- 
stone. Its principal tributaries are. Clear, Crazy Woman, 
Nine Mile, Meadow, North Fork, Middle Fork and South 
Fork. The Big Horn River is one of the large streams of 
the State. It takes its rise in the Wind River Range and 
flows north over 150 miles. Its principal tributaries are 
the Stinking Water, Grey Bull, Wind, Little Wind and 
Popo Agie Rivers with numerous creeks, among which the 
largest are Shell, No Wood, No Water, Kirby, Poison, 
Beaver, Owl and others. Green River takes its rise on the 
west side of the Wind River Range and flows in a southerly 
direction and passes into Utah. It is a noble stream and 
has numerous important tributaries, among which are the 
following creeks: Bitter, Big Sandy, New Fork, Lead, 
Horse, Marsh, White Clay, Bitter Root, Piney, Le Barge, 
Fontenelle, State, Ham's Fork, Pacific and Black Fork. The 
Snake River rises in the Yellowstone National Park, flows 
south into Jackson's Lake and continuing its southerly 
course passes out of the State through the Grand Canon 
at the south end of the Snake River Range. Some of its 
branches are Lewis River, Buffalo Fork, Elk Horn, Gros 
Ventre, Hoback's River and John Day's River. The Yel- 
lowstone River rises on the west side of the Shoshone 
Mountains and flows northwest into Yellowstone Lake, 
from which point it takes a general northwesterly course 
and enters Montana, having passed entirely through the 
Yellowstone National Park. Its tributaries are too numer- 
ous to mention, but not one of these in the State of Wyo- 
ming is large. 



Spanish Occupation. ' 23 



CHAPTER II. 

SPANISH OCCUPATION. 

The Claims of the Spaniards Regarding the Northwest — What 
Different Writers Say — Where Did the White Blood of the 
Mandans Come From? — Relics of Iron Tools Found in North- 
ern Wyoming and Montana — Evidences of Mining and Agricul- 
culture Carried on Probably in the Seventeenth Century — 
The Subject Referred to Future Historians. 

It has long been claimed and generally believed that 
during the latter part of the sixteenth and the beginning 
of the seventeentli century, one of the numerous Spanish 
expeditions which left Mexico penetrated as far north as 
the Missouri River and reached the Yellowstone country. 
I can find no positive evidence of this, but the wild scram- 
h\e for wealth by Spanish adventurers about that time and 
the over-running of the country from Santa Fe north and 
northwest into Kansas and Colorado would leave the im- 
pression that it is not at all unlikely that some of these ex- 
peditions came into Wyoming and went even farther north. 
The Franciscan Friars never tired of talking about cities 
of fabulous wealth which were located, they said, near the 
great mountains. These, they claimed, contained store- 
"houses, filled with precious metals, in such quantities as 
were never known before. I can readily understand that 
these Franciscan Friars were anxious to spread their re- 
ligious teachings among these strange people, who were 
reputed to be possessed of great wealth but destitute of 
religion. The sword of the Spanish conqueror and the 
Cross of Christ had for a century been carried into new 
provinces to the south of us and the people subjugated, 
duly robbed, often murdered and christianized, according 
to true Spanish civilization. These are the claims made 
by the nation which Columbus taught the art of discover- 
ing new worlds, and who rewarded his services by sending 



24 History of Wyommg. 

him home in chains when he was no longer needed. Jn 
support of the Spanish claims, of having sent expedition* 
into the northwest as far as the headwaters of the Missouri 
and having taken back rich furs and gold, I will group 
together a few of the evidences of Spanish occupation of 
the country. When the American trappers came to the 
Rocky Mountains and reached the Seeds-Ke-dee River, 
they were told that the Spaniards had lived on this stream 
It was therefore promptly called by the trappers Spanish 
River (Green River). There is evidence that the Indian* 
had a knowledge of the Spanish people. Lewis and Clark, 
in passing through the country at the head of the Missouri, 
found Spanish saddles and bridles in use among the Indians- 
It is a fact known to all writers who have made investi- 
gation among the Indians that they acquired the horse from 
the same source. Washington Irving, in his Astoria, in 
speaking of the Indians of the Northwest, says on page 164 
"The Spaniards changed the whole character and habits 
of the Indians when they brought the horse among them." 
I have sometimes thought that it was not impossible 
that the Indians may have learned from the Spaniards the 
art of horse stealing. The student of history will, upon 
reflection, discover quite a number of Spanish peculiarities 
among some of our Rocky Mountain Indians. In some in- 
stances it is possible that the Spaniards are in no way 
responsible for the evidences of civilization among our In- 
dian tribes and yet they lay claim to this distinction. Lewis 
and Clark describe the Mandans as the most civilized tribe 
they found in their travels. Their domestic habits were 
nearer those of white people, they lived in permanent vil- 
lages, slept on bedsteads with buffalo robes for mattresses,, 
pillows and blankets, and cultivated the corn, squashes and 
pumpkins upon which they lived. Many of them were re- 
markable for the whiteness of their skin and the light colo^ 
of their hair. Vaughn says that they always received the 
w^hites with graceful and dignified hospitality, and that a 
stranger in a Mandan village is first struck with the dif- 
ferent shades of complexion, and various colors of hair,. 



Spanish Occupation. 25 

which he sees in the crowd about him, and is at once almost 
disposed to exclaim that ''these are not Indians!" There 
are a great many people whose complexions appear as light 
as half breeds, and, among the women particularly, there 
are many whose skins are almost white, with the most pleas- 
ing symmetry and proportion of features, with hazel, gray,, 
and blue eyes, mildness and sweetness of expression and 
remarkable modesty of demeanor, which render them ex- 
ceedingly pleasing and beautiful. 

Mr. Catlin, who visited this tribe about the year 1831 
says that they are acquainted with the Mosaic account of 
the deluge and that they have an annual religious ceremony 
which is fixed at a date when the willow is in full leaf and 
that this ceremony refers to their traditional history of the 
flood, which they in some way or other have received and 
endeavor to perpetuate by vividly impressing it on the minds 
of the whole nation. He adds, that this is not surprising, 
as in the vicinity of almost every Indian tribe there is 
some high mountain where they insist upon it the "big 
canoe" landed; but that these people should hold annual 
celebrations of the event, and the season should be decided 
by such circumstances as the full leaf of the willow, i» 
truly remarkable. Their tradition is that the twig that 
the bird brought home was a willow bough and had full 
grown leaves upon it, and the bird to which they allude is 
the turtle dove, which is not to be destroyed or harmed by 
anyone, and even their dogs are trained not to do it injury. 

Edward Everett Hale, in a work published in 1854, 
called Kansas and Nebraska, in commenting on the annual 
religious ceremony of the Mandans, says: 

''It would seem from these traditions that these people 
must have had some proximity to some part of the civilized 
world; or that missionaries or others have been formerly 
among them inculcating the Christian religion and the 
Mosaic account of the flood, which is, in this and some other 
respects, decidedly different from the theory which most of 
the aborigines have regarding that event. This vague re- 
semblance, however, to the Mosaic account of the deluge. 



26 History of Wyoming, 

seems to be the only token that has been observed of any 
knowledge of any of the Christian Scriptures. Now, Modoo 
and his colony were men trained in the Christianity of their 
day and took with them, doubtless, Christian ministers, and 
the symbols of the Christian faith." 

I think that Lewis and Clark, Vaughn and Catlin have 
produced sufficient evidence to prove there was white blood 
in the Mandan tribe. If it did not come from the Spaniards, 
where did it come from? I admit that so far, I have been 
unable to show Spanish occupation of the upper Missouri 
and yet the evidence adduced bears on the subject. I know 
that it has been claimed that the Mandans were of Welsh 
origin, but that is a tradition more than a thousand years 
old. The story goes that Modoc sailed away with his Welsh 
colony from his native country with ten ships loaded with 
his people more than six hundred years before Columbus 
discovered America, and that they probably came to this 
country. When Lewis and Clark told their story of the 
Mandans Southey wrote his poem "Modoc," and in a note 
claimed that there was strong evidence that the Wales 
adventurers reached America and that their posterity 
dwelt on the Missouri. In another edition of his work, pub- 
lished in 1815, he adds another note in which he says : 

"That country has now been fully explored, and, where- 
ever Modoc may have settled, it is now certain that no Welsh 
Indians are to be found upon any branches of the Missouri."' 

The Spaniards in the south were the first to attempt 
expeditions from the east to the west. The French followed 
closely after them. It is said that La Hontan made a trip up 
the Long River, meaning of course the Missouri, in 1688 and 
made a deer skin map of the country, showing the moun- 
tains and a river beyond which flowed into a great salt lake. 
La Hontan certainly told a good story and some of it was 
true. The mountains and the great salt lake remain today 
as proof of the correctness of the deer skin map. He did not 
take with him friars or missionaries and, for that reason, 
church people discredited his discoveries. He speaks of 
having found a people near the mountains who resembled 



Spanish Occupation. 27 

the Spaniards. They were clothed, and he said, had thick, 
bushy beards. Among the clergy who denounced La Hontan 
was a learned priest named Babe. La Hontan may have 
imagined all these things he told but in the light of what 
followed after, the world must say that he spoke the truth 
and that this over-zealous priest was ignorant beyond meas- 
ure. If the mountains and lake were pointed out, and he 
spoke correctly about these, why may it not be true that he 
met these people whom he thought were Spaniards? 

In Strayhorn's Handbook of Wyoming, published in 
1877, are the following items of interest which bear upon 
the subject of Spanish occupation of the Northwest: 

*' Although the Genoese navigator had no idea of enrich- 
ing himself by his perilous launch, in 1492, he at least hoped 
that the coffers of Ferdinand and his queen would be re- 
plenished by the wealth of new possessions. But most of 
his companions were adventurers in quest of gold and glory, 
reckless and oftentimes cruel to brutality. The missionaries 
who accompanied him were Franciscan friars, whose zeal 
for the conversion of the savages was only surpassed by the 
thirst of their companions in bucklers for gold. Thus a relig- 
ious zeal, which teaches its votaries to despise riches on 
earth and lay up treasures elsewhere, and a most avaricious 
desire for wealth on the part of these adventurers, went 
hand in hand exploring the southern part of North Amer- 
ica more than three centuries ago." 

Four survivors of the ill-fated Spanish expedition to 
Florida, in 1528, bravely made their way westward across 
the Mississippi, traversed those sections now known as the 
commonwealths of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and 
finally reached the Gulf of California. Reappearing to 
former friends after several years of absence, they occa- 
sioned no little astonishment. Their glowing accounts of 
the kingdoms, cities and towns they had passed through, 
and the barbaric wealth and splendor they had witnessed, 
excited and fascinated their listeners to such a degree that 
an Italian friar named Mark determined to visit the country. 
He induced one of these four men, a negro named Stephen, 



28 History of Wyoming. 

to return, and boldly penetrated the wilderness until he 
came within sight of the city of Cibola, a location not made 
plain by early chroniclers. Here the venturesome friar and 
his companion were attacked by natives, and in the fight, the 
negro was killed, leaving the isolated explorer only the al- 
ternative of swiftly retracing his steps. 

Friar Mark did not abandon his project, however, and 
in 1540, he induced the chieftain Coronado to head an ex- 
pedition to Cibola, stimulating the new adventurers by 
richly colored tales of the vast riches and entrancing beauty 
of the place. Other Franciscans accompanied the expedi- 
tion. Finally Cibola was reached, but not so the reputed 
wealth, for the place proved a barren prize. The friar was 
overwhelmed with reproaches, and returning to the coast 
soon died. 

But enchanting tradition whispered that there were 
other cities of untold wealth farther in the interior, and 
Coronado pushed on. He crossed the Rio Grande near the 
present town of Santa Fe and pushed northward to the 
Arkansas, but still failed to find the golden cities. True, 
he encountered numbers of small Indian villages, but for- 
tune was no nearer than when he started from the sunny 
shores of the southwestern gulf. Growing thoroughly dis- 
couraged, after a two years' search, Coronado returned, 
leaving two zealous friars, however, at Indian villages 
along the Rio Grande. 

The fame of the supposed rich cities had now reached 
the City of Mexico and Tampico, and an expedition in quest 
of them started from the latter place in 1542. During the 
march northward an Indian village on the east side of the 
Rio Grande was named Sante Fe (holy faith), and became 
the base of future explorations. The two missionaries left 
behind in this vicinity by Coronado had already suffered 
death at the hands of the Indians. From this time forward 
there were alternate successes upon the part of the Span- 
iards in establishing missions in New Mexico and of the 
savages destroying them. The rich cities to the northward 



Spanish Occupation. 29 

were yet undiscovered, although little doubt prevailed as 
to their existence. 

During the progress of the Mexican war, in 1846, a 
highly educated Mexican padre, named Ortiz, was captured 
near El Paso in the act of bearing dispatches to his country- 
men south of the Rio Grande. While a prisoner in the hands 
of General Stephen W. Kearney's followers, he volunteered 
the statement to different American army officers that the 
Spaniards had early in the seventeenth century obtained a 
footing in the mountainous region some seven or eight hun- 
dred miles north of Santa Fe, but still south of the great 
muddy river (the Missouri) ; that they had built stone houses 
and arastras, and for nearly a quarter of a century had sent 
trains to the south laden with gold and rich furs. About 
1650, however, the savages of the region commenced a whole- 
sale massacre of these pioneers, and all were swept away 
as far south as Santa Fe. Ortiz had in his possession an 
old Spanish book, written late in the seventeenth century, 
describing all of the country between the Rio Grande and the 
Missouri, and also containing statements verifying those 
volunteered by himself, to the effect that the ruins of these 
settlements existed in the northwest, and that great canals 
and other auxiliaries to mining had been there constructed. 

At intervals of many years following, reckless adven- 
turers risked their lives to reach the northern land of prom- 
ise, but these never returned after crossing the Arkansas. 
As late as 1781, a small expedition, accompanied by Jesuit 
missionaries, left Santa Fe and penetrated the great north- 
western plains, but there is no account of the return of any 
of the party. 

These facts become especially interesting in connec- 
tion with the developments of American explorers in our 
own time. Members of General Connor's Big Horn expe- 
dition of 1865, now residing in Cheyenne, vouch for the 
statement then made that ruins of stone houses, evidently 
more than a century old, were found near the shores of the 
beautiful Lake de Smet, at the eastern base of the Big Horn 
Mountains. In 1866, the remains of an old Spanish arastra 



30 History of Wyoming. 

— a quartz crushing implement — were found in the same 
region, at a point about fifty miles southwest of Fort Phil 
Kearney. Ruins of stone houses and fortifications were 
also discovered by Colonel Mills' expedition in the Big Horn 
country as late as the fall of 1874. Montana miners who 
were driven by the Indians from the Rosebud Mountains^ 
east of Fort C. F. Smith, where they were prospecting in 
1866, reported that there was evidence that mining had been 
extensively carried on, on some of the bars there, a long 
time previous to their visit. They found traces of iron toola 
which had been devoured by rust, the line of a former ditch 
to convey water upon the bars and some other indications, 
which lead to the conclusion that the Spanish adventurer* 
alluded to had not only obtained a footing in the region,, 
but had perished there while in the realization of their wild- 
est dreams. 

It is stated as a fact, capable of verification, that there 
is now a map in the archives of Paris, prepared by Jesuita 
as early as 1792, which contains a correct topographical 
sketch of the Black Hills and Big Horn Mountains, and that 
both are marked as auriferous regions; but from whence 
the information was derived is more than can be definitely 
ascertained. Certain it is, however, that missionaries and 
gold seekers visited portions of the present States of Wyo- 
ming and Montana, in search of souls and the royal metals,. 
during the last century." 

In commenting on Mr. Strayhorn's last paragraph, 
Hubert Howe Bancroft, in Volume XXV of his history, 
says that there is nothing true in this statement; that the 
Spaniards had all they could do to hold their own in New 
Mexico, during the seventeenth century, without ventur- 
ing 800 miles into the wilderness among the Indians. There 
were no such expeditions as represented, although in order 
to secure grants of land or patents of nobility Spanish ad- 
venturers related such stories to the king. Further on, he 
says: ''Some coloring has been given to the story by the dis- 
covery, 1865, of what appeared to be the stone foundations of 
houses, and what might pass for an ancient arastra on the 



Spanish Occupation. 31 

head waters of Powder River and about Smet Lake. 
But if we explore the past critically we shall find that 
at some period anterior to the history of the country, and 
perhaps contemporaneous with the Cliff-dwellers of Colo- 
rado, a people to whom the present tribes of redmen were as 
little known as the Caucasian was at a later period to these^ 
had their habitations here. Of their presence the traces are 
distinct, their relics being found chiefly in the country about 
the head of the Yellowstone, and in the Big Horn and Wind 
River valleys. They consist of steatite vessels, bowl-shaped, 
and neatly finished, stone lance heads, knives and scrapers, 
and sinkers for fishing lines made of volcanic sandstone, or 
of green-veined marble. The workmanship of these ar- 
ticles is different from any found on the Pacific or Atlantic 
coasts, and unlike any in use among the present native 
tribes inhabiting Montana and Wyoming. Other remains 
point to a scarcity of timber in the past in that part of the 
mountains where timber is now plentiful, the driveways for 
game being constructed of stone instead of wood, and the 
occurrence of small, circular enclosures of stone seeming 
to indicate that, if not the foundations of houses, they were 
used for covers from which to shoot game. Heaps of bones, 
tools, ornaments, weapons, burial cairns, and mining shafts 
are among the proofs of their presence. At what period 
they disappeared and recent tribes took their place is 
among the silent secrets which the past refuses to disclose. 
The debris of ages covers the silent witnesses of their exist- 
ence, which patient research is only now bringing to light, 
and to them I should refer the stone ruins accredited to 
Spanish occupation," 

It will be noticed that Bancroft does not explain the 
traces of iron tools which had been devoured by rust. Many 
people in Wyoming even at this day have seen such ancient 
relics and no one can claim that a race contempora- 
neous with the Cliff-dwellers possessed iron implements. 
These belonged to white men and their presence must be 
accounted for, as they are too numerous to be brushed aside. 
The whole Wind River, Big Horn and Yellowstone districts 



32 History of Wyoming. 

are full of these relics, and a close examination of them will 
convince any ordinary man that they have been in the 
ground two or three hundred years. White men brought 
them into the country, without a doubt, but unfortunately 
for those who hold to former Spanish occupation there is 
no proof that these people were the owners of these iron 
implements. The most that can be said on this subject, from 
the evidence before us, is that the country of which we have 
spoken was inhabited by white men a long time ago; prob- 
ably in the seventeenth century. They mined, they tilled 
the soil, and it necessarily follows that they built domiciles, 
which undoubtedly were of stone or had stone foundations. 
I regret that I am obliged to leave this subject in an 
unsettled condition, but some future historian will un- 
doubtedly solve the vexed question. I trust that enough 
has been shown in this chapter to induce further research. 
I must of necessity leave my readers to draw their own con- 
clusions from the evidence which has been presented. 



French Canadian Explorations. 33 



CHAPTER III. 

FRENCH CANADIAN EXPLORATIONS. 

The De la Verendryes Lead an Expedition From Canada to the 
Headwaters of the Mississippi Across to the Missouri into the 
Yellowstone and Wind River Countries — Turned Back by the 
Shoshones Who Persuade the Explorers that They will be 
Killed by the Sioux at South Pass — Eleven Years Spent in 
the Wilderness — Return to Montreal — Second Expedition is 
Prevented by the Death of De la Verendrye — Unprincipled 
Politicians Rob the De la Verendrye Family and Get Their 
Hands in the Coffers of the King — Fur Trade Under English 
Ownership of Canada— American Revolution Leads to Great 
Changes in the Fur Trade. 

The French Canadians discovered and developed the fur 
trade of North America. They trapped along the great 
rivers of Canada almost from the first occupation of the 
country by the French. They taught the Indians the com- 
mercial value of the skins of all fur-bearing animals, and 
they also instructed them as to the seasons when these 
animals were to be caught to insure the quality of the furs 
in the markets. These French Canadians were an easy- 
going, jovial set of fellows; were more inclined to trapping 
and trading than they were to other occupations. They 
made friends of the Indians, treating the children of the 
forest with great fairness and kindness, and the result was 
the French were allowed free navigation of the rivers as 
far to the north as they chose to go. The business of trap- 
ping and trading grew to be extensive and highly profitable, 
and thus encouraged a peculiar civilization spread itself 
along the great water-ways of the wilderness, around the 
Great Lakes, Erie, Huron, Ontario, Michigan, and as far 
north as the Great Slave Lake. Expeditions were sent out 
with canoes loaded with merchandise designed for the In- 
dian trade. These on their return were laden with peltries 
which found a ready market in Montreal. After a time 

-(3) 



34 History of Wyoming. 

large capital was employed in the business, wMch was 
managed by men of ability. These sent out expeditions and 
gave employment to an army of voyageurs, trappers, hunters 
and men-of-all-work. Establishments were founded in the 
interior, where Indians were invited to come and trade. The 
men who managed these trading posts were, we are told, 
"hail fellows well met'' on all occasions,and the profits of the 
business enabled them to pursue a liberal policy and befriend 
the Indians. These establishments not only employed 
trappers on contract for a term of years, but bought furs of 
independent trappers as well as the Indians. The founding 
of these trading posts in the far-off wilderness weaned the 
trappers of the desire to return to their homes and many of 
them became permanent residents and founded families by 
marrying the daughters of Indian tribes. 

Following the traders who organized the great expe- 
ditions about the Lakes and beyond, and established posts, 
was the Catholic missionary, who labored among the In- 
dians. These religious enthusiasts endeavored to persuade 
the trappers to legally marry their Indian wives, but the 
good fathers were not always successful in inducing the 
reckless hunters to consider marriage a sacrament. They 
preferred to have the bonds of matrimony as little binding 
as possible, so they might, if occasion required, throw off 
the matrimonial yoke and marry into another tribe. The 
Canadian voyageurs, as well as most of the trappers, were 
devout Catholics and were willing to confess themselves 
to the priest at stated intervals, but they gave the good 
fathers to understand that they did not consider marriage 
with a squaw a legal or binding obligation. The Indians 
were much more interested in religious matters than were 
the white men. An Indian believes in what he calls the 
Great Spirit, and a hereafter, which he designates as the 
Happy Hunting Grounds. The good fathers thought they 
saw an opportunity to greatly benefit the redmen and for a 
time made some headway, but the introduction of spirit- 
ous liquors among the natives, to a large extent destroyed 



1478510 

French Canadian Explorations. 35 

the influence of the priests, but it can be said for them that 
they made an honest effort to benefit the savages. 

A quarter of a century more peopled the wilderness 
with a half-breed population, and these in turn became 
trappers and voyageurs. A singular result is related regard- 
ing the offspring of these marriages. For the most part 
the children were inferior in character to both the white 
and the red race. It seemed that they partook of all the 
vices of both the French and the Indians and retained none 
of the virtues. They were for the most part indolent, ignor- 
ant and superstitious, and yet they trapped and hunted and 
added to the business of the fur trader. The conditions I 
have related gave the French great influence over the savage 
tribes and resulted later in Indian depredations on the 
English settlements along the Canadian borders. The sav- 
ages were easily persuaded to hostility and later became 
allies of the French in their wars against the English. 

The French merchants of Montreal grew rich out of 
the trade in peltries. The successful methods adopted by 
the trappers and traders resulted after a time in the de- 
struction of fur-bearing animals throughout Canada and 
the tributary streams of the Great Lakes to the west and 
soon everything pointed to the early collapse of the great 
industry. The demand for furs was at its highest point. 
London, Paris and all the great cities of Europe sent in 
large orders and the question of supply to meet this demand 
became an important one to the French merchants of Mon- 
treal. Far-seeing business men began to discuss measures 
which should ward off the evil threatened. These condi- 
tions stimulated a desire to penetrate the interior of the 
great West for the purpose of securing new fields for the 
trapper. Public attention, once turned in this direction, 
was followed after a time by practical action on the part 
of men who possessed a turn of mind for exploration, and 
these proposed an expedition into the interior of the conti- 
nent. Finally a bolder class of merchants came to the front 
and offered capital to explore the unknown wilderness which 
lay between Canada and the Pacific Ocean and thus meet the 



36 History of Wyoming. 

demand for new trapping grounds and supply of the fur 
market. In every great emergency which demands a leader 
suited to the requirements of the occasion, the man for the 
place appears at the right time. The leader in this instance 
was an educated Frenchman of noble birth who had inter- 
ested himself in the study of the exploring expeditions which 
had from time to time visited the Pacific coast. He had one 
hobby, and that was the planting of a colony at some suit- 
able place on the west side of the continent and the building 
up there of a commercial city which should monopolize all 
the Indian trade of the territory west of the great moun- 
tains. His theory was that commercial relations could be 
entered into with native tribes and through the fur indus- 
try large wealth accumulated by the colonists. His plan 
included a great supply point at or near the west coast and 
trading posts in the interior. Practical business men at first 
were slow to comprehend the colossal scheme, but the con- 
ditions which I have related favored the plan. The man 
referred to was Sieur de la Verendrye, who was earnestly 
supported by his eldest son. Chevalier de la Verendrye; 
also his two younger sons. Associated with them was 
Pierre Gauthier de Varennes. After discussing the sub- 
ject in all its phases it was finally decided to outfit an ex- 
ploring party to traverse the Great Lakes northwest, cross- 
ing to the headwaters of the Mississippi, thence west again 
to the headwaters of the Missouri and search for a gateway 
through the "Stony Mountain." 

Sieur de la Verendrye and Pierre Gauthier de Varennes 
w^ere dealers in furs and skins and had been located on 
Lake Nepigon since 1728. Four years later the latter went 
to Quebec to consult the governor and other oflScials on the 
subject of explorations to the west. It was no new idea with 
him, as he had talked it over with many persons of education 
and had become, so to speak, wrapped up in the subject. 
He was an enthusiast, it is true, but he was given to deep 
thought, earnest study and withal was capable of concen- 
tration of effort and singleness of purpose. These qual- 
ifications enabled him to undertake great enterprises and 



French Canadian Explorations. 37 

to carry them through successfully. The govenior of the 
province was the Marquis de Beauharnais. As soon as Ver- 
endrye spoke to him of the expedition and his plan for car- 
rying it out, he without hesitation gave his indorsement. 
Montreal merchants were to furnish the funds to equip the 
party and goods to trade with the natives for furs. The 
expedition was to go west and find a river that flowed into 
the Pacific Ocean. In the year 1733, all things feeing in 
readiness, De la Verendrye received his instructions to take 
possesion, in the name of the King of France, of such coun- 
tries as he should discover. His first point was Lake Supe- 
rior for which place he embarked with a fleet of canoes, 
taking with him a missionary, Pierre Messager. He estab- 
lished forts as he proceeded from point to point, gradually 
working his way westward. 

From each of these forts he sent out expeditions to ex- 
amine the country. One of these, in charge of one of hi« 
younger sons, met with disaster. The entire party, including 
young Verendrye and twenty men, were killed by a war 
party of Sioux. The examination of the territory which 
he passed through required time, and it was not until 1738 
that he reached the Mandan country, where he erected Foit 
La Reine on the Assiniboine, completing the work in Octo- 
ber of that year. The following season an expedition wcis 
sent up the Missouri, but did not reach the Yellowstone 
until 1742. This expedition was in charge of De la Verea- 
drye's eldest son, who found on this trip the great moun- 
tains through which he could find no practical route. I find 
in the first volume of the Montana Historical Society a coHk- 
munication written by Granville Stuart which throws some 
light on the trail of the explorers. He says that the expe- 
dition traveled from Fort La Reine, on the Assiniboine, up 
Mouse River and across to the Missouri, which he touched 
just below where since was built Fort Berthold, thence they 
ascended the Missouri to the gates of the mountains near 
Helena, Montana. The first of January, 1743, found them 
on these mountains whence they passed up Deep or Saiith 
River, crossed to the head of the Mussel Shell, and tVn 



38 History of Wyoming. 

to the Yellowstone, which they crossed and ascended Pryor 
Fork and passed through Pryor Gap to the Stinking River, 
crossing which they continued south to Wind River, where 
the natives told them of Green River over the mountains, 
and of the armed bands of Sioux waiting at the pass to slay 
anyone who should come from the land of their hereditary 
foes, the Shoshones, Hence the explorers turned back and 
reached the mission in May, 1744. 

I find nowhere any particulars in regard to this party 
which reached the Big Wind River. They went south from 
the Stinking Water and must have gone to the Wind River 
valley. Chevalier de la Verendrye says that the natives he 
met were of the Shoshone tribe. I think that Mr. Stuart 
makes a mistake in regard to the river the natives men- 
tioned. The explorers were looking for a river flowing to 
the west. The only stream flowing in that direction was 
Snake River, and as the Shoshones were well acquainted 
with it, they must have mentioned it. Green River, the 
Indians well knew, flowed to the south. The Verendryes 
returned to Montreal in the fall of 1744, having been eleven 
years in the wilderness. The enterprise was a financial fail- 
ure, but sound business men admitted that if it had gone 
forward and the Pacific coast reached it would have been 
a great success. Unfortunately De la Verendrye had spent 
his entire fortune in the enterprise, but friends came to his 
aid and ofl'ered additional capital, but at this point it was 
proposed to send out the next expedition at the expense of 
the government, but before anything was accomplished De 
la Verendrye was taken sick and on December 6, 1749, he 
died. His eldest son claimed the right to continm^ the dis- 
coveries, but an association was formed to carry out his 
father's plans and he was ignored. It was the old story — 
men who lacked the brains to originate plans for themselves 
stood ready to rob Verendrye's family, and they did it under 
sanction of the government. This is the fate of a pio- 
neer. Columbus suffered in this way and thousands of 
other pioneers since his time, including not a few in Wyo- 
ming. It should be stated here that the king graciously 



French Canadian Explorations. 39 

recognized De la Verendrye's services by conferring upon 
him the empty honor of the Order of St. Louis, and this was 
all he possessed at the time of his death. The new combi- 
nation was entirely political, that is, made up of politicians 
— Jonquiere, the new governor; Breard, the comptroller of 
marine; Capt. Lamarque de Marian, Le Gardeur, De St. 
Pierre and others equally incompetent for a great undertak- 
"ing. Here was a chance to get their hands in the public 
treasury and they helped themselves right royally. It is said 
of them that the}' divided large spoils among themselves, 
the governor receiving for his share 300,000 francs. They 
did attempt an expedition and reached the base of the Rocky 
Mountains, where they in 1752 built Fort Jonquiere; but 
this is all, the time being spent trading with the natives 
and making fortunes for themselves. 

Chevalier de la Verendrye was the first white man to 
discover the Yellowstone, unless we concede the occupa- 
tion of the country by the Spaniards a century before. 
Educated French Canadians believe that he named it Roche 
Jaune, which in English means yellow rock, and this dur> 
ing this century has been written Yellowstone, but Capt. 
Chittenden in his scholarly work on the Yellowstone 
National Park holds a different view and says there is no 
doubt but that the name is of Indian origin and that it 
comes from the yellow rock which is conspicuous along the 
banks of this river. He sums up his investigations in this 
language: ''Going back, then, to this obscure fountain- 
head, the original designation is found to have been Mi-tsi- 
a-da-zi, Rock Yellow River; and this in the French tongue, 
became Roche Jaune and Pierre Jaune ; and in English, Yel- 
low Rock and Yellow Stone. Established usage now writes 
it Yellowstone.''^ 

Had it not been for the unfortunate death of De la Ver- 
endrye the French in all probability would have been the 
first explorers to cross the Rocky Mounains and as it was 
they undoubtedly gave the idea to Capt. Jonathan Carver, 
who, as I explain elsewhere, projected a journey across the 
continent somewhere between the 43rd and 46th degrees 



40 History of Wyoming. 

north latitude to the Pacific Ocean. This was certainly the 
plan of Sieur de la Verendrye, which was attempted more 
than thirty years before Carver's time. 

It is a great misfortune that the full records of the 
Sieur de la Verendrye's exploration party were not pre- 
served, and I was in hopes of being able to secure additional 
facts regarding the De la Verendryes and their expedition 
from the private libraries of old French families in Mon- 
treal, but the effort resulted in procuring very little more 
than was known before. What is here given is reliable, and 
yet all reports are confined to the meagre facts. Of the 
expedition, it may be said that it was a grand undertakings 
and entirely feasible even at that day. Had the second 
expedition not been interfered with by the death of De la 
Verendrye there would have been no doubt of its suc- 
cess, for the reason that Chevalier de la Verendrye had 
already found the one easy pass through the Rocky 
Mountains. He was almost within sight of South Pass, 
the natural gateway to the Pacific. The government 
expeditions which reached the base of the Rocky Moun- 
tains in 1752, as I have heretofore explained, fell by the 
weight of boodlers who were hanging on and using it 
for their own selfish purposes. A scandal was finally 
raised and the king did the only thing he could do — with- 
drew government aid, and this brought the expedition to 
an end. The war between France and England soon fol- 
lowed and Canada became the theatre of military events, 
which resulted in the defeat of the French and the ceding 
of Canada to the English by the treaty of Paris in 1763. 

Before closing this chapter I will relate what followed 
the British occupation of Canada as relates to the fnr trade. 
In consequence of the acquisition, the fur trade received a 
severe check. English merchants located in Montreal and 
at once attempted to control all lines of trade, and the fur 
business with the others. They organized with large ag- 
gregations of capital and sent men out with a full comple- 
ment of trappers, but it was found diflBcult to win the con- 
fidence of the Indians and for some vears the business 



French Canadian Explorations. 41 

languished. Finally the trade fell into the hands of Scotch 
merchants, and these recruited their kinsmen. The de- 
scendants of feudal lords who had reigned over Scot- 
tish clans took kindly to the occupation and they built up 
at the trading posts a sort of imitation of the baronial halls 
of their ancestors. The French, the half-breeds and the 
Indians were at last induced to co-operate in the develop- 
ment of a traflic that was highly profitable to all concerned. 
The business was managed by securing government conces- 
sions and the organization of a system which gave promo- 
tion to faithful employes. Great fortunes were built up 
and the Northwestern Fur Company became one of the 
great corporations of the world. Hardy Scotchmen pene- 
trated the wilds and with the assistance of the French Can- 
adians traversed every stream north as far as the Arctic 
Circle. Under the protection of the British government 
this company became aggressive and insolent. Montreal 
was the great gathering point of rich peltries and London 
was the distributing center from which these goods were 
supplied to the world. At Montreal there grew up an aristoc- 
racy composed of personages connected with the fur trade. 
The Northwest Company from that center excercised lordly 
sway over a vast extent of country throughout which their 
operations were conducted. Their numerous posts were 
distributed far and wide, on interior lakes and rivers, and 
at great distances from each other, and employed from 2,000 
to 2,500 men. An annual meeting was held at Fort William, 
on Lake Superior, the central trading post of the company. 
At this annual gathering appeared representatives from all 
the other trading posts and the occasion was the signal for 
banquets and jollity. The banqueting was conducted after 
the manner of those in Scotland in feudal times. The voy- 
ageurs and Indians did not appear in the banquet hall, but 
were generously fed for a season at the expense of the com- 
pany. Liquors of all kinds, including costly wines, were 
served at these banquets and many of these distinguished 
representatives were found under the table at the close of 
each of the daily festivities. This was at a period when hard 



42 History of Wyoming. 

drinking was the rule and when Bacchanalian songs were 
sung, toasts given and speeches made. Every man at the 
table drank until he convinced himself that he was indeed 
a British noble or a Scottish lord, or at least the chieftain of 
a Highland clan. These were the golden days of the fur 
trade. But all this show had its effect on other enterpris- 
ing men with capital. As has been explained, the Northwest 
Company confined its operations largely to northern lati- 
tudes. A new British company was organized to operate 
further south and west. Accordingly the Mackinaw Com- 
pany took possession of the territory around Green Bay, 
Fox Kiver, Wisconsin River and some of the tributaries of 
the Mississippi, and an occasional party of trappers operated 
along a portion of the Missouri River. The government of 
the United States saw with anxiety the encroachments of 
these companies and an effort was made in 1796 to induce 
American merchants to enter the fur trade and, as it were, 
head off Great Britain in her invasion of the West, but 
nothing immediately came of it. About this time another 
powerful British fur company, the Hudson Bay, which had 
been organized in the year 1670, pushed its operations into 
American territory. These rival companies all secured busi- 
ness, but there was often great loss through competition, 
and sometimes personal encounters between the trappers of 
rival organizations. 

The war between England and America was destined 
to bring about great changes in this lucrative trade. John 
Jacob Astor, who shortly after the revolution became a 
large shipper of furs, which he purchased in Montreal, saw 
an opportunity, which I explain in another chapter, of di- 
verting this trade into American channels. The agitation 
of the subject by Mr. Astor induced a number of Americans 
to organize expeditions to enter the far west and claim the 
territory and the business within the American borders. 
This business was carried on and developed by fearless 
Americans, and St. Louis and New York became centers 
for the encouragement of the fur trade. The American 
trapper won renown by his fearless exploits in the great 



The First American Explorers . 43 

West. Then came another era in the traffic which resulted 
in the developing of American leaders who won fortunes 
as well as fame by their exploits in the mountains. But 
all this is explained further on in the early history of Wyo- 
ming. 

CHAPTER IV.' 

THE FIRST AMERICAN EXPLORERS. 

History of the Western Course of Empire— Thomas Jefferson Be- 
comes THE Leader and Finally Succeeds in His Cherished 
Scheme of Sending an Expedition up the Headwaters of the 
Missouri to Search for a Gateway through the Rocky Moun- 
tains—The Lewis and Clark Expedition— They Winter at the 
Mandan Village on the Upper Missouri in 1804 — In 1805 Spend 
the Winter at the Mouth of the Columbia — Return to St. 
Louis in 1806. 

The departure of Lewis and Clark in 1804 to explore 
the headwaters of the Missouri and mark out a highway 
across the Rocky Mountains, down the Columbia, begins 
a new era in the civilization of the great Northwest. There 
were plenty of enterprising Americans ready to undertake 
the trip but up to that time our government had felt too 
poor to i)ay the expense incident to such an expedition. 
Thomas Jefferson, in 1786, while minister to France, had 
become interested in the subject of exploring the West, and 
when he returned to America in 1789 his mind was filled to 
the utmost limit with the importance of pushing explora- 
tion up the Missouri and beyond. The dark continent lay 
to the west and northwest and its mountains were alike 
unknown to the geographer of that day. This subject be- 
came almost a hobby with this broad-minded American 
statesman. In 1792, the record shows that Mr. Jefferson 
urged the American Philosophical Society to find some 
competent person to ascend the Missouri, cross the great 
mountains, and follow the nearest river to the sea. As such 
an undertaking would be expensive, the future president 
suggested that a subscription be taken up among such 



44 History of Wyoming. 

people as might be interested in what he believed to be an 
important subject. This proposition was discussed at the 
time in the newspapers of the country and was talked over 
by the scientific men of that period. It was not a new idea, 
for in 1763 Capt. Jonathan Carver, who had been in the 
British provincial army, proposed a journey across the conti- 
nent somewhere between the 43rd and 46th degrees of north 
latitude to the Pacific Ocean. His was a grand plan and he 
urged it with spirit and determination. He had studied the 
fur trade in all its bearings and in his mind he saw clearly 
that new scources of wealth would be opened up and that 
in the natural course of events a great city would spring 
up on the Pacific coast. He had in his mind a northwest 
passage between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific Ocean, also 
a more direct route to China and the English settlements 
in the East Indies. Capt. Carver was a man of ability and 
influence and notwithstanding the fact that his undertak- 
ing was one that required great capital he succeeded in 
inducing Eichward Whitworth, a member of the British 
Parliament and a man of great wealth, to join him in the 
enterprise. Their plans were made on a most liberal scale 
and worked out in every detail. They were to go up the 
Missouri with sixty men, cross the backbone of the conti- 
nent and discover some navigable stream that flowed to the 
west. Here they were to build boats and accomplish all and 
more than was done by Lewis and Clark, thirty years later. 
They were to build a fort at the mouth of the unknown 
river which they expected to find, and construct sailing 
vessels in which to make voyages of discovery along the 
Pacific coast. Capt. Carver having secured the necessary 
capital and the plan having the sanction of the British gov- 
ernment and the promise of grants and franchises in the 
new country to be discovered, all things were in readiness 
for sending out the expedition when the war of the revolu- 
tion interfered and put a stop to the undertaking. Thomas 
Jefferson was aware of this projected expedition, as he had 
talked it over with John Ledyard of Connecticut, who was. 
a member of Capt. Cook's company when he made his cele- 



The First American Explorer's. 45 

brated voyage to the Pacific. Ledyard had a scheme of his 
own in which he tried to interest Jefferson in Paris in 1786. 
He had the reputation of being reckless and impecunious, 
"but with a brilliant mind and winning manners. This man 
Ledyard was certainly a wonderful character, if we may 
believe his biography in Sparks and Bulfinch's ''Oregon." 
Evidently Thomas Jefferson possessed some admiration for 
the man but at the same time he noted his hare-brained and 
impracticable schemes. Nevertheless Ledyard succeeded 
in firing him with enthusiasm and sending him home from 
France with his mind filled with the importance of discover- 
ies to be made by penetrating the continent. Jefferson had 
also the experience of Sir Alexander McKenzie in his desire 
to explore the continent. McKenzie had made a successful 
trip from ocean to ocean in 1793, reaching the Pacific in 
latitude 52° 20' 48''. This was several degrees north of the 
route Jefferson had in his mind. At this time numerous 
vessels were trading along the Pacific coast and not a few 
of them were American. The fur trade was at its height. 
The Russian government had acquired Alaska and England 
had secured a foothold on the Pacific coast. Capt. Cook 
had discovered vast quantities of sea otter and had found 
a remunerative market in China for the furs. Among the 
American ships trading on the Pacific coast was the Colum- 
bia of Boston. Her commander was Capt. Robert Gray, a 
navigator of experience and with a turn of mind to include 
discovery as well as profitable trade in his voyages. About 
the time Jefferson was urging the American Philosophical 
Society to find some one to follow the source of the Missouri, 
discover a gateway through the mountains and find a river 
flowing toward the Pacific, Capt. Gray on his voyage that 
same year discovered the mouth of a large river in latitude 
46° 19" north. He entered the mouth of the river May 11, 
1792, with some difficulty and came to anchor in a broad 
bay. Capt. Gray seeing a village on the shore sent off a boat, 
the crew of w^hich visited the village; this turned out to 
be a tribe of Indians. The natives fled on approach, but 
were persuaded after a time to return. This was the first 



46 History of Wyoming. 

time that these untutored savages had beheld a white man 
or a ship. The latter they regarded as a floating island or 
some monster of the deep and they thought the white men 
when they first came ashore were cannibals who would 
destroy the country and devour the inhabitants. On this 
same voyoge Capt. Gray fell in with Vancouver, the dis- 
coverer, and furnished him a chart of the bay and river he 
had discovered and urged him to ascend the stream and 
determine how far it was navigable. This Vancouver did 
and ascended the river more than a hundred miles and dis- 
covered a mountain covered with snow which he named 
Mt. Hood. When Capt. Gray returned to Boston and an- 
nounced his discovery of a river that flowed to the west from 
mid-continent, it created much interest not only in scien- 
tific circles but among statesmen, and Thomas Jefferson 
became more enthsiastic than ever. The river was named 
after the ship Columbia and the inlet after Capt. Gray. 
It is not my purpose to write a history of the discoveries 
made on the Pacific coast , only in so far as they directly 
bear on the discoveries made a few years later by men in- 
terested in bridging the distance between the Columbia and 
the Missouri. The facts I have given are drawn from Car- 
ver's Travels, Irving's Astoria, Perkins' Annals of the West, 
Bulfinch's Oregon, Spark's Life of Ledyard, Bancroft's His- 
tory of the Northwest, M. P. Langford's works and other 
writers. 

The conditions that existed west of the Allegheny 
Mountains should here be mentioned. After the Revolu- 
tion colonization set in beyond the mountains mentioned, 
around the Great Lakes, along the Ohio and down the Miss- 
issippi, and year by year this movement continued. These 
new settlers had made their homes beyond civilization and 
far from the reach of protection from the States or the 
government. Those along the Ohio and the Mississippi had 
but a single object in view, and that was the outlet for 
their produce down the great "Father of Waters" via New 
Orleans to the sea. They had not counted on the dangers 
from the savage tribes or the unfriendliness of the Spanish 



TJie First American Explorers. 47 

authorities. They were in the enjoyment of a dream of 
wealth from which they were to be rudely awakened. The 
savages came first to disturb their peace and tranquillity. 
The Indians ran off their stock, burned their homes and 
scalped the scattered settlers. The Mississippi River, which 
was to be such a great advantage to them, was worse than 
useless, for the Spaniards at New Orleans, in spite of 
treaties, refused to afford them shipping privileges or ex- 
tend to them the common courtesies, simply because they 
were Americans. These pioneers were truly in a lament- 
able condition and they felt keenly their helplessness, and 
just here the Spaniards saw their opportunity to spread 
dissatisfaction among the settlers and not a few of them 
listened to the proposition that the country should become 
a part of the province of Louisiana, but as if to hold this 
movement in check, a party arose in favor of organizing an 
independent government, a new Republic free from the 
United States, which latter they said was too weak to pro- 
tect them against Indians or to enforce its treaty with Spain 
for the navigation of the Mississippi. Others there were 
who desired the United States to declare war with Spain 
and seize New Orleans. The wisdom of our government at 
this time is clearly apparent. A formidable army was sent 
against the Indians, Gen. Anthony Wayne at its head. 
The savages were put to rout wherever encountered and 
were only saved from total annihilation by suing for peace. 
This successful war against the Indian tribes produced great 
rejoicing among the settlers of the then Far West. The 
president, who had not been unmindful of the conditions 
that prevailed among the western settlers, had wisely af- 
forded this relief and the successful termination of the 
Indian war roused a spirit of loyalty. The settlers saw 
that the newly-formed Federal Union was not only a power 
to be respected but to be proud of. The new nation had 
gone beyond the borders of the thirteen original States 
and extended protection to a large territory by treating 
it as accretions, and thus Washington and his successors 
solved the problem of how the United States should acquire, 



48 History of Wyoming. 

protect and develop the great West. President Adams con- 
templated an expedition against New Orleans, the Spanish 
Intendant at that point having issued an order prohibiting 
New Orleans as a place of deposit by Americans. This 
order set the West in a blaze and the expedition was the 
all-absorbing topic among the people. President Adams 
put on a bold front and ordered three regiments of regulars 
to the Ohio River. The order also included the getting in 
readiness of a sufficient number of boats to transport the 
troops down the river. At the same time twelve new regi- 
ments were recruited and it looked very much as if war 
between the United States and Spain was inevitable, and 
would certainly have followed if the term of office of Mr. 
Adams had not been too near its close to admit of a ter- 
mination of the proposed war during his administration. 
The following year Thomas Jefferson was elected presi- 
dent and the same year the Louisiana domain became the 
property of France. 

Resuming the thread of events leading to the explora- 
tion of the West, it should be here mentioned that at the 
time the expedition up the Missouri was talked of Capt. 
Meriwether Lewis, of the LTnited States army, made known 
his desire to command the proposed expedition, and after 
making his application to the American Philosophical 
Society and having it rejected, sought out Mr. Jefferson 
and the two men had long conferences and Jefferson un- 
folded his plan to Capt. Lewis. To those who live in Wyo- 
ming today and have a knowledge of the dangers and dif- 
ficulties of such a journey, the plan of Thomas Jefferson 
looks like the weakest folly. He explained to Capt. Lewis 
that the man who should undertake the journey must have 
"but a single companion in order not to alarm the natives 
to be encountered on the way. Fortunately this plan was 
not adopted, as it was pronounced impracticable by men 
who had experience in this line of work. Capt. Lewis did 
not take kindly to Mr. Jefferson's idea and in return sub- 
mitted one of his own which included a force sufficient to 
command the respect of savage tribes and to be able to 



The First American Explorers. 49 

manage canoes, transport supplies, hunt game and con- 
struct cabins for the use of the party during a winter which 
must be spent on the Pacific coast. Mr. Jefferson listened 
attentively to this man of military experience and evidently 
was won over by the captain. An intimacy sprang up be- 
tween the two men, and a friendship was cemented which 
lasted through life. In the year 1801, when Jefferson was 
inaugurated, Capt. Lewis became his private secretary. 
The president did not lose sight of the exploring expedition. 
The new Republic was fast making history. Robert Living- 
ston, who was our minister to France, negotiated a treaty 
in 1803 with Napoleon for the purchase of the Louisiana 
domain, |15,000,000 being the price agreed on. This pur- 
chase was regarded at the time as a necessity by leading 
American statesmen of all parties. This same year Pres- 
ident Jefferson, who had been watching the course of events, 
saw that the time was ripe to recommend his exploring 
expedition and he accordingly sent to Congress a special 
and confidential message and proposed an exploring party 
be sent up the Missouri in accordance with the plans long 
talked of. Congress acted promptly, giving the required 
authority and made the necessary appropriation. Capt. 
Lewis of course received the appointment and was to com- 
mand the expedition. He asked for an assistant and the 
choice fell on Lieut. William Clark and he was accordingly 
appointed. 

Never was expedition started under more favorable 
circumstances. The Louisiana purchase had been made 
public about the 1st of July, ten days after Capt. 
Lewis had received his instructions, and this purchase in- 
cluded a portion of the territory to be explored. The people 
o^the whole country were anxious to know the character 
and extent of our western possessions. The journals of the 
day had discussed the subject of the expedition with an 
earnestness that betokened the interest the people felt. 
Capt. Lewis was regarded by President Jefferson as the 
ideal explorer and his opinion was taken up by 
the people and consequently everything that pertained to, 
-(3) 



$0 History of Wyoming. 

the expedition was discussed by the press until the under- 
taking assumed great national importance. How it came 
about that Capt. Lewis permitted the name of Clark to ap- 
pear co-equal with his own has never been explained by him 
or anyone else. Lieut. Clark was made a captain for the 
purposes of this expedition and was in every way worthy 
of his associate. He was brave, untiring and cautious and 
he left throughout the West many friends among the sav- 
age tribes with whom he came in contact. Never were tw& 
men better fitted for a great undertaking, and the manner 
in which they carried out their instructions is creditable 
to them as explorers. On their return numerous volumes 
appeared giving an account of their travels. One was pub- 
lished in Pittsburg in 1808 and republished in London. 
Another was published in Philadelphia and two more in 
London in 1814-15. 

Capt. Lewis felt the weight of responsibility placed 
upon his shoulders and he at once fitted himself for the high 
calling by such scientific studies as to enable him to take 
astronomical observations and to make a report of the 
geography of the route. Congressional action had been 
secured on January 18, 1803, and the instructions had been 
signed on the 20th of June following. Capt. Lewis left 
Washington July 5, for the West and arriving at Pittsburg, 
where his outfit for the expedition was presented him. 
Here also he received his instructions, which were of the 
most comprehensive character. These instructions were 
written by President Jefferson, and as the^ form the foun- 
dation upon which was builded the plan of all explorations 
in the West, I give them in full. It will be seen that they 
were intended for Capt. Lewis, whom he held responsible 
for the success or failure of the expedition. 

"Your situation as secretary of the President of the 
United States has made you familiar with the objects of my 
confidential message of January 18, 1803, to the Legislature; 
you have seen the act they passed, which, though expressed 
in general terms, was meant to sanction those objects, and 
you are appointed to carry them into execution. Instru- 
ments for ascertaining, by celestial observations, the geog- 



The First American Explorers. 51 

raphy of the country through which you will pass, have al- 
ready been provided. Light articles for barter and trade 
among the Indians, arms for your attendants, say for from 
ten to twelve men, boats, tents and other traveling appara- 
tus, with ammunition, medicines, surgical instruments and 
provisions, you will have prepared, with such aids as the 
Secretary of War can yield in his department, and from 
him also you will receive authority to engage among our 
troops, by volunteer agreement, the number of attendants, 
above mentioned; over whom you, as their commanding 
oflScer, are invested with all the powers the laws give in 
such a case. The object of your mission is to explore the 
Missouri River, and such principal streams of it, as, by its 
course and communication with the waters of the Pacific 
Ocean, whether the Columbia, Oregon, Colorado or any 
other river, may offer the most direct and practicable water 
communication across the continent, for the purposes of 
commerce. The intersecting points of the portage between 
the heads of the Missouri and of the water offering the best 
communication with the Pacific Ocean should also be fixed 
by observation ; and the course of that water to the ocean^ 
in the same manner as that of the Missouri. Your obser- 
vations are to be taken with great pains and accuracy, to 
be entered distinctly and intelligently for others as well as 
yourself; to comprehend all the elements necessary, with the 
aid of the usual tables, to fix the latitude and longitude of 
the places at which they were taken; and are to be ren- 
dered to the war office, for the purpose of having the cal- 
culations made concurrently by proper persons within the 
United States. Several copies of these, as well as of your 
other notes, should be made at leisure times and put into 
the care of the most trustworthy of your attendants to 
guard, by multiplying them against the accidental losses 
to which they will be exposed. A further guard would be, 
that one of these copies be on the circular membranes of 
the paper birch, as less liable to injury from damp than com- 
mon paper. The commerce which may be carried on with 
the people inhabiting the line you will pursue renders a 
knowledge of these people important. You will therefore 
endeavor to make yourself acquainted, so far as a. diligent 
pursuit of your journey will admit, with the names of the 
nations and their numbers; the extent and limits of their 
possessions; their relations with other tribes or natives; 
their language, traditions, monuments; their ordinary oc- 
cupations, in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts and the- 



5? History of Wyoming. 

implements for these; their food, clothing and domestic ac- 
commodations; the diseases prevalent among them, and the 
remedies they use, moral and physical circumstances which 
distinguish them from tribes we know; peculiarities in their 
laws, customs and dispositions; and articles of commerce 
they may furnish, and to what extent. And considering 
the interest which every nation has in extending and 
strengthening the authority of reason and justice among 
the people around them, it will be useful to acquire what 
knowledge you can of the state of morality, religion, and 
information among them ; as it may better enable those who 
may endeavor to civilize them to adopt their measures to 
the existing notions and practices of those on whom they 
are to operate. Other objects worthy of notice will be the 
soil and surface of the country, its growth and vegetable 
productions, especially those not of the United States; the 
animals of the country generally, and especially those not 
known in the United States; the remains and accounts of 
any which may be deemed rare or extinct; the mineral 
productions of every kind, but more particularly metals, 
limestone, pit coal and saltpetre ; salines and mineral waters, 
inoting the temperature of the last and such circumstances 
as may indicate their character; volcanic appearance, cli- 
mate as characterized by the thermometer, by the propor- 
tion of rainy, cloudy and clear days; by lightning, hail, snow, 
ice; by the access and recess of frost; by winds prevailing 
at different seasons; the dates at which particular plants 
put forth, or lose their flower or leaf; times of appearance 
of particular birds, reptiles or insects. Although your route 
will be along the channel of the Missouri, yet you will en- 
deavor to inform youself, by inquirj'^, of the character and 
â– extent of the country watered by its branches, and espec- 
ially on its southern side. The North River, or Rio Bravo, 
which runs into the Gulf of Mexico, and the North River, 
or Rio Colorado, which runs into the Gulf of California, 
are understood to be the principal streams heading oppo- 
site to the waters of the Missouri, and running southwardly. 
Whether the dividing lines between the Missouri and them 
are mountains or flat lands, what are their distance from 
the Missouri, the character of the intermediate country, and 
the people inhabiting it, are worthy of particular inquiry. 
'The northern waters of the Missouri are less to be inquired 
after, because they have been ascertained to a considerable 
extent, and are still in the course of ascertainment by Eng- 
7iish traders and travelers: but if you can learn anything 



The First American Explorers. 53; 

certain of the most northern source of the Mississippi, and of 
its position, relatively to the Lake of Woods, it will be inter- 
esting to us. Some accounts, too, of the Canadian traders 
from the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Onisconsine to 
where it strikes the Missouri, and of the soil and rivers iit 
its course. In all your intercourse with the natives treat 
them in the most friendly and conciliatory manner which 
their own conduct will admit; allay all jealousies 
as to the object of your journey, satisfy them 
of its innocence; make them acquainted with the 
position, extent, character, peaceable and commercial dis- 
position of the United States, of our Mish to be nei<Tliborly 
and friendly and useful to them, and of our disposition to a 
commercial intercourse with them; confer with them un 
points most convenient as useful emporium, and the articles 
of most desirable interchange for them and us. If a few 
of their influential chiefs, within a practicable distanc«\ 
wish to visit us, arrange such a visit with them and furnish 
them with authority to call on our officers on their enter- 
ing the United States to have them conveyed to this place at 
the public expense. If any of them should wish to have 
some of their young people brought n]} with us, and taught 
such arts as may be useful to them, we will receive, and 
take care of them. Such a mission, whether of influential 
chiefs or of young people, would give security to your own 
party. 

"Carry with you some matter of the kine-pox; inform 
those of them with whom you may be, of its efficacy as a 
preservative from the small-pox, and instruct and encour- 
age them in the use of it. This may be especially done 
wherever you may winter. As it is impossible for us to see 
in what manner you will be received by those people, 
whether with hospitality or hostility, so it is impossible to 
prescribe the exact degree of perseverance which you are 
to pursue your journey. We value too much the lives of 
citizens to offer them to probable destruction. Your num- 
ber will be sufficient to secure you against the unauthor- 
ized opposition of individuals, or of small parties; but if a 
superior force, authorized, or not authorized, by a nation, 
should be arrayed against your further passage and inflex- 
ibly determine to arrest it, you must decline its further pur- 
suit and return. In the loss of yourselves we should lose 
also the information you have acquired. By returning safe- 
ly with that, you may enable us to renew the essay with 
better calculated means. To vour discretion, therefore,. 



S4 History of Wyoming. 

must be left the degree of danger you may risk and the point 
at which you should decline, only saying we wish you to err 
on the side of your safety, and to bring back your party safe, 
even if it be with less information. As far up the Missouri, 
a^ far as the white settlements extend, an intercourse will 
probably be found to exist between them and the Spanish 
posts of St. Louis opposite Cahokia, or Saint Genevieve 
opposite Kaskaskia. From still further up the river the 
traders may furnish a conveyance for letters. Beyond that 
you may perhaps be able to engage Indians to bring letters 
for the government to Cahokia or Kaskaskia, on promising 
them that they shall receive such special compensation as 
jou shall have stipulated with them. Avail yourself of 
these means to communicate to us, at seasonable intervals, 
a copy of your journal, notes and observations of every kind, 
putting into cipher whatever might do injury if betrayed. 
Should you reach the Pacific Ocean, inform yourself of the 
circumstances which may decide, whether the furs of those 
parts may not be collected advantageously at the head of 
the Missouri (convenient as is supposed to the waters of the 
-Colorado and Oregon or Columbia) as at Nootka Sound, or 
any other point of that coast; and that trade be conse- 
quently conducted through the Missouri and United States 
more beneficially than by the circumnavigation now prac- 
ticed. On your arrival on that coast, endeavor to learn 
if there be any port within your reach frequented by sea 
vessels of any nation, and to send two of your 
trusted people back by sea, in such way as shall 
appear practicable, with a copy of your notes; and 
should you be of opinion that the return of your party by 
the v/ay they went will be eminently dangerous, then ship 
the whole and return by sea, either by the way of Cape 
Horn, or the Cape of Good Hope, as you shall be able. As 
you will be without money, clothes, or provisions, you must 
endeavor to use the credit of the United States to obtain 
them; for which purpose open letters of credit shall be 
furnished you anthorizing you to draw on the executive of 
the T'^nited Stntes, or any of its officers in any part of the 
world in which drafts can be disposed of, and to apply with 
onr recommendations to the consuls, agents, merchants, or 
citizens of any nation with which we have intercourse, as- 
suring them in our name that any aids they may furnish 
you shall be honorably paid and on demand. Our consuls 
Thomas Hewes, at Batavia in Java; William Buchanan in 
the isles of France and Bourbon, and John Elmslie at the 



The First American Explorers. 55 

€ape of Good Hope, will be able to supply your necessities, 
by drafts on us. 

'^Should you find it safe to return by the way you go, 
after sending two of your party around by sea, or with your 
whole party, if no conveyance by sea can be found, do so; 
making such observations on your return as may serve to 
supply, correct or confirm those made on your outward 
journey. On re-entering the United States and reaching a 
place of safety, discharge any of your attendants who may 
desire and deserve it, procuring for them immediate pay- 
ment of all arrears of pay and clothing which may have ac- 
crued since their departure, and assure them that they shall 
be recommended to the liberality of the Legislature for the 
grant of a soldier's portion of land each as proposed in my 
message to Congress, and repair yourself with your papers 
to the seat of government. To provide on the accident of 
your death against anarchy, dispersion, and the consequent 
danger to your party and total failure of the enterprise you 
are hereby authorized, by any instrument signed or written 
in your own hand, to name the person among them who shall 
succeed to the command on your decease, and by like in- 
instruments to change the nomination from time to time 
as further experience of the characters accompanying you 
shall point out superior fitness, and all the powers and au. 
thorities given to yourself are in the event of your death 
transferred to and vested in the successor so named, with 
further power to him and his successors in like manner to 
name each his successor, who, on the death of his predeces- 
sor, shall be invested with all the powers and authorities 
given to yourself. Given under my hand at the city of Wash- 
ington, this twentieth day of June. 1803. Thomas Jefferson, 
President of the United States of America." 

Leaving Pittsburg ,the party proceeded down the Ohio 
and went into winter quarters at the mouth of Wood 
River late in the fall of 1803. Here they remained until 
May 14, 1804, and on the 16th they reached St. Charles, a 
town 21 miles up the Missouri. On June 1st they reached 
the Osage River, 133 miles from the mouth of the Missouri. 
On the 26th they reached the mouth of the Kansas, 340 
miles form the Mississippi. They did not reach the River 
Platte until the 21st of July. Capt. Lewis and his party 
spent much time exploring rivers which they passed, and 
in visiting the various tribes of Indians encamped along the 



56 History of Wyoming. 

upper Missouri. On October 27tli, they reached the village of 
the Mandans and after being royally entertained by these 
Indians for several days they proceeded to build winter 
quarters and erect a fort for the protection of the party, 
which they called Fort Mandan. The winter proved very 
severe and the party suffered greatly with the cold. They 
left the fort on April 7th and proceeded onward up the Mis- 
souri. At the same time seven soldiers, two Frenchmen 
and a fur trader named M. Gravelines, started with a boat 
down the Missouri, with dispatches for President Jefferson. 
Capt. Meriwether Lewis, in his published travels (Lon- 
don, 1809), says: ''While we were at Fort Mandan, the 
Sioux robbed several of our party and murdered several of 
the Mandan tribe in cold blood without provocation, while 
reposing on the bosom of friendship. On hearing of this 
massacre, Capt. Clark and the greater part of us volun- 
teered to avenge the murder, but were deterred by not 
receiving succor from the Mandan warriors, who declined 
to avenge the outrage committed upon them. Soon after 
this massacre we received authentic intelligence that the 
Sioux had it in contemplation to murder us in the spring; 
but were prevented from making the attack by our threat- 
ening to spread the small-pox, with all its horrors, among 
them. The same hour which witnessed the departure of 
Graveline for St. Louis, also saw the main division leave Fort 
Mandan for the Pacific in two pirogues and six canoes. 
This division comprised thirty-three persons, the names of 
which are given in the following roster: Capt. Meriwether 
Lewis, U. S. A.; Capt. William Clark, U. S. A.; Sergeants 
John Ordway, Nathaniel Pryor and Patrick Gass; privates 
William Bratton, John Colter, John Collins, Peter Crusatte, 
Kobert Frazier, Keuben Fields, Joseph Fields, George Gib- 
son, Silas Goodrich. Hugh Hall, Thomas P. Howard, Jean 
Baptiste La Page, Francis Labiche, Hugh McNeal, John 
Potts, John Shields, George Shannon, John B. Thompson, 
William Werner, Alexander Willard, Richard Windsor, 
Joseph Whitehouse, Peter Wiser, the negro servant York, 
the two interpreters, George Drewyer and Toussaint Cha- 



The First American Explorers. 57 

boneau, and the latter's wife, Sacajawea with her pappoose. 
The story of the journeyings of this party is thus graphi- 
cally related by Major Walker, in his paper on early explor- 
ations published in 1879: Pursuing their journey, and reach- 
ing the summit of the Rocky Mountains beyond the Three 
Thousand Mile Island on the 12th of August, 1805, where, 
leaving the hidden sources of the Missouri which had never 
yet been seen by civilized man and following a descent of 
three-quarters of a mile to the westward they reached a 
handsome bold creek of cold, clear water, where they 
stopped to taste for the first time the waters of the Columbia. 
Pursuing their tedious way on foot, transporting their goods 
on Indian packhorses, at times so scarce of food as to be 
obliged to kill horses for subsistence and to purchase Indian 
dogs to eat, they reached the Columbia River on the 15th of 
September, and on the 7th of November they enjoyed for the 
first time the delightful prospect of the Pacific Ocean. 
Wintering some few miles south of the mouth of the Colum- 
bia River among the Clatsop Indians, they on the 23rd of 
March, 1806, began their return, and, recrossing the moun- 
tains on July 3rd, the party divided, Capt. Lewis going 
northward to strike the waters of the Marias, and Capt. 
Clark with fifteen men and fifty horses, set off to the south- 
east and down to the forks of tbe Jefferson where the boats 
and merchandise had been deposited the year before. Capt. 
Clark's party arriving by boats and on horseback at the 
Three Forks of the Missouri, this party again divided and 
Sergeant Ordway and men set out in six canoes to descend 
the Missouri while Capt. Clark and ten men, and the wife 
and child of Chaboneau proceeded by land, with fifty horses, 
to the Yellowstone River, the distance traveled by Capt. 
Clark from the Three Forks of the Missouri to the Yellow- 
stone River being forty-eight miles. Capt. Lewis being 
joined by Sergeant Ordway's party in five canoes and the 
white pirogue on the 28th of July, 1806, and turning loose 
all their horses, embarked on the river and proceeding down 
the Missouri formed a junction on the 12th day of August, 
thirty miles below the mouth of the Yellowstone with Capt. 



58 History of Wyoming. 

Clark and party, who had come down the river. The whole 
command being once more all together proceeded down the 
Missouri, arriving at St. Louis on the 23rd of September, 
1806."' 

Before closing the Lewis and Clark narrative I desire 
to call attention to two men, comprising the party, John 
Colter and John Potts, as their names will appear again in 
the history of Wyoming. When Lewis and Clark, on their 
return trip, reached Fort Mandan, John Colter asked to be 
discharged at that point and his request was granted. John 
Potts kept with the party and was discharged in St. Louis. 
In 1807 he joined the Manuel Lisa trapping expedition 
which went up the Missouri. This party met Colter at the 
mouth of the Platte when he was on his return to St. Louis. 
Lisa urged him to return to the mountains with his party 
and thus it w^as that he and John Potts again became asso- 
ciates in adventures in the Rocky Mountains. The name of 
Colter has become famous in western explorations and his 
deeds of daring are worthy of the early heroes of the Stony 
Mountains. The chapter I devote to him proves that he is 
the first American explorer to enter Wyoming. 

After the expeditions of Lewis and Clark in 1804 and 
Capt. Zebulon Montgomery Pike in 1806, no further official 
explorations of the west were made until 1819. The United 
States Government at that time organized an expedition 
which was fitted out at great expense and provided with 
military officers and men of science. Major Stephen H. 
Long was placed in command, and the expedition started 
from Pittsburg, May 30, 1819. The party wintered at Coun- 
cil Bluffs and the following spring explored the Platte Val- 
ley ; reaching the south fork of this river, they proceeded up 
this branch and pretty generally explored the country which 
is now Colorado. Long and his scientific associates proved 
themselves to be the most stupid explorers that had ever 
been in any country. They were not only stupid, but like 
most men of this class, were opinionated. They pronounced 
the whole country between the 39th and 49th parallels a 
worthless desert, extending for 500 miles east of the Rocky 



Tlie First American Explorers. 5g 

Menntains. The strange part of all this is that they found 
innumerable streams flowing from the mountains over these 
rast plains, and the water courses had sufficient fall 
cover a large extent of territory. Evidently these scientific 
-gentlemen had never heard of irrigation, although it had 
been in vogue for thousands of years. The stupidity of 
Long made a blotch on the map of the United States. After 
he made his report to the government, all that portion of the 
country from the Rocky Mountains to a point near the Mis- 
souri river, was noted on the map as the Great American 
Desert and this misleading statement resulted in untold in- 
jury to the West and kept the development of the country 
back for half a century. Major Long's explorations were of 
some value, it is true, but his opinions proved him to be a 
man of superficial attainments. That country marked 
^'Great American Desert" on the map, is still remembered 
by all persons over forty years old. The sandy, worthless 
desert now contains hundreds of thousands of the best culti- 
vated farms in the United States. If our government sent 
out an explorer with a full staff of scientific assistants who 
reported the country as worthless, is it any wonder that con- 
servative members of the United States senate and of the 
House of Representatives should argue that the Rocky 
Mountain country, including Oregon, beyond it, was not 
worth possessing? Fortunately, Major Long and his stupid 
assistants did not enter the Wyoming country, and I should 
not have referred to this expedition at all had it not been 
for the blighting effect of the official report. 

I have mentioned the successful expeditions of Sir 
Alexander McKenzie in 1789-1793, but if I were asked if 
this intrepid explorer was the first to cross the mountains 
to the Pacific, I should be obliged in all fairness to answer 
"No." Poets, great military commanders, as well as ex- 
plorers, are born with God-given powers in their particular 
line of work. Even among savage tribes, history shows 
that great leaders come to the front with full developed 
powers. They are not numerous, I will admit, but occa- 
sionally there is a born leader in these tribes who in Intel- 



6o History of Wyoming. 

lect compares with the best developed white men of the 
times. They may be called warriors, but they are often 
statesmen. One of the most remarkable of these characters 
was an American Indian — a native of the Mississippi Valley 
belonging to the Yazoo tribe of Indians. He was called by 
the French L'lnterprete, because he spoke many languages. 
He had for years, it is said, wondered from whence he came, 
and spent much time in trying to solve the problem of life. 
He visited neighboring tribes in search of knowledge. He 
found the shores of the Atlantic and then turned to the 
westward in 1745, and in due time crossed the mountains 
at or about the place Lewis and Clark followed more than 
sixty years later. He finally reached the sea, and when he 
beheld it his astonishment knew no bounds. In telling the 
story to M. Le Page du Pratz, a French savant, he said: 
"When I saw it I was so delighted that I could not speak. 
My eyes were too small for my soul's ease. The wind so 
disturbed the great water that I thought the blows it gave 
would beat the land in pieces." The waves of the ocean 
were his great puzzle, and when the tide rose and the water 
approached his camping place he believed that the world 
would be engulfed, but when the tide began to recede he 
stood for hours watching the water until his companions 
felt sure that he had lost his mind. He told his story, when 
he returned, of the long river beyond the mountains that 
flowed into the ocean. 



The Famous John Goiter. 6i 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FAMOUS JOHN COLTER. 

The First American to Enter Wyoming — A Member of the Lewis 
AND Clark Expedition — Remains in the Vicinity of the Yel- 
lowstone FROM 1806 to 1810 — He Traps Along the Big Horn, 
Big Wind River, and Crosses the Range to the Pacific Slope 
IN 1807 — Returns by Way of the Yellowstone National Park, 
of which He was the Discoverer — His Adventure with the 
Blackfeet — A Race for Life — Relates His Story to Capt. 
Clark, Bradbury and Others. 

In the previous chapter I mentioned the name of John 
Colter and his discharge from the Lewis and Clark expedi- 
tion at Fort Mandan. From that date this member of the 
exploring party has been identified with the country which 
in later years became Wyoming, Colter while with Lewis 
and Clark won the respect of the explorers and was often 
called upon to perform important service where bravery 
and cool-headedness were required. I regret that so little 
is known of his early history and that nothing is chronicled 
of his old age and death. No braver man ever entered the 
Rocky Mountain country. All that is known of his early life 
is that he was a hunter and woodsman and in his line had 
won renown before he joined Lewis and Clark. Nothing 
is to be learned of his education, but the chances are that 
like most hunters of his day, he was unlettered. It is with 
satisfaction that we read in the journal of the expedition, 
under date of August 14th and 15th, 1806, the following: 

''In the evening we were applied to by one of our men, 
Colter, who was desirous of joining the two trappers who 
had accompanied us, and who now proposed an expedition 
up the river, in which they were to find traps and give him 
a share of the profits. The offer was a very advantageous 
one, and, as he had always performed his duty, and his 
services might be dispensed with, we agreed that he might 
go provided none of the rest would ask or expect a similar 
indulgence. To this they cheerfully answered that they 



62 History of Wyoming. 

wished Colter every success and would not apply for liberty 
to separate before we reached St. Louis. We therefore sup- 
plied him, as did his comrades also, with powder, lead and a 
variety of articles which might be useful to him, and he 
left us the next day." 

This request on the part of Colter evidently produced 
a profound sensation at Fort Mandan; the incident was so 
remarkable that it was not passed over without further com- 
ment; the journal makes this additional reference to the 
subject : 

"The example of this man shows us how easily men may 
be weaned from the habits of civilized life to the ruder but 
scarcely less fascinating manners of the woods. This hunter 
has now been absent for many years from the frontier, and 
might naturally be presumed to have some anxiety, or some 
curiosity at least, to return to his friends and his country; 
yet just at the moment when he is approaching the frontier^ 
he is tempted by a hunting scheme to give up those delight- 
ful prospects, and go back without the least reluctance to 
the solitude of the woods." 

The names of the two trapi)ers with whom Colter went 
into partnership do not appear in the Lewis and Clark jour- 
nal but I learn from other sources that they were Dixon and 
Hancock, whose homes were on the Illinois River. They 
were trappers, and in 1804 made a trip up the Missouri 
and trapped on the headwaters of that stream until 1806. 
It so happened that they met the Lewis and Clark expedi- 
tion on its return that year and persuaded Colter to join 
them. The newly organized trapping outfit followed up the 
Missouri and trapped on the Yellowstone and its branches. 
Thus passed the balance of the season of 1806. The follow- 
ing spring he and his companions started down the Missouri 
river with the intention of going to St. Louis. When thej 
arrived at the mouth of the Platte, they met Manuel Lisa, 
sometimes called de Lisa, and that enterprising trader 
persuaded Colter to return with him to the Yellowstone 
country, where he had reported an abundance of beaver. 
The fur expedition went up to the mouth of the Big 
Horn, where Lisa erected a fort. A small party was organ- 
ized and with Colter at its head was sent out to trap and 



TM FcmKms John Colter. 6$ 

trade among the Crows. In this expedition he was evidently 
successful. His party trapped in all the tributaries of the 
Big Horn, including Stinking Water, where he discovered a 
boiling spring with a strong odor of sulphur and tar, which 
gives rise to the name Stinking Water. Colter is in no wise 
responsible for the name however, as it is of Indian origin, 
being thus interpreted by explorers. They trapped on the 
Grey Bull, Shell Creek, No Wood, Kirby Creek, Owl Creek, 
Little Wind River, Beaver Creek and all the forks of the 
Popo Agie. The party then went up Big Wind River to its 
source and crossed over one of the low passes to the Pacific 
slope. Capt. H. M. Chittenden in his work on the Yellow- 
stone National Park, follows Colter closely in his meander- 
ings on the west side of the Wind River Range. He says: 

"From the summit of the mountains he descended to the 
westward; crossed the Snake River and Teton Pass to 
Pierre's Hole, and then turned north, recrossing the Teton 
Range by the Indian trail in the valley of what is now Con- 
ant Creek, jnsl north ol Jackson Lake. Thence he contin- 
ued his course until he reached Yellowstone Lake, at some 
point along its southwestern shore. He passed around the 
west to the northernmost point of the Thumb, and then 
resumed his northerly course over the hills, arriving at the 
Yellowstone River in the valley of Alum Creek. He fol- 
lowed the left bank of the river to the ford just above Tower 
Falls, where the great Bannock trail used to cross, and then 
followed this trail to its junction with his outward route on 
Clark's Fork. From this point he recrossed the Stinking 
Water, possibly in order to revisit the strange phenomena 
there, but more probably' to explore new trapping territory 
on his way back. He descended the Stinking Water until 
about south of Pryor's Gap, when he turned north and 
shortly after arrived at his starting point." 

Capt. Chittenden, in his work, assumes that Colter, on 
this expedition, was alone or possibly with Indians. I think 
this an error. We must come to the conclusion that Colter 
did not make this trip as an explorer but as a trapper. 
There is evidence to show that he was engaged by Lisa 
when these two met at the mouth of the Platte to go back 
into the country from whence he had just come and there to 
trap for the benefit of Lisa. When we study the character 



64 History of Wyoming. 

of this fur trader we must naturally infer that his engage- 
ment with Colter was strictly a matter of business and that 
he fitted him out for a trapping expedition. Lisa was one 
of the most enterprising fur traders ever in the Rocky 
Mountain country. From first to last he pushed his trappers 
up all the principal streams and covered the territory thor- 
oughly; he sought new fields of enterprise and by his 
superior diplomacy captured the Indian trade. Colter was 
simply the agent of this enterprising Spaniard. Two cir- 
cumstances occurred in the life of Colter which resulted 
in handing his name down in a sort of half-hearted way to 
posterity. First, when on a trip to St. Louis he met one of 
his old commanders, Capt Clark, and told him of his explor- 
ations and that gentleman traced his route on a map which 
was soon to appear in connection with the Lewis and Clark 
expedition. Capt. Clark evidently received Colter's story 
with great allowance and he accordingly avoided saying 
anything about it in his publication. It is quite certain 
that Colter's story of hot springs, boiling lakes, geysers, 
Mtc, was regarded by his old commander as beyond belief; 
therefore he contented himself with tracing on his map 
what he denoted as the Colter route of 1807. At this day 
we feel thankful for even this slight recognition of the 
services of John Colter. Besides Capt. Clark, Colter told 
his story to John Bradbury, a scientific gentleman, who 
accompanied Wilson P. Hunt's expedition a part of the way 
Tip the Missouri in 1811. To this latter gentleman we are 
indebted for a story of surprising bravery and thrilling ad- 
venture that deserves a place in the history of pioneering 
by white men in the Rocky Mountains. This incident in 
Colter's life will be told further on. 

While Colter had been on his expedition, Manuel Lisa 
had returned to St. Louis and organized, or re-organized, I 
am not certain which, the Missouri Fur Company. At any 
rate he had secured additional capital, with the idea of mo- 
nopolizing the fur trade of the tributary waters of the Mis- 
souri River. This time he brought with him from St. Louis a 
large number of recruits for his trapping service and among 



The Famous John Colter. 65 

others, John Potts, who has been mentioned in connection 
with the Lewis and Clark expedition. Potts was of course 
an experienced mountainman, knew the Indian character 
in detail, and was brave even to rashness. Colter and Potts 
being re-united naturally made their plans to trap together 
during the season of 1808. I take it that they were free 
trappers attaching themselves to Manuel Lisa's company. 
Colter evidently led the way and the two went up and 
trapped on the northern tributaries of the Missouri. 

In Bradbury's "Sketches of the Northwest, (London, 
1812), the writer claims that Colter came to St. Louis in 
May 1810, in a small canoe from the headwaters of the Miss- 
ouri, a distance of three thousand miles which he traversed 
in thirty days. "I saw him on his arrival," says Bradbury, 
"and received from him an account of his adventures after 
he had separated from Lewis and Clark's party. One of 
these I shall relate. On the arrival of the party on the head- 
waters of the Missouri, Colter, observing that there appeared 
to be an abundance of beaver there, got permission to re- 
main and hunt for some time, which he did in company 
with a man named Dixon, who had traversed alone the im- 
mense tract of country from St. Louis to the headwaters of 
the Missouri. Soon after, he separated from Dixon and 
trapped in company with a hunter named Potts; and, aware 
of the hostility of the Blackfeet Indians, one of whom had 
been killed by Capt. Lewis, they set their traps at night 
and took them up early in the morning, remaining concealed 
during the day. They were examining their traps early 
one morning on a creek about six miles from that branch of 
the Missouri called Jefferson's Fork, and were ascending 
in a canoe, when they suddenly heard a great noise resem- 
bling the tramping of animals, but they could not ascertain 
the fact, as the high perpendicular banks on each side of 
the river impeded their view. Colter immediately pro- 
nounced it to be occasioned by Indians, and advised an in- 
stant retreat, but was accused of cowardice by Potts who 
insisted that the noise was caused by buffaloes, and they 
proceeded on. In few moments their doubts were removed 

-(5) 



66 History of Wyoming, 

by a party of five or six hundred Indians presenting them- 
selves, and beckoning them to come ashore. As retreat 
was now impossible, Colter turned the head of his canoe 
to the shore, and, at the moment of its touching, an Indian 
seized the rifle belonging to Potts, but Colter immediately 
retook it and handed it to Potts who remained in the canoe, 
and, on receiving it pushed off into the river. He had 
scarcely quitted the shore when an arrow was shot at him 
and he cried out, 'Colter, I am wounded!' Colter remon- 
strated with him on the folly of attempting to escape, and 
urged him to come ashore. Instead of complying, he in- 
stantly leveled his rifle at an Indian, and shot him dead 
on the spot. This conduct may appear to be an act of 
madness; but it was doubtless the effect of sudden and 
sound reasoning, for, if taken alive, he must have expected 
to be tortured to death, according to their custom. He was 
instantly pierced with arrows so numerous that, to use the 
language of Colter, 'he was made a riddle of.' They now 
seized Colter, stripped him entirely naked, and began to 
consult on the manner in which he should be put to death. 
They were first inclined to set him up as a mark to shoot 
at; but the chief interfered, and, seizing him by the shoul- 
der, asked him if he could run fast. Colter, who had been 
some time among the Keekatsa or Crow Indians, had in a 
considerable degree acquired the Blackfeet language and 
was well acquainted with Indian customs. He knew that 
he now had to run for his life, with the dreadful odds of five 
hundred or six hundred against him — those armed Indians. 
Therefore he cunningly replied that he was a bad runner, 
although he was considered by the hunters as remarkably 
swift. The chief now commanded the party to remain sta- 
tionary, and led Colter out upon the prairie three or four 
hundred yards and released him, bidding him to save him- 
self if he could. At that instant the horrid war-whoop 
sounded in the ears of poor Colter, who, urged by hope, ran 
at a speed which surprised himself. He proceeded toward 
the Jefferson Fork, having to cross a plain over six miles in 
width abounding with the prickly pear, on which he was 



The Famous John Colter. 67 

every instant treading with his naked feet. He ran nearly 
half way across the plain before he ventured to look over 
his shoulder, when he perceived that the Indians were very 
much scattered and that he had gained ground to a consid- 
erable distance from the main body; but one Indian who 
carried a spear was much before all the rest, and not more 
than a hundred yards from him. A faint gleam of hope now 
cheered the heart of Colter. He derived confidence from the 
belief that escape was within the bounds of possibility ; but 
that confidence was nearly proving fatal to him, for he 
exerted himself to such a degree that blood gushed from 
his nostrils and soon almost covered the fore part of his 
body. He had now arrived within a mile of the river, when 
he distinctly heard the appalling sound of footsteps behind 
him, and every instant expected to feel the spear of his 
pursuer. Again he turned his head and saw the savage not 
twenty yards from him. Determined, if possible, to avoid 
the expected blow, he suddenly stopped, turned round, and 
spread out his arms. The Indian, surprised at this sudden 
action, and perhaps at the bloody appearance of Colter, 
also attempted to stop; but, exhausted with running, he fell 
while endeavoring to throw his spear, which stuck in the 
ground and broke in his hand. Colter instantly snatched 
up the pointed part, with which he pinned him to the earth, 
and continued his flight. The foremost of the Indians, on 
arriving at the place, stopped till the others came up to 
join him, when they set up a hideous yell. Every moment 
of this time was improved by Colter, who, though fainting 
and exhausted, succeeded in gaining the skirting of the 
Cottonwood trees on the borders of the Fork, through which 
he ran and plunged into the river. Fortunately for him, a 
little below this place was an island, against the upper point 
of which a raft of drift timber had lodged. He dived under 
the raft and after several efforts got his head above water 
among the trunks of the trees, covered over with smaller 
wood to the depth of several feet. Scarcely had he secured 
himself when the Indians arrived on the river, screeching 
and yelling, as Colter expressed it, 'like so many devils.' 



68 History of Wyoming. 

They were frequently on the raft during the day, and were 
seen through the chinks by Colter, who was congratulating 
himself upon his escape until the idea arose that they might 
set the raft on fire. In horrible suspense he remained until 
night, when, hearing no more of the Indians, he dived from 
under the raft, swam silently down the river a long dis- 
tance, when he landed and traveled all night. Although 
happy in having escaped from the Indians, his situation was 
still dreadful. He was completely naked under a burning 
sun. The soles of his feet were entirely filled with the 
thorns of the prickly pears. He was hungry and had no 
means of killing game, although he saw abundance around 
him, and was at least seven days from Lisa's Fort on the Big 
Horn branch of the Roche Juan river. Those were circum- 
stances under which any man but an American hunter 
would have despaired. He arrived at the Fort in seven 
days, having subsisted upon a root much esteemed by the 
Indians of the Missouri, now known by naturalists as the 
Psoralea esculeutaJ' 

Irving, in "Astoria," also tells this story, yet makes 
no reference to Bradbury as the author, but as he wrote 
it many years before Irving published his Astoria, I prefer 
to place the credit where it belongs. 

It is not necessary for my history to trace Colter's life 
further. I will only say that he remained another year in 
the mountains, but whether he trapped in Wyoming in 1809, 
or in some other locality, I do not know. Bradbury, it will 
be observed, says that he returned to St. Louis in May, 1810. 

Washington Irving says that John Colter met the As- 
torians on their way up the Missouri in 1811 and kept with 
the party all one morning, and would have returned with 
them to the mountains had it not been for the fact that he 
had married since his return. 

John Colter, from the most authentic accounts, was the 
first American to enter Wyoming, and is also the discov- 
erer of the Yellowstone National Park. Other white men 
had been in Wyoming, but they were not Americans. Had 
Colter been employed by the government and provided with 



The Famous John Colter. ,69 

a scientific outfit so as to have made an official record of his 
travels and discoveries, his name would have rung down 
the ages along with those of Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, 
John C, Fremont and others equally famous in the annals of 
history. Unfortunately, he had to deal with people who 
were too narrow-minded to comprehend the wonders of the 
headwaters of the Yellowstone. His associates for the most 
part were ignorant trappers who heard his stories with de- 
risive laughter and referred to the locality of the Park as 
"Colter's Hell." Why Bradbury, with his great enterprise 
and love of adventure, did not investigate for himself the 
locality, it is hard to say; or that the celebrated English 
traveler, Mr. Nuttall, who heard Colter's story, should think 
it unworthy of investigation, is strange indeed. H. M. 
Brackenride, who knew Colter well and talked with him 
about his travels, seems to have imbibed the opinions of 
the ignorant trappers. He mentions Colter in his writings, 
and speaks of his discovery of a low pass through the moun- 
tains, but fails to give any account of our hero's discoveries 
at the head of the Yellowstone. Here were three men who 
went out in 1811 in convoy of fur traders, and each had an 
opportunity to make his name immortal by investigating 
Colter's discoveries, but they did not take advantage of the 
knowledge they possessed. Colter will, without their aid, 
be known and recognized as the discoverer of that wonder- 
land which has been set apart by the American govern- 
ment for the use and benefit of the American people. Other 
men have done much in the way of exploring this world- 
renowned Park and bringing it to the attention of the peo- 
ple, but John Colter is without doubt the first white man 
to behold the wonders of nature grouped together in that 
part of Wyoming. At some day a monument will be erected 
in the midst of this national pleasure ground, and on it will 
be inscribed the name of John Colter, the discoverer of the 
Yellowstone National Park, 1807. 



70 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER VI. 

EZEKIEL WILLIAMS' PARTY IN WYOMING. 
They Follow Up the Yellowstone and are Attacked by Blackfeet 
— Cross Over to the Big Horn and Go South — Reach the 
Sweetwater — Another Attack by Indians — Retreat South 
Across the Laramie Plains and Reach the Headwaters of the 
South Platte — Comanches Attack the Party and Kill All But 
Three — Williams Returns to St. Louis and the Two Others 
Go to Southern California— The Leader Again Visits the 
Sweetwater in 1809. 

Captain Lewis, when ready to leave Fort Mandan on 
his return trip, invited the chief of the Mandan tribe, Big 
White, to accompany him to Washington. The chief prom- 
ised to do so, and to take his wife and son with him, pro- 
vided he was assured of an escort up the river on his return. 
He feared warlike tribes who lived lower down on the river. 
Captain Lewis readily promised that the government would 
send a suflScient escort to guarantee their safety past the 
dangerous tribes who infested the Missouri lower down the 
river. The president made good Captain Lewis' promises. 
Twenty hardy Missourians who had all seen service were 
selected to form the escort. The command of the expedition 
was given to Ezekiel Williams, a man of large frontier expe- 
rience — a hunter of renown who had the reputation of being 
an excellent rifleman, cool, determined and brave. The 
party left St. Louis on April 25, 1807. They were outfitted 
for two years' stay in the mountains, it being understood 
that they were first to return the Mandan chief and his 
family to their native village, after which they were at lib- 
erty to trap as long as they saw fit. The party was not only 
well selected but well equipped, and they entered upon 
their journey with enthusiasm, feeling satisfied that they 
would bring home many thousand dollars' worth of rich 
peltries. It was their intention to trap for a time on the 



Ezekiel Williams' Party in Wyoming. 71 

headwaters of the Missouri and then cross the mountains 
and try their luck on the other side. The party, after leav- 
ing St. Louis, passed up the Missouri river without incident 
until they reached the mouth of the Platte, when William 
Hamilton, one of their number, was taken violently ill with 
a fever. In his delirium, he raved about home and loved 
ones. His associates gave him the tenderest care and ad- 
ministered such remedies as a well-selected medicine chest 
contained, but all to no purpose. He died and was buried 
by his comrades on the west bank of the Missouri, just below 
the Platte. The party proceeded on up the river and by the 
good management of Williams successfully passed the war- 
like Sioux country and finally landed the chieftain at his 
village. The Mandan people were greatly rejoiced when 
they saw that their chief had been returned to them accord- 
ing to the promise of Captain Lewis. They were loud in 
their praises of Captain Lewis and the white people gene- 
rally because they would not lie. They had pledged their 
word and had kept it. Williams and his party remained a 
week at the village, resting from their toilsome journey 
against the current of the Missouri. From here they went 
on up the river to the mouth of the Yellowstone, and turn- 
ing up that stream, trapped in all its tributaries. The party 
was well organized and well armed, Williams was a good 
commander and possessed the confidence of his men. The 
whole party, however, seemed to have entered the Indian 
country with altogther a mistaken idea of the natives. They 
were trappers, and did not expect to fight their way through 
the country. They trapped successfully and finally reached 
a locality which they considered an ideal one for the trap- 
per and hunter. All the streams were filled with beaver, 
and on the plains were thousands of buffalo, A camp was 
formed and the business of trapping was carried on without 
intermission. One day ten of the party went out buffalo 
hunting, some distance from the camp, and were attacked 
by a band of Indians whom they believed to be Blackfeet, 
The appearance of Indians was entirely unexpected, and 
the hunters being spread out over the prairie were unable 



72 History of Wyoming. 

to defend themselves. They killed one Indian, but five of 
the white men were slain, and the remaining five only saved 
themselves by fleeing to the camp. The Indians being in 
overwhelming numbers, Williams broke up his camp and 
made a rapid march to the south to escape from the country 
of the Blackfeet. They finally fell in with a band of Crows, 
and as these Indians treated them in a most friendly manner, 
they were loath to leave the Crow country. One of their 
number, Edward Rose, decided to remain with the tribe. 
This man was the first American to take up a permanent 
residence in the Big Horn country. He, in 1810, went to 
St. Louis to market furs, but returned to the Crow tribe in 
the spring of 1811 in company with Wilson P. Hunt and 
party, whom he served as interpreter until they reached the 
Crow nation. Rose, it has been claimed in St. Louis, was 
an outlaw before he joined the Williams party, but that 
explorer knew nothing of this part of his history previous 
to engaging him. I might as well say here that Rose re- 
mained with the tribe, which adopted him, until 1823. Af- 
ter that date he was guide to Thomas Fitzpatrick and Will- 
iam Sublette. Many harsh things have been said of himj 
he being called unprincipled, treacherous, and a brawler. 
He is mentioned by many writers as being of unsavory char- 
acter, and in fact I have been unable to find but one person 
who speaks well of him, and that is Jim Beckwourth, and as 
his character is about the same as that of Rose, his testi- 
mony will hardly be taken. 

After Rose left the Williams party, there remained but 
thirteen men, and these took a southerly course, presumably 
up the Big Horn River, and must have crossed the Wind 
River Valley, as they went to South Pass. On reaching 
what they called the headwaters of the North Platte (the 
Sweetwater), they encountered, as they supposed, another 
band of Crows. These freebooters first ran off all the 
horses belonging to the party, and in an unsuccessful at- 
tempt to recover them Williams lost five more of his men, 
but succeeded in killing twenty of the Indians. The trap- 
pers were now reduced to eight men — these on foot and con- 



EzeMel Williams' Party in Wyoming. 73 

sequently in a deplorable condition, as they were in a hos- 
tile country. They had a considerable amount of valuable 
fui»s which they cached, together with such other property 
which they could not carry, and moving rapidly south they 
in dr.e course of time reached the headwaters of the South 
Platte and were out of Wyoming. They must have passed 
over the Laramie Plains and made their way to the South 
Platte at a point near where Denver now stands. Fate 
seemed to follow them, for they were next attacked by 
Comanches and in a short time their number was reduced to 
three, these being Ezekiel Williams, James Workman and 
Samuel Spencer. The three lone wanderers now resolved 
to get out of the country and return to St. Louis, but an- 
other misfortune soon happened them. They quarreled and 
finally separated, Williams going down the Arkansas and 
after many adventures finally reaching St. Louis. He 
returned to the Sweetwater in 1809 with a party of trappers 
and recovered the furs cached in that locality. Workman 
and Spencer on leaving Williams also bent their steps to- 
ward the Arkansas, which they mistook for the Red River. 
They went up this stream, expecting to discover a practi- 
cal route to Santa Fe, but they wandered many months in 
the mountains, and after a time joined a Mexican caravan 
bound for California. The following year they returned 
with the same caravan to Santa Fe, where they remained 
until 1824. I am indebted for these facts to a little volume 
published by David H. Cozner in 1847 under the title of 
"The Lost Trappers." From other sources I learn that 
Williams served as a volunteer in the war of 1812, but what 
fate finally befell him I do not know. 



74 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE ASTORIA EXPEDITION. 

The Tonquin Sails for the Mouth of the Columbia— Wilson P. 
Hunt Organizes a Land Expedition and Goes Up the Missouri — 
The Party Reaches the Country Which Is Now Wyoming — 
Numerous Attempts Made to Cross the Big Horn Mountains — 
Finally Ascend the Middle Fork of the Powder River and 
Reach the No Wood — ^Journey Up the Big Horn and Big Wind 
Rivers — Cross Sheridan Pass to the Headwaters of Green 
River — First View of the Grand Tetons — Crossing the Green 
River Valley, they Reach the Headwaters of the Columbia. 

The expedition of Wilson P. Hunt was organized in 
1810 by John Jacob Astor, native of Waldorf, Germany, 
who came to America in 1783 and on his arrival entered the 
fur trade. Mr. Astor was a clear-headed business man, 
and he early saw an opportunity to compete successfully 
with the Northwestern Fur Company for the profitable trade 
in furs in the Rocky Mountain country. Mr. Astor in 1809 
procured from the New York Legislature a charter for a 
company to be known as "The American Fur Company," 
with a capital of |1,000,000, with the privilege of increasing 
it to two millions. This company had a board of directors, 
but these gentlemen were mere figure-heads. Mr. Astor 
furnished the money and conducted the business. His only 
object in using the name of a company was to place his 
operations on a par with the great Northwest Company, 
whose domain he was about to enter, and secure for him- 
self at least a part of the profitable trade. This shrewd 
business man sought an interview with the representatives 
of the United States government and laid before them a 
plan whereby a large share of the fur trade within the 
boundaries of the United States should come into the hands 
of American citizens, and he offered, providing he could 
receive the protection of the government, to turn the whole 



The Astoria Expedition. 75 

of this lucrative business into American channels of trade. 
We are told that the President warmly approved of his 
plans, but he was informed that the government could not, 
directly, aid in the undertaking. Astor's plan was to send 
one expedition up the Missouri, across the mountains, and 
down the Columbia River to the mouth of that stream. An- 
other was to go by sea, around Cape Horn, and thence by 
the Pacific to the mouth of the Columbia. He fitted out the 
ship Tonquin, a fine vessel of 290 tons burden. This vessel 
was loaded with merchandise suitable for trading with the 
natives, and also carried the ready-made parts of a schooner 
which was to be put together at the mouth of the Columbia 
and used in the coasting trade. Lieutenant Thorn of the 
United States navy, on leave of absence, was given command 
of the vessel. Previous to the departure of the Tonquin, 
"The Pacific Fur Company" was organized by Mr. Astor 
and Duncan McDougal, Alexander McKay and Donald Mc- 
Kenzie, three ambitious gentlemen who had long been con- 
nected with the Northwest Fur Company, and had be- 
come dissatisfied with that corporation, because they were 
not promoted to high salaried positions, became partners 
in the new company. Mr. McKay was a man of great ex- 
perience in the far west, having accompanied Sir Alexander 
McKenzie on both of his expeditions to the Northwest 
coast in 1789 and 1793. Wilson Price Hunt of New Jersey 
also joined the company, David Stuart and his nephew, 
Robert Stuart, became members of the corporation. Of 
Mr. Hunt and Robert Stuart I shall have much to say 
hereafter, as they become conspicuous characters in the 
early history of Wyoming. 

After the formation of the Pacific Fur Company, Wil- 
son Price Hunt was given charge of the expedition which 
was to cross the Rocky Mountains, and his instructions 
were to note places where interior trading posts might be 
established. The partners had agreed that this gentleman 
should be placed in charge of the establishment at the 
mouth of the Columbia, when the two expeditions should 
form a junction at that point. From all accounts, Mr. Hunt 



76 Hiatwy of Wyoming. 

was a man of upright character, fair in all his dealings^ 
amiable in disposition, and a representative business man, 
though he had no experience with Indians or with Indian 
trade. For some years he had been engaged in business at 
St. Louis, which was at that time a border settlement, and 
by this means it must be that he had acquired considerable 
information regarding the mountain country and its in- 
habitants. In July, 1810, we find Mr. Hunt in Montreal, 
Canada, recruiting Canadian voyageurs for his expedition. 
Late in the same month he arrived in Mackinaw, at the 
confluence of Lakes Huron and Michigan. Here he was 
Joined by Ramsey Crooks, a Scotchman, who had been 
engaged for some years with the Northwest Company, but 
later had been trading with the Indians on the upper Mis- 
souri on his own account, in company with a man named 
McLellan. These two men had been on the upper Missouri 
and had been robbed in detail, first by Sioux Indians and 
again by Blackfeet. Crooks, being out of employment, 
gladly joined the expedition. Mr. Hunt left Mackinaw on 
the 12th of August, having with him Crooks and his Cana- 
dian voyageurs. They went by the then popular route of 
Green Bay, Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to Prairie du Chien, 
and thence by the Mississippi, arriving in St. Louis on Sep- 
tember 3rd. Joseph Miller, another independent fur trader, 
here joined the company. He was a Baltimorean by birth, 
well educated, and had been an officer in the United States 
army. Years before he had applied for a furlough, and be- 
ing refused, took, as the saying is, French leave; that is, 
hastily resigned his commission, and then engaged in trap- 
ping and trading on the frontier. After securing a number of 
other additions to his party, Mr. Hunt started in three 
boats, one a Schenectady barge, down the Mississippi to the 
mouth of the Missouri, thence up that stream 450 miles to 
the mouth of the Nodowa River, where they arrived on the 
16th of November. As winter was now coming on, the 
weather being cold, the party resolved to go into winter 
quarters. The place selected was an ideal winter camp. 
There was abundance of timber for log huts, and the coun- 



The Astoi'ia Expedition. 77 

try abounded in game. Under Mr. Hunt's practical man- 
agement and with the able assistance of his partners, the 
party was soon well housed. At this place Robert McLellan, 
Ramsey Crooks' old partner, put in an appearance and was 
easily persuaded to join the expedition. He rather liked the 
opportunity of going back into the Indian country with a 
strong force. This man McLellan, Washington Irving in 
his Astoria describes as a remarkable character. That au- 
thor says : "He had been a partisan under General Wayne 
in his Indian wars, where he had distinguished himself by 
his fiery spirit and reckless daring, and marvelous stories 
were told of his exploits. His appearance answered to his 
character. His frame was meagre, but muscular, showing 
strength, activity and iron firmness. His eyes were dark, 
deep-set and piercing. He was restless and fearless, but of 
impetuous and sometimes ungovernable temper. He had 
been invited by Mr. Hunt to enroll himself as a partner and 
gladly consented, being pleased with the thoughts of pass- 
ing, with a powerful force, through the country of the Sioux 
and perhaps having an opportunity of revenging himself 
upon that lawless tribe for their past offenses." 

At this same place another man joined the party who 
from his many remarkable qualities as hunter, explorer and 
all-around heroism is deserving of even more than a passing 
notice. This was John Day, an ideal hunter from Virginia, 
who had drifted over to the Missouri river and had been in 
the employ of Ramsey Crooks and other small traders. Day 
is described as being forty years old, six feet two inches in 
height, a handsome fellow, of manly bearing. He had made 
money in the wilderness to spend it royally in the town. 
He was one of nature's rangers in the mountain; never lost 
his bearings, his courage, or his presence of mind. Joined 
to his other qualities, he was bold, an unerring shot and 
an agreeable companion. Crooks knew him well, and it 
was because of his strong recommendation that Mr. Hunt 
was pleased to have him in the party. Mr. Hunt had numer- 
ous conferences with Messrs. Crooks, McLellan, Miller and 
John Day in regard to their journey through the wilderness, 



^S History of Wyoming- 

and these all advised him to employ more men for the expe- 
dition. He saw that the Canadian voyageurs, while they 
were well enough as boatmen, could not be depended upon 
in fighting their way through the wilderness if perchance 
the natives should choose to be hostile; so on the 1st of 
January, 1811, he set off on foot on his return to St. Louis 
with the avowed purpose of procuring a number of Ameri- 
can hunters possessed of the game spirit of the west. After 
proceeding 150 miles on foot, he secured horses and made 
the balance of the journey on horseback. In due course of 
time he procured the necessary additions to his party and 
took his way back to his winter encampment. 

Among the men engaged for the expedition was one 
Edward Rose, who claimed to have a knowledge of moun- 
tain life, and who looked like a man of experience. Mr. 
Hunt was prejudiced slightly against this individual on 
account of his dark looks, sour visage and general aspect, 
but he realized that the hardships he might have suffered 
in the mountains and the solitary life of a hunter which he 
had led, might have marked his nature, but he thought the 
chances were that the man might be possessed of good 
qualities which the wilderness would develop, and so he 
accordingly engaged him. Had he acted on his first im- 
pressions he would have saved himself many days of wor- 
riment. 

His greatest difficulty had been to secure a Sioux inter- 
preter. He finally procured the services of a half-breed 
named Pierre Dorion, who would consent to accept the po« 
sition of interpreter and hunter provided Mr. Hunt would 
permit him to take his squaw and her two children along. 
To this Mr. Hunt agreed. Washington Irving thus capitally 
describes Mr. Hunt's Sioux interpreter: "Pierre was the 
son of Dorion, the French interpreter who accompanied 
Messrs. Lewis and Clark in their famous exploring expedi- 
tion across the Rocky Mountains. Old Dorion was one of 
those French Creoles, descendants of the ancient Canadian 
stock who abound on the western frontier and amalgamate 
or cohabit with the savages. He had sojourned among 



The Astoria Expedition. 79 

various tribes, and perhaps left progeny among them all; 
but his regular or habitual wife was a Sioux squaw. By her 
he had a hopeful brood of half-breed sons, of whom Pierre 
was one. The domestic affairs of old Dorion were conducted 
on the true Indian plan. Father and son would occasionally 
get drunk together, and then the cabin was the scene of 
ruffianly brawl and fighting, in the course of which the old 
Frenchman was apt to get soundly belabored by his mongrel 
offspring. In a furious scuffle of the kind, one of the sons 
got the old man upon the ground, and was on the point of 
scalping him. 'Hold! my son,' cried the old fellow, in im- 
ploring accents, 'you are too brave, too honorable, to scalp 
your father!' This appeal touched the French side of the 
half-breed's heart, so he suffered the old man to wear his 
scalp unharmed." 

On Mr. Hunt's journey back to the encampment, he 
mentions in his journal having met the renowned hunter^ 
Daniel Boone, who was then in his eighty-fifth year. The 
old man listened with deep interest to the plans of Mr. 
Hunt's proposed journey through the wilderness to the 
shores of the Pacific, and his eye kindled with the fire of 
youth as he hearkened to the story which Mr. Hunt had to 
tell, and it was with a feeling of regret that he realized that 
he was too old to join the party. This same journal notes 
the meeting with another remarkable character the day 
after the encounter with Daniel Boone, and this was John 
Colter, of whose experiences in Wyoming I have related to 
my readers in a previous chapter. Colter remained with the 
party several hours, during which time he gave much valu- 
able information to Mr. Hunt regarding the Blackfeet In- 
dians, through whose country the expedition would be 
obliged to pass. 

After Mr. Hunt's arrival at the winter encampment, 
preparations were made for the journey up the Missouri. 
There were now about sixty persons in the party, and of 
these, forty were Canadian voyageurs and a full comple- 
ment of hunters. The expedition was composed of four 
boats fitted with oars and sails. The largest boat contained 



So History of Wyoming- 

a swivel gun and four howitzers. On the 28th of April, 1811, 
they reached the mouth of the Platte River, where Omaha 
now stands. Could they have known the many hardships 
they would escape by following the Platte River west they 
certainly would have adopted this route, but as it was they 
were bent on following in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark, 
which led them many hundreds of miles to the north, and 
consequently added greatly to their journey. 

During the balance of the month of April and all of 
the month of May they worked their way up the Missouri, 
and on the 11th of June encamped on an island six miles 
below the Arickara village. The next day they went up to 
this village, where they remained until the 18th of July, 
trading with the Indians for a supply of horses. Mr. Hunt 
determined to leave the river at this point, so as to avoid 
hostile Indians. It should be here mentioned that the party 
had been joined lower down on the river by Benjamin Jones 
and Alexander Carson, two experienced trappers who had 
passed two years on the headwaters of the Missouri and 
were now on their way to St. Louis. They were easily per- 
suaded to enter the employ of Mr. Hunt and go with him 
to the mouth of the Columbia. A few days after this acqui- 
sition three more all-around hunters and men of reputation 
in the mountains, as well as lower down the river, joined the 
party. These men were Edward Robinson, John Hoback 
and Jacob Rizner. The three had been in the employ of the 
Missouri Fur Company and had seen much service. Robin- 
son was sixty years old and had been one of the first settlers 
in Kentucky. He had been in many Indian fights in the 
Blue Grass country, and in one of these battles had had the 
misfortune to be scalped. He wore a handkerchief tied on 
his head to take the place of the scalp lock. 

The village of the Arickaras was located near where 
Pierre, S. D., now stands. On the 18th of July, Mr. Hunt 
and his party, composed of sixty men with a full pack train, 
took up their line of march to the northwest, but soon 
changed their course, keeping to the southwest, as they 
desired to avoid every possible chance of contact with the 



The Astoria Expedition. 8i 

Blackfeet. On the 23rd they encamped on Big River (Big 
Cheyenne), where they remained until the 6th of August, 
going in a southwesterly direction. In due course of time 
they came to the Little Powder crossing, in what is now 
Crook County. They kept on across what is known today 
as Johnson County, intending to cross the Big Horn Moun- 
tains, and made their first attempt at a point a little 
southwest of where the City of Buffalo is now located. They 
had reached the country of the Crows, and the services of 
Edward Rose were to be called into requisition as interpre- 
ter, but instead of being of service to the party, it soon de- 
veloped that this unpromising individual had a plan of his 
own. One night after they had gone into camp, Mr. Hunt 
was visited privately in his tent by one of the men, who dis- 
closed to him that Rose had organized a party consisting of 
several of the men who were to leave the expedition and 
desert to the Crow tribe, taking with them a number of 
horses, together with a considerable portion of the merchan- 
dise. Rose had revealed to his conspirators that he was 
well acquainted with the leading chiefs of the Crow nation 
and that he could guarantee to them not only good" treat- 
ment among the Indians, but each of them should have the 
daughter of a' chief for a wife and become great men in the 
Crow nation, as the goods they carried with them would 
make them rich and respected. Mr, Hunt was also in- 
formed that this man Rose had formerly belonged to a gang 
of pirates who had infested the Mississippi. Mr. Hunt, real- 
izing that he was surrounded with great danger, not only 
from the savage tribe in whose country he was, but from 
a conspiracy among his own followers, resolved to make no 
outward sign, and yet he would keep a vigilant watch on 
Rose and those of the men who were considered to be in 
league with him. They soon met a band of the Crow tribe, 
when Mr.Hunt informed Rose that having engaged him prin- 
cipally as guide and interpreter among the Crows, he could 
dispense with his services after that duty was performed, 
and he accordingly paid him a half year's wages in consid- 
-eration of his discharge, presented him with a horse, three 

-(6) 



82 History of Wyoming- 

beaver traps and a quantity of merchandise. This treat- 
ment had a wonderful effect on the outlaw, and his deport- 
ment underwent a radical change. His dark visage cleared 
up, he left off his sullen skulking habits and made no fur- 
ther attempts to tamper with the weak-minded individuals 
with whom he had been conspiring, and a few days after- 
wards Rose departed from the camp with a band of Crow 
friends. The party made an attempt to cross the Big Horn 
range in several places, but at each place they were met by 
insurmountable barriers; but keeping along to the south 
they finally found an opening through which they passed, 
and came out upon one of the tributaries of the Big Horn 
River running north, which must have been the No Wood. 
It is diflScult to trace them from their first entrance into 
what is now Wyoming. Governor William A. Richards, 
who is thoroughly acquainted with the topography of the 
state, says that the expedition must have passed up the 
middle fork of the Powder and through the pass at the head 
of that river which leads to the No Wood, and it is his opin- 
ion that their first camp on this stream was within the con- 
fines of his own farm, now known as Red Bank. From this 
point they went up the Big Horn and finally reached Big 
Wind River. 

It will be remembered that Mr. Hunt left Arickara on 
the Missouri on July 18, and fifty-eight days later we find 
that he has only reached the Big Wind River, up which 
stream he is told by his hunters and guides he will find a 
short cut to the headwaters of the Columbia. Following up 
the Big Wind River, he crossed numerous streams which 
flowed into the main river. After crossing and re-crossing 
this stream many times, they at last reached a point above 
Horse Creek, near the present location of Dubois, and find- 
ing a well-beaten Indian trail which led through what is 
now known as Sheridan Pass, they slowly made their way 
across the mountains. In the course of the day they report 
that they came to a height that commanded an almost 
boundless prospect. At this point one of the guides trium- 
phantly pointed out three mountain peaks glistening with 



The Astoria Expedition. 83 

snow. These, he said, rose above a fork of the Columbia 
River. It is no wonder that the tired travelers shouted for 
joy as they beheld these lofty mountain peaks. It seemed 
to them that the shores of the Pacific were almost in sight, 
but yet there were hundreds of leagues between them and 
their destination. These glistening mountains, Mr. Hunt 
was told, were landmarks which denoted the source of the 
Columbia. He christened them Pilot Knobs. They were 
in reality the Grand Tetons, and are among the highest 
points of the Rocky Mountains, the loftiest one being 13,762 
feet above the level of the sea. The party continued on 
through the pass, on the highest points of which they en- 
countered patches of snow. At length they reached a stream 
flowing to the west, down which they followed with light 
hearts and eager footsteps, but it turned out to be one of the 
tributaries of the Spanish River, so called by hunters, as 
the Indians reported that the Spaniards lived down the river. 
This was in reality Green River, so named by General Ash- 
ley eleven years later. Mr. Hunt's party was greatly 
cheered by a sight of the grassy valleys found along this 
stream, and to their joy they discovered herds of buffalo 
quietly grazing in the rich meadows. The hunters sallied 
forth with much enthusiasm and with little diflSculty soon 
captured an abundant supply of meat, an article they were 
very much in need of, as famine stared them in the face, and 
no game had been obtainable for more than a week. Mr. 
Hunt makes the record in his journal of that day ''that he 
had discovered three different kinds of gooseberries, the 
yellow, the deep purple and the common purple; also three 
kinds of currants." His journal reads that they continued 
down the course of this river a distance of fifteen miles to 
the southwest, where they camped opposite the end of a 
mountain on the west, and the following morning they 
changed their course, going in a northwesterly direction 
a distance of eight miles and encamped on a tributary of 
Spanish River, which Mr. Hunt said ran through rich mead- 
ows which afforded pasture for numerous herds of buffalo. 
Here they remained several days, replenishing their stock 



84 History of Wyoming- 

of provisions with dried buffalo meat. In his opinion they 
had a suflScient supply to last them until they should reach 
the Columbia, from which stream they expected to procure 
fish enough for the support of the party. While the hunting 
of the buffalo and the preparing of the meat was going on 
their horses were getting a much needed rest. The ani- 
mals were certainly in a jaded condition, having traveled 
for seventeen days and accomplished 260 miles with scanty 
feed by the way. What happened after this is told by 
Washington Irving, the facts being taken from Mr. Hunt's 
journal, to which Irving had access. I will remark here 
that the Mad River spoken of is Snake River, and the other 
river recognized by Hoback, the hunter and guide, is the 
present Hoback River, marked on the map of Wyoming. 



Astorians in Wyoming. 85 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ASTORIANS IN WYOMING. 

Hunt and His Party Follow Down the Mad (Snake) River — They 
Reach Henry's Fort — Build Canoes and Attempt the Further 
Journey by Water — Three Hundred and Forty Miles Below, 
Again Take to the Land — Great Sufferings of the Party 
Through Hunger and Cold — At Last Reach the Falls of the 
Columbia — Balance of the Journey Made by Canoes — Arrival 
AT Astoria. 

From this on there is no difficulty in following Mr. Hunt 
on his journey to the mouth of the Columbia River. Wash- 
ington Irving says: 

"Five days were passed by Mr. Hunt and his com- 
panions in the fresh meadows watered by the bright little 
mountain stream. The hunters made great havoc among 
the buffaloes, and brought in quantities of meat; the voy- 
ageurs busied themselves about the fires, roasting or stewing 
for present purposes, or drying provisions for the journey; 
the pack horses, eased of their burdens, rolled on the grass 
or grazed at large about the ample pastures; those of the 
party who had no call upon their services indulged in the 
luxury of perfect relaxation, and the camp presented a pic- 
ture of rude feasting and revelry, of mingled bustle and 
repose, characteristic of a halt in a real hunting country. 
In the course of one of their excursions some of the men 
came in sight of a small party of Indians, who instantly 
fled in apparent consternation. They immediately returned 
to the camp with the intelligence; upon which Mr. Hunt and 
four others flung themselves upon their horses and sallied 
forth to reconnoitre. After riding for about eight miles 
they came upon a wild mountain scene. A lovely green val- 
ley stretched before them, surrounded by rugged heights. 
A herd of buffalo were careering through it, with a troop 
of savage horsemen in full chase, plying them with their 
bows and arrows. The appearance of Mr. Hunt and his 
companions put an abrupt end to the hunt; the buffalo scut- 
tled off in one direction, while the Indians plied their lashes 
and galloped off in another, as fast as their steeds could 



86 History of Wyoming- 

carry them. Mr. Hunt gave chase ; there was a sharp scam- 
per, though of short continuance. Two young Indians, who 
were indifferently mounted, were soon overtaken. They 
were terribly frightened, and evidently gave themselves 
up for lost. By degrees their fears were allayed by kind 
treatment; but they continued to regard the strangers with 
a mixture of awe and wonder; for it was the first time in 
their lives they had seen a white man. 

"They belonged to a party of Snakes who had come 
across the mountains on their autumnal hunting excursion 
to provide buffalo meat for the winter. Being persuaded of 
the peaceable intentions of Mr. Hunt and his companions, 
they willingly conducted them to their camp. It was pitched 
in a narrow valley on the margin of a stream. The tents 
were of dressed skins, some of them fantastically painted, 
with horses grazing about them. The approach of the party 
caused a transient alarm in the camp, for these poor Indiana 
were ever on the lookout for cruel foes. No sooner, however, 
did they recognize the garb and complexion of their visitors 
than their apprehensions were changed into joy; for some of 
them had dealt with white men, and knew them to be friend- 
ly, and to abound with articles of singular value. They 
welcomed them, therefore, to their tents, set food before 
them and entertained them to the best of their power. 

"They had been successful in their hunt, and the camp 
was full of jerked buffalo meat, all of the choicest kind and 
extremely fat. Mr. Hunt purchased enough of them, in 
addition to what had been killed and cured by his own hunt- 
ers, to load all the horses excepting those reserved for the 
partners and the wife of Pierre Dorion. He found also a 
few beaver skins in their camp, for which he paid liberally, 
as an inducement for them to hunt for more, informing them 
that some of his party intended to live among the mountains 
and trade with the native hunters for their peltries. The 
poor Snakes soon comprehended the advantages thus held 
out to them, and promised to exert themselves to procure 
a quantity of beaver skins for future traffic. 

"Being now well supplied with provisions, Mr. Hunt 
broke up his encampment on the 24th of September and con- 
tinued on to the west. A march of fifteen miles, over a 
mountainous ridge, brought them to a stream about fifty 
feet in width, which Hoback, one of their guides, who had 
trapped about the neighborhood when in the service of Mr. 
Henry, recognized as one of the headwaters of the Colum. 
bia. The travelers hailed it with delight, as the first stream 



Astorians in Wyommg. 87 

they had encountered tending toward their point of destina- 
tion. They kept along it for two days, during which, from 
the contribution of many rills and brooks, it gradually 
swelled into a small river. As it meandered among rocks 
and precipices, they were frequently obliged to ford it, and 
such was its rapidity that the men were often in danger of 
being swept away. Sometimes the banks advanced so close 
upon the river that they were obliged to scramble up and 
down their rugged promontories, or to skirt along their 
bases where there was scarce a foothold. Their horses had 
dangerous falls in some of these passes. One of them rolled, 
with his load, nearly two hundred feet down hill into the 
river, but without receiving any injury. At length they 
emerged from the stupendous defiles, and continued for 
several miles along the banks of Hoback's River, through 
one of the stern mountain valleys. Here it was joined by a 
river of greater magnitude and swifter current, and their 
united waters swept off through the valley in one impetuous 
stream, which from its rapidity and turbulence, had received 
the name of Mad River. At the confluence of these streams 
the travelers encamped. An important point in their ardu- 
ous journey had been attained. A few miles from their 
camp rose the three vast snowy peaks called the Tetons, or 
the Pilot Knobs, the great landmarks of the Columbia, by 
which they had shaped their course through this mountain 
wilderness. By their feet flowed the rapid current of the 
Mad River, a stream ample enough to admit of the naviga- 
tion of canoes, and down which they might possibly be able 
to steer their course to the main body of the Columbia. The 
Canadian voyageurs rejoiced at the idea of once more 
launching themselves upon their favorite element; of ex- 
changing their horses for canoes, and of gliding down the 
bosoms of rivers instead of scrambling over the backs ot 
mountains. Others of the party, also, inexperienced in this 
kind of traveling, considered their trials and troubles as 
drawing to a close. They had conquered the chief difficul- 
ties of this great rocky barrier, and now flattered themselves 
with the hope of an easy downward course for the rest of 
their journey. Little did they dream of the hardships and 
perils, by land and water, which were yet to be encountered 
in the frightful wilderness that intervened between them 
and the shores of the Pacific." 

It was finally decided to construct canoes at this point 
and embark on the river, and thus make their way by water 



88 History of Wyoming- 

to the Columbia, and while the canoes were being con- 
structed, Mr. Hunt detached a party of trappers to operate 
on the upper waters of Mad Kiver and adjacent branches. 
The detail was made up of Alexander Carson, Louis St. 
Michael, Pierre Detaye and Pierre DeLauney. The party 
was fitted out with arms, ammunition and traps and in- 
structed to remain in the country for several months and 
finally to report at the mouth of the Columbia. They were 
to pack their peltries on their horses until they reached 
an upper post on the Columbia, which Mr. Hunt expected to 
establish. Before trusting the expedition to the water, 
John Day, John Reed and Peter Dorion were sent down 
the river with instructions to proceed for several days and 
examine the course and character of the stream. After this 
party had departed on their mission, two Snake Indians 
came into camp and perceiving the canoes in course of con- 
struction shook their heads and by unmistakable signs 
indicated that the river was not navigable. In due course of 
time the three men sent out to examine the river came back 
and reported that it was narrow, crooked and contained 
many rapids. The party then proceeded by land and finally 
arrived at Henry's post on an upper branch of the Columbia,^ 
which they reached on the 8th of October. Here another 
party was detached to hunt in the neighborhood. This was 
composed of Robinson, Hoback, Renzner and Cass, and they 
were also accompanied by Mr. Miller, one of the partners in 
the Pacific Fur Company. At Fort Henry, as it was called, 
they again constructed canoes and pushed on down the 
river. Two hundred and eighty miles below they encoun- 
tered a thirty-foot rapid in the current. From that time on 
they had much difficulty in navigating the stream. The 
portages were long, and yet they disliked very much to give 
up their canoes. Finally, after passing 80 miles farther, 
that is to say, 340 miles down the river from Fort Henry, 
they reluctantly gave up the attempt to navigate the stream. 
Three parties were here detached and sent in different di- 
rections for relief. They were to try and discover friendly 
Indians, and if possible return to the main body with a sup- 



Astorians in Wyoming. 89 

ply of horses and provisions; but if they were unable to do 
this, they were to keep in view the mouth of the Columbia 
as their final destination. McLellan was in charge of one 
party, consisting of three men, and these kept down the 
river, Ramsey Crooks with five others started up the 
stream, intending, should they not find relief nearer at 
hand, to keep on until they reached Henry's Fort, where 
they hoped to find the horses left there and return with them 
to the main body. McKenzie took charge of the third de- 
tachment of five men, and proceeded northward across the 
desert in hopes of reaching the main stream of the Columbia. 
Mr. Hunt, with thirty-one remaining men, prepared caches, 
in which he deposited his merchandise and baggage that 
could not be carried by land. Before this necessary work 
was accomplished. Crooks and his party returned. They 
had become disheartened by their retrograde movement 
and had made up their minds that it would be impossible 
to reach Fort Henry and return that winter. Some days 
later two of the men under McLellan returned to camp and 
reported that there was no hope of the expedition going by 
canoes from any point down the river; that they had met 
no Indians, and the stream presented the same furious as- 
pect, brawling and boiling between rocks and high walls; 
therefore the expedition moved forward on foot, and in their 
displeasure they named the camp which they were leaving 
"The Devil's Scuttle Hole." They were yet hundreds of 
miles from the mouth of the Columbia. A dreary waste lay 
before them, and for fear of perishing for the want of water 
they resolved to keep near the Snake River and push on. 
The party was again divided, with the idea of bettering 
their chances of subsistence. Mr, Hunt, with eighteen men, 
proceeded down the north side of the river, while Crooks 
with a like number kept along the south side. The day that 
the separation took place was the 9th of October. The two 
parties went on, and after suffering with cold and hunger, 
and being reduced to the point of starvation, often being 
without food three days at a time, they at last came among 
friendly Indians, who supplied their wants, but they sub- 



90 History of Wyoming- 

sisted principally upon horseflesh and dogmeat. On the 31st 
of January, 1812, they arrived at the falls of the Columbia. 
Here they procured canoes, and on February 15th arrived at 
Astoria. 

This expedition of the Astorians was one of the most 
remarkable on record; it had pursued a route through a 
wilderness never trod by white men before, but they blazed 
the way across the continent which proved vastly beneficial 
to succeeding travelers. Yet we are not through with 
them as explorers, for they are to make another trip through 
Wyoming and discover a route by which hundreds of thou- 
sands of their countrymen later crossed the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

The colossal operations of John Jacob Astor, as we 
have seen, possess national importance. He it was who 
developed, in spite of disaster, the American fur trade, turn- 
ing it into American channels, and thus encouraged Ashley, 
Bridger, the five Sublette brothers, Robert Campbell, Thom- 
as Fitzpatrick, Pierre Chouteau, Bonneville and a host of 
other worthies to trap and trade in the Rocky Mountains. 



Conditions at Astoria. 91 



CHAPTER IX. 

CONDITIONS AT ASTORIA. _ 

Arrival of the Tonquin — David Stuart's Expedition to Establish 
A New Trading Post — David Thompson of the Northwest Com- 
pany Comes Down the Columbia to Plant the British Flag at 
the Mouth of that River, But Is Too Late— Disaster to the 
Tonquin and the Murder of Her Crew by Indians — Mr. Lewis' 
Terrible Revenge — Indians at Astoria Held in Check by Threats 
of Spreading the Smallpox Among Them — Arrival of the Bea- 
ver from New York — Departure of Hunt for New Archangel 
AND The Sandwich Islands — Treachery of McDougal — Abandon- 
ment OF Astoria. 

As the building of the Fort, called Astoria, has a bear- 
ing on future events in Wyoming, let me pursue the history 
of Mr, Astor's operations in that quarter. I have already in 
a previous chapter mentioned the departure of the Tonquin 
from New York, bound for the mouth of the Columbia, with 
supplies for the trading post to be established there. With- 
out going into details of the voyage, I will say that the vessel 
arrived in the waters of the Columbia on March 22nd, 1811, 
and after various adventures and the loss of several men 
they succeeded in making a landing and selecting a site for 
a trading post, which they built. After the landing of the 
stores, Mr. McDougal, who has been mentioned in a previous 
chapter, took charge until Mr. Hunt should arrive, and the 
Tonquin sailed north to trade on the coast at the different 
harbors and to touch at Astoria on her return voyage. On 
the first of June the ship sailed away, never to return. 
About this time word was brought to the fort at Astoria by 
an Indian from the upper part of the river that thirty white 
men belonging to the Northwest Fur Company had appeared 
on the banks of the Columbia, at the second rapids, and were 
actually building homes there. This news disturbed the As- 
torians, and to counteract the effect of this British estab- 
lishment, David Stuart, with nine men under him, was dis- 



92 History of Wyoming- 

patched to the Spokane River to establish a post and re- 
main there, provided he found the situation advantageous 
and the natives friendly. Before the expedition was ready 
to leave for its destination, a canoe arrived, on board of 
which was David Thompson, a partner of the Northwest 
Company, who stated that he had started out the preceding 
year with a strong party and a supply of Indian goods to 
cross the Rocky Mountains, but that all except eight of 
his people had deserted him on the eastern side of 
the mountains and returned with the goods to the 
nearest Northwest post. They had wintered in the 
mountains, and in the spring had built the cedar canoe 
and proceeded down the Columbia. This in fact was 
an expedition sent out by the Northwest Company in 
the name of the British Government to take possession 
of the valley of the Columbia. Mr. Thompson carried 
the British standard in his canoe, intending to plant it 
at the mouth of the Columbia, but much to his chagrin 
he found the stars and stripes floating from a flagstaff on 
the fort. Astor's expedition had effected a lodgement on 
the western coast, and to every appearance the fort had 
come to stay. Much to the annoyance of the other partners, 
McDougal invited Thompson to the headquarters and roy- 
ally entertained him and his people, and he also furnished 
him with provisions for his return journey across the moun. 
tains. David Stuart, who was about to go up the river 
to establish a post, remonstrated with McDougal for this 
liberality toward the representative of the Northwest Com- 
pany and the British Government by saying that he did not 
think the object of his visit entitled him to any favor, but 
McDougal having been associated in former years with that 
company felt a friendship for it, and subsequent events 
proved that his friendship was stronger than his loyalty to 
the company of which he was now a partner, and it will be 
shown later that he was a traitor in the camp of the brave 
Americans at the mouth of the Columbia. 

On the 23rd of July, David Stuart and his nine com. 
panions started up the river to build their trading post, and 



Conditions at Astoria. 95 

Thompson and his associates followed him, being on their 
way to Montreal. The two expeditions kei)t together for 
three or four hundred miles. Stuart finally located a post 
at the mouth of the Oakanogan where it empties into the 
Columbia. After the sailing of the Tonquin and the de- 
parture of Stuart, there came a whisper that the Indian 
tribes of the locality had combined to make an attack on 
the post at Astoria. Learning of this, the small garrison 
fortified their position and mounted four guns on the two 
bastions of the fort. They qualified themselves for military 
duty by daily drills, and kept a guard posted day and night, 
in the hope of being able to hold out until Mr. Hunt and 
his party should arrive down the Columbia, or until Captain 
Thorn returned with the Tonquin ; but a few days after, the 
party at the fort learned from Indian sources that disaster 
had overtaken the Tonquin. This report was not at first 
credited, but it was later confirmed. The Tonquin, it will 
be remembered, sailed from Astoria the first of June, but 
did not leave the mouth of that river until the fifth of the 
month. There were twenty-three persons on board the ves- 
sel, but in one of the outer bays they picked up another, an 
Indian named Lamazee, who had already made two voyages 
along the coast, and as he knew something of the various 
tribes and their languages, he was engaged for the voyage 
to act as interpreter. The vessel steered to the north, arriv- 
ing in a few days at Vancouver's Island, and there visited 
the harbor of Neweetee, contrary to the advice of the Indian 
interpreter, who claimed that the natives of this part of the 
coast were of dangerous character and should be avoided. 
In spite of the advice. Captain Thorn anchored his ves- 
sel and numerous natives came off in canoes laden with 
skins of the sea otter, which they offered for sale. It being 
late in the afternoon, Captain Thorn refused to commence 
traffic that day, but asked the natives to return in the morn- 
ing. Mr. McKay, the super-cargo, taking with him a number 
of men, went on shore to visit the village of Wicananish, 
the chief of the tribe in that territory. Captain Thorn had 
retained on board his vessel six of the natives as hostages 



94 History of Wyoming- 

tor the safe return of the white men. The McKay party, as 
the story was afterwards told, was received in a friendly 
manner and entertained at the lodge of the chief, where they 
spent the night. What followed is told in graphic language 
by Washington Irving. 

"In the morning, before Mr. McKay had returned to the 
ship, great numbers of the natives came off in their canoes 
to trade, headed by two sons of Wicananish. As they 
brought abundance of sea otter skins, and there was every 
appearance of a brisk trade. Captain Thorn did not wait for 
the return of Mr. McKay, but spread his wares upon deck, 
making a tempting display of blankets, cloths, knives, beads 
and fish hooks, expecting a prompt and profitable sale. 
The Indians, however, were not so eager and simple as he 
had supposed, having learned the art of bargaining and the 
value of merchandise from the casual traders along the 
coast. They were guided, too, by a shrewd old chief named 
Nookamis, who had grown gray in the traffic with New 
England skippers and prided himself upon his acuteness. 
His opinion seemed to regulate the market. When Captain 
Thorn made what he considered a liberal offer for an otter 
skin, the wily old Indian treated it with scorn, and asked 
more than double. His comrades all took their cue from 
him, and not an otter skin was to be had at a reasonable 
rate. The old fellow, however, overshot his mark and mis- 
took the character of the man with whom he was treating. 
Thorn was a plain, straightforward sailor, who never had 
two minds nor two prices in his dealings, was deficient in 
patience and pliancy, and totally wanting in the chicanery 
of traffic. He had a vast deal of stern but honest pride in 
his nature, and, moreover, held the savage race in sov- 
ereign contempt. Abandoning all further attempts, there- 
fore, to bargain with his shuffling customers, he thrust his 
hands into his pockets and paced up and down the deck in 
sullen silence. The cunning old Indian followed him to and 
fro, holding out a sea otter skin to him at every turn, and 
pestering him to trade. Finding other means unavailing, 
he suddenly changed his tone, and began to jeer and banter 
him upon the mean prices he offered. This was too much 
for the patience of the captain, who was never remarkable 
for relishing a joke, especially when at his own expense. 
Turning suddenly upon his persecutor, he snatched the prof- 
fered otter skin from his hands, rubbed it in his face, and 
dismissed him over the side of the ship with no very compli- 



Conditions at Astoria. 95 

mentary application to accelerate his exit. He then kicked 
the peltries to right and left about the deck and broke up 
the market in the most ignominious manner. Old Nookamis 
made for the shore in a furious passion, in which he was 
joined by Shewish, one of the sons of Wicananish, who 
went off breathing vengeance, and the ship was soon aban- 
doned by the natives. 

"When Mr. McKay returned on board, the interpreter 
related what had passed, and begged him to prevail upon 
the captain to make sail, as from his knowledge of the tem- 
per and pride of the people of the place, he was sure they 
would resent the indignity offered to one of their chiefs. 
Mr. McKay, who himself possessed some experience of the 
Indian character, went to the captain, who was still pacing 
the deck in a moody humor, represented the danger to which 
his hasty act had exposed the vessel, and urged him to weigh 
anchor. The captain made light of his counsels, and pointed 
to his cannon and firearms as a sufficient safeguard against 
naked savages. Further remonstrances only provoked 
taunting replies and sharp altercations. The day passed 
away without any signs of hostility, and at night the cap- 
tain retired as usual to his cabin, taking no more than usual 
precautions. On the following morning, at day-break, while 
the captain and Mr. McKay were yet asleep, a canoe came 
alongside, in which were twenty Indians, commanded by 
young Shewish. They were unarmed, their aspect and de- 
meanor friendly, and they held up otter skins, and made 
signs indicative of a wish to trade. The caution enjoined by 
Mr. Astor, in respect to the admission of Indians on board of 
the ship, had been neglected for some time past, and the 
officer of the watch, perceiving those in the canoe to be 
without weapons, and having received no orders to the con- 
trary, readily permitted them to mount the deck. Another 
crew soon succeeded, the crew of which was likewise ad- 
mitted. In a little while other canoes came off, and Indi- 
ans were soon clambering into the vessel on all sides. 

"The officer of the watch now felt alarmed, and called 
to Captain Thorn and Mr. McKay. By the time they came 
on deck, it was thronged with Indians. The interpreter 
noticed to Mr. McKay that many of the natives wore short 
mantles of skin, and intimated a suspicion that they were 
secretly armed. Mr. McKay urged the captain to clear the 
ship and get under way. He again made light of the advice; 
but the augmented swarm of canoes about the ship, and the 
number still putting off from shore, at length awakened 



g6 History of Wyoming- 

Ms distrust, and he ordered some of the men to weigh an- 
chor, while some were sent aloft to make sail. The Indians 
now offered to trade with the captain on his own terms, 
prompted, apparently, by the approaching departure of the 
ship. Accordingly a hurried trade was commenced. The 
main articles sought by the savages in barter were knives. 
As fast as some were supplied they moved off and others 
succeeded. By degrees they were thus distributed about 
the deck, and all with weapons. 

*'The anchor was now nearly up, the sails were loose, 
and the captain in a loud and peremptory tone ordered the 
ship to be cleared. In an instant a signal yell was given; 
it was echoed on every side, knives and war clubs were 
brandished in every direction, and the savages rushed upon 
their marked victims. The first that fell was Mr, Lewis, the 
ship's clerk. He was leaning with folded arms over a bale 
of blankets, engaged in bargaining, when he received a 
deadly stab in the back, and fell down the companionway. 

''Mr. McKay, who was seated on the taffrail, sprang on 
his feet, but was instantly knocked down with a war club 
and flung backward into the sea, where he was dispatched 
by the women in the canoes. 

''In the meantime, Captain Thorn made a desperate 
fight against fearful odds. He was a powerful as well as a 
resolute man, but he had come upon deck without weapons. 
Shewish, the young chief, singled him out as his peculiar 
prey, and rushed upon him at the first outbreak. The cap- 
tain had barely time to draw a clasp-knife, with one blow 
of which he laid the young savage dead at his feet. Several 
of the stoutest followers of Shewish now set upon him. He 
defended himself vigorously, dealing crippling blows to 
right and left, and strewing the quarter deck with the slain 
and wounded. His object was to fight his way to the cabin, 
where there were fire-arms; but he was hemmed in with 
foes, covered with wounds, and faint with loss of blood. 
For an instant he leaned upon the tiller wheel, when a blow 
from behind, with a war-club, felled him to the deck, where 
he was dispatched with knives and thrown overboard. 

"While this was transacting upon the quarter deck, a 
chance-medley fight was going on throughout the ship. The 
crew fought desperately with knives, hand-spikes and what- 
ever weapon they could seize upon in the moment of sur- 
prise. They were soon, however, overpowered by numbers 
and mercilessly butchered. As to the seven who had been 
sent aloft to make sail, they contemplated with horror the 



Conditions at Astoria. 97 

carnage that was going on below. Being destitute of wea- 
pons, they let themselves down by the running rigging, in 
hopes of getting between decks. One fell in the attemj)t 
and was instantly dispatched; another received a death blow 
in the back as he was descending; a third, Stephen Weeks, 
the armorer, was mortally wounded as he was getting down 
the hatchway. 

'^The remaining four made good their retreat into the 
cabin, where they found Mr. Lewis, still alive, though mor- 
tally wounded. Barricading the cabin door, they broke 
holes through the companionway, and, with the muskets 
and ammunition which were at hand, opened a brisk fire 
that soon cleared the deck. 

"Thus far the Indian interpreter, from whom these 
particulars are derived, had been an eye-witness of the 
deadly conflict. He had taken no part in it, and had been 
spared by the natives as being of their race. In the con- 
fusion of the moment he took refuge with the rest, in the 
canoes. The survivors of the crew now sallied forth and 
discharged some of the deck guns, which did great execution 
among the canoes, and drove all the savages to shore. 

"For the remainder of the day no one ventured to put 
off to the ship, deterred by the effects of the fire-arms. The 
night passed away without any further attempt on the part 
of the natives. When day dawned the Tonquin still lay at 
anchor in the bay, her sails all loose and flapping in the 
wind, and no one apparently on board of her. After a time 
some of the canoes ventured forth to reconnoitre, taking 
with them the interpreter. They paddled about her, keep- 
ing cautiously at a distance, but growing more and more 
emboldened at seeing her quiet and lifeless. One man at 
length made his appearance on deck and was recognized by 
the interpreter as Mr. Lewis. He made friendly signs, and 
invited them on board. It was long before they ventured to 
comply. Those who mounted the deck met with no opposi- 
tion; no one was to be seen on board, for Mr. Lewis, after 
inviting them, had disappeared. Other canoes now pressed 
forward to board the prize; the decks were soon crowded.and 
the sides were covered with clambering savages, all intent 
on plunder. In the midst of their eagerness and exultation 
the ship blew up with a tremendous explosion. Arms, legs 
and mutilated bodies were blown into the air, and a dreadful 
havoc was made in the surrounding canoes. The interpreter 
was in the main-chains at the time of the explosion, and was 
thrown unhurt into the water, where he succeeded in get- 

-(7) 



98 History of Wyoming- 

ting into one of the canoes. According to his statement, 
the bay presented an awful spectacle after the catastrophe. 
The ship had disappeared, but the bay was covered with 
fragments of the wreck, with shattered canoes, and Indians 
swimming for their lives, or struggling in the agonies of 
death, while those who had escaped the danger remained 
aghast and stupefied, or made with frantic panic for the 
shore. Upward of a hundred savages were destroyed by the 
explosion, many more were shockingly mutilated, and for 
days afterward the limbs and bodies of the slain were 
thrown upon the beach. 

"The inhabitants of Neweetee were overwhelmed with 
consternation at this astounding calamity, which had burst 
upon them in the very moment of triumph. The warriors 
sat mute and mournful, while the women filled the air with 
loud lamentations. Their weeping and wailing, however, 
was suddenly changed into yells of fury at the sight of four 
unfortunate white men, brought captive into the village. 
They had been driven on shore in one of the ship's boats, 
and taken at some distance along the coast, 

"The interpreter was permitted to converse with them. 
They proved to be the four brave fellows who had made 
such a desperate defense from the cabin. The interpreter 
gathered from them some of the particulars already related. 
They told him further, that, after they had beaten off the 
enemy and cleared the ship, Lewis advised that they should 
slip the cable and endeavor to get to sea. They declined to 
take his advice, alleging that the wind set too strongly into 
the bay, and would drive them on shore. They resolved as 
soon as it was dark to put off quietly in the ship's boat, 
which they would be able to do unperceived, and to coast 
along back to Astoria. They put their resolution into ef- 
fect, but Lewis refused to accompany them, being disabled 
by his wound, hopeless of escape, and determined on a ter- 
rible revenge. On the voyage out he had repeatedly ex- 
pressed a presentiment that he should die by his own hands, 
thinking it highly probable that he should be engaged in 
some contest with the natives, and being resolved, in case 
of extremity, to commit suicide rather than be made a pris- 
oner. He now declared his intention to remain on board of 
the ship until daylight, to decoy as many of the savages on 
board as possible, then to set fire to the powder magazine, 
and terminate his life by a single act of vengeance. How 
well he succeeded has been shown. His companions bade 
him a melancholy adieu, and set off on their precarious ex- 



Conditions at Astoria. 99 

pedition. They strove with might and main to get out of the 
bay, but found it impossible to weather a point of land, and 
were at length compelled to take shelter in a small cave, 
where they hoped to remain concealed until the wind should 
be more favorable. Exhausted by fatigue and watching, 
they fell into a sound sleep, and in that state were surprised 
by the savages. Better had it been for those unfortunate 
men had they remained with Lewis and shared his heroic 
death; as it was, they perished in a more painful and pro- 
ti^cted manner, being sacrificed by the natives to the names 
of their friends with all the lingering tortures of savage 
cruelty. Some time after their death, the interpreter, who 
had remained a kind of prisoner at large, effected his es- 
cape, and brought the tragic tidings to Astoria." 

This was the story w^hich greeted the ears of the little 
band of Astorians. The natives throughout a vast range of 
country had heard the tidings and its effect on them could 
only be conjectured by the white people at the fort, and 
had it not been for McDougal, who possessed a thorough 
knowledge of Indian character, not a white man would have 
been saved. A short time before this the smallpox had ap- 
peared on the Pacific coast among the Indians and the death 
rate had been fearful. In some instances, we are told, it 
nearly swept off entire tribes. The superstitious natives 
were not certain as to its origin. Some attributed it to an 
evil the "Great Spirit" had inflicted; others thought it had 
been brought about by the white men. McDougal, taking 
advantage of the ignorant and superstitious nature of the 
savages, acted promptly and assembling a number of chiefs 
whom he believed to be in league to murder the Astorians, 
and assembling them in a room at the fort, he told them he 
had heard of the treachery of some of their northern breth- 
ren toward the Tonquin and its crew, and he was deter- 
mined on vengeance. This the savages could understand. 
McDougal went on, "The white men among you are few in 
number, but they are mighty in medicine. See here," con- 
tinued he, drawing forth a small bottle and holding it before 
their eyes, "in this bottle I hold the smallpox, safely corked 
up; I have but to draw the cork, and let loose the pestilence^ 
to sweep every man, woman and child from the face of the 



100 History of Wyoming- 

earth.'^ The stratagem was successful, for it acted like 
magic; the chiefs were horrified and greatly alarmed. They 
begged and implored him not to uncork the bottle, as they 
and their people were the firmest friends of the white man 
and proposed to remain so. They thought it unjust for him 
to punish his friends for what his enemies had done. He 
listened to their arguments and protestations of friendship 
and finally told them that as long as they remained friendly 
to the whites he would keep the bottle corked, but he as- 
sured them upon the least show of hostility, out would come 
the cork and they would be obliged to take the conse- 
quences, and thus was preserved the lives of the first Ameri- 
cans who planted a trading post at the mouth of the Colum- 
bia, and so matters passed at Astoria until the arrival of 
Mr, Hunt and his party on February 15, 1812. 

It should be stated here that another ship, the Beaver, 
had been despatched to Astoria by Mr. Astor on October 10, 
1811, which arrived at the mouth of the Columbia and an- 
chored in Baker's Bay on May 9, 1812. After the arrival of 
this vessel expeditions were sent out in various directions. 
Mr. Hunt sailed in the Beaver and made a voyage along the 
coast and visited the Russian establishment at New Arch- 
angel, where the vessel landed a quantity of supplies for 
the commander of the Russian post and took in exchange a 
quantity of furs. The vessel then proceeded to the Sand- 
wich Islands, where Mr. Hunt remained to await the annual 
ship to Astoria, while the Beaver proceeded to Canton to 
market the furs and reload with merchandise at that point. 
This voyage of Mr. Hunt's consumed considerable time, and 
before he returned to Astoria McDougal closed out over 
1100,000 worth of furs to the Northwest Company for $40,- 
000; also a large amount of merchandise at this equally 
ruinous rate. As part of the deal, this unfaithful servant 
became a partner of the Northwest Company, and conse- 
quently has gone down in history as a traitor to the Ameri- 
can fur trade, and his memory is justly despised by all 
American traders and trappers. This treachery on the part 
of McDougal resulted in the abandonment of Astoria. 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 



CHAPTER X. 

GREAT OVERLAND TRAIL DISCOVERED. 

Robert Stuart and His Little Band of Six Pass Around the South 
End of the Wind River Range During the Early Winter of 
1812 — Discovery of the Sweetwater River and Passage Down 
that Stream — They Camp at Bessemer for the Winter — Leave 
Their Winter Camp for Fear of Indians — Great Suffering of 
the Party as They Journey Down the Platte — Discovery of 
the Platte River Canon — Second Winter Encampment — Journey 
Down the River in the Spring of 1813. 

The journey of the couriers from Astoria east was an 
event of no ordinary importance from the fact that circum- 
stances impelled these men to make a new route across the 
then dark continent. They were to become the discoverers 
of South Pass, the most important gateway through the 
Rocky Mountains. They were to make the pathway between 
the Missouri and the headwaters of the Columbia more 
direct and consequently much shorter than the route of 
Lewis and Clark or that of Wilson P. Hunt. They were to 
discover the Sweetwater, as well as the North Platte, and 
were to be the first as explorers to trace out a river flowing 
to the east directly from the mountains. The more north- 
ern streams flowed to the north, but these couriers, who 
were on their way eastward, were to add greatly to the 
knowledge of the geography of the mid-continent. It can be 
said of this band of explorers that they were brave, deter- 
mined and withal possessed a conservative daring which 
enabled them to overcome the wildness and wild men of the 
desert and mountains. The history of their journey forms 
an important chapter in the annals of Wyoming. At times, 
it is true, they were lost and knew not in what direction to 
turn their footsteps, but fortunately on such occasions their 
brave leader argued with himself that it would never do to 
falter and so he led the way along streams which according 



I02 History of Wyoming' 

to his judgment were to empty their waters finally into 
the Missouri river. In spite of the storms of winter, piercing 
cold and deep snows, there was but one determination ever 
present, and that was to push on and thereby save the lives 
of the men entrusted to his care. This battle with the ele- 
ments and the wilderness has never been excelled in this or 
any other century. In telling the story for these pages, I 
have followed closely notes taken from the original journal 
first published by Washington Irving. 

Again Wyoming is to be honored by the arrival of a 
body of Astorians. This time they remain in her borders 
several months. On the 29th of June, 1812, Robert Stuart, 
Ben Jones, Robert McLellan, John Day, Ramsey Crooks, 
Andri Vallar and Francis Le Clerc left Astoria to make the 
journey across the mountains, bearing dispatches to Mr. 
Astor at New York. Robert Stuart, the leader of the party, 
was one of the original partners of the Pacific Fur Company, 
which organization was chartered on the 23rd day of June, 
1810. He was a young man of spirit and enterprise and 
was one of the four partners who embarked in the Tonquin 
on the 8th of September in the year above mentioned. The 
other three partners were Alexander McKay, Duncan Mc- 
Dougal and David Stuart, an uncle of Robert. To illustrate 
the sturdy character of this young man, it will not be out 
of place to relate an incident of the voyage. Captain Thorn 
of the Tonquin was a waspish individual, though thor- 
oughly honest and devoted to the best interests of his em- 
ployers. He was not a partner in the enterprise and con- 
sequently the four men who were, deemed it their right to 
assume authority on shipboard. This Captain Thorn did 
not concede, and each time when the partners would make 
their requests, the Captain would reply with much firm- 
ness that "It was contrary to orders." On the voyage the 
ship touched at various islands in the tropics and at each 
place the partners went on shore and in some instances kept 
the vessel awaiting their pleasure. This, of course, raised 
the ire of Captain Thorn, who, being a naval commander, 
was a strict disciplinarian. Finally, on the 4th of Decern- 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 103 

ber, 1810, they landed at the Falkland Islands to obtain a 
supply of water. McDougal and McKay took this occasion 
to go on shore, but with the request from the Captain that 
they ''would not detain the ship." Once on shore, however, 
they were in no haste to obey his orders, but rambled about 
in search of curiosities. The anchorage proving unsafe and 
the water hard to get, the vessel stood off shore and re- 
peated signals were made for the absent partners to return 
to the ship, but these gentlemen paid no attention to the 
signals and did not return until nine o'clock at night. The 
next day another attempt was made to procure water and 
the same partners again went on shore, but with emphatic 
requests from the Captain that they should return promptly, 
but the same thing occurred again and Captain Thorn now 
resolved to make sail without them, and the vessel moved 
away. When those on shore saw the ship actually under 
way they speedily took to their boats, and it was not until 
they had a hard pull of eight miles that they reached the 
ship. Two days afterwards they anchored at Fort Egmont, 
on the same island, where they remained four days making 
repairs, and this time McDougal and McKay were joined by 
David Stuart, and all went on shore to make the best of the 
time. They hunted, fished and enjoyed themselves to their 
hearts' content. When the vessel was ready to depart, Mc- 
Dougal and Stewart were in the south part of the island, 
out of sight of the signals, consequently there was more 
delay. The Captain paced the deck in nervous agitation, 
stormed and raved. He declared that this sort of annoy- 
ance should cease. It was the third time his orders had 
been treated with contempt and the ship wantonly detained, 
and he vowed it should be the last. Accordingly, the order 
was given to hoist the anchor and make sail, and soon the 
ship was standing out to sea. Robert Stuart was the only 
remaining partner on board, and when he became convinced 
that the Captain really intended to leave the three partners 
on the island, he requested him to change his purpose, but 
that only made matters worse and the obstinate Commander 
declared that they should be left on the island. Robert Stu- 



104 History of Wyoming- 

art's blood was now up, and feeling that the success of the 
enterprise was jeopardized by the folly of Captain Thorn, 
he seized a pistol and declared that he would blow out the 
brains of the Captain if he did not shorten sail. Fortu- 
nately, at this moment the wind changed and came ahead 
and the partners were enabled to reach the ship. The im- 
pression was created on board, however, that Robert Stuart 
would not have permitted the other three partners to be left 
on the island even had it reached the point of his killing^ 
the Captain. The circumstance revealed the resolute char- 
acter of young Stuart which was of service to him in the 
wilds of Wyoming a little later. 

Resuming the story of this expedition across the moun- 
tains, and the thrilling events of the journey, which took 
place within the borders of what is now Wyoming, we must 
go back to Astoria, the starting point of the expedition. 
They went up the Columbia in canoes and while going up 
this stream the veteran John Day showed symptoms of de- 
rangement of mind and shortly after attempted to commit 
suicide. Mr. Stuart, falling in with some friendly Indians 
on their way to Astoria to trade at the post, succeeded in 
making a bargain with them to carry Day safely back. The 
Indians performed the service, but poor Day never recov- 
ered and died within the year. Mr. Stuart had received in- 
structions before leaving the fort to follow the trail of Mr. 
Hunt's party through the wilderness and thus reach the 
Missouri river. W^hile passing up the Snake River, they by 
the merest accident encountered John Hoback, Joseph Mil- 
ler, Jacob Rezner and Robinson, the scalped Kentuckian. 
These four men, it will be remembered, were detached from 
the main party the year previous, and had been trapping for 
beaver on Beaver River. They had collected a considerable 
quantity of these skins and were conveying them east, but 
had encountered an outlaw band of Arapahoes, who had 
robbed them of everything, including most of their cloth- 
ing. Cass, another member of the party, they reported as 
having left them. At the time they were found by Stuart's 
party they were nearly famished. These wanderers were 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 105 

cared for and taken to the caches left by Mr. Hunt and there 
fitted out. The hunters, Robinson, Rezner and Hoback, took 
a new outfit and remained in the wilderness rather than re- 
turn to civilization penniless. Miller preferred to keep on 
with Stuart's party and take the place of John Day. Thus 
the party was recruited to the original seven. They kept 
along the Snake River for some distance, then crossed over 
to Bear River. They had an encounter with a band of Crows 
and barely escaped being robbed, and as it was the savages 
followed them for 150 miles. On September 18th the little 
band again struck the Snake River, where they encamped, 
considering themselves at a safe distance from the maraud- 
ing band of Indians. Their horses, which were much jaded, 
were turned out to graze. On the morning of the 19th the 
Indians swept down upon them and carried off all their 
horses. It w^as with mortification and despair that they 
resumed their journey on foot. After much suffering, on 
the Ist of October they reached the Grand Tetons and soon 
they came into what is now Wyoming. The snow was al- 
ready lying deep on the ground and they were without food. 
Fortunately, Ben Jones succeeded in killing five elk and 
starvation was replaced by joyful feasting. To add to their 
distress. Crooks was taken sick and the party was obliged to 
wait several days for his recovery. They finally moved 
on, making slow progress through deep snows and being 
obliged to ford many streams. They suffered much with 
cold and hunger. Several days before this, McLellan left 
the party, preferring to travel alone. In their anxiety to 
struggle forward, they did not stop to hunt and it turned 
out there was no game in their path. There was plenty 
of antelope, but it was impossible to get near enough to 
shoot one. For three days the forlorn travelers had noth- 
ing to eat but a small duck and a few poor trout. After a 
time they succeeded in killing an antelope, and on this they 
lived for several days. The journal kept by Mr. Stuart says 
that on the 11th of October they encamped on a small stream 
near the foot of the Spanish River Mountain. Here they 
met with traces of McLellan, who appeared to be keeping 



io6 History of Wyoming- 

in advance of the party. He had encamped the night be- 
fore on this stream. At their next encampment, on one of 
the tributaries of the Spanish (Grreen) River they perceived 
a large smoke at some distance to the southwest. The sight 
was hailed with joy, as they thought it might be an Indian 
camp whence they could procure something to eat. Le Clerc 
was despatched to reconnoiter, and the travelers sat up late 
in the hopes that he would bring them good news, but he 
did not come and they went supperless to bed. Le Clerc re- 
turned in the morning to tell them that the smoke arose 
from the camp-fire of McLellan. He had found that eccen- 
tric individual in a worse condition than they were them- 
selves. He had been ill, he reported, yet had kept pushing 
forward; but now his strength was exhausted and he could 
go no farther. The party went to him and found the poor 
fellow wasted to a perfect skeleton and so feeble that he 
could scarcely raise his head. The presence of his comrades 
seemed to revive him, but they had no food to offer, for they 
were starving themselves. They urged him to rise and ac- 
company them, but he shook his head. It was all in vain, 
he said ; there was no prospect of their getting speedy relief, 
and without it he should perish by the way; he might as 
well, therefore, stay and die where he was. At length, after 
much persuasion, they got him upon his legs; his rifle and 
other effects were shared among them, and he was cheered 
and aided forward. In this way they proceeded for seven- 
teen miles, over a level plain of sand, until, seeing a few 
antelope in the distance, they encamped on the margin of a 
small stream. All that were now capable of exertion turned 
out to hunt for a meal. Their efforts were fruitless, and af- 
ter dark they returned to their camp, famished almost to 
desperation. 

As they were preparing for the third time to lay down 
to sleep without a mouthful to eat, Le Clerc, one of the Ca- 
nadians, gaunt and wild with hunger, approached Mr. Stu- 
art, with his gun in his hand. "It was all in vain," he said, 
"to attempt to proceed farther without food. They had a 
barren plain before them, three or four days' journey in 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 107 

extent, on which nothing was to be procured. They must 
all perish before they could get to the end of it. It was 
better, therefore, that one should die to save the rest." He 
proposed, therefore, that they should cast lots ; adding as an 
inducement for Mr. Stuart to assent to the proposition, that 
he, as leader of the party, should be exempted. This inci- 
dent shows to what extremity these wanderers in the desert 
had arrived. Even the strong nature of Robert Stuart was 
shocked almost beyond measure by the horrible proposition. 
He could suffer and if need be die in the desert, but he could 
not consent to prolong life in the way proposed. He tried 
to reason with the man, but it was useless. He used argu- 
ment and spoke cheering words, but this had no effect; 
finally, he snatched up his rifle and threatened to shoot the 
man on the spot if he persisted in his inhuman argument. 
The famished wretch dropped on his knees, begged pardon 
in the most abject terms and solemnly promised never again 
to offend by such a suggestion. Again the tired and hungry 
wanderers went supperless to bed. At dawn of day they 
were on their way, as they realized that to linger was to 
perish. Nine miles farther on they ascended a range of 
hills, and two miles distant they came upon a run-down 
buffalo bull. The party stretched out along the plain in 
order to encompass the animal, as their lives depended on 
their success in killing him. A fortunate shot brought 
the monster down. The meat was at once cut up, but the 
poor wretches were unable to wait until a fire was built and 
the food prepared. Each seized a piece of the flesh and 
commenced to eat. After a while the remainder was carried 
to a small brook, where a fire was built and a broth made by 
Mr. Stuart, which he offered his companions, fearing they 
would eat to excess on the solid meat. Each took a portion 
of this broth and then waited until an ample supper was 
cooked. That night they adopted the Indian style of cook- 
ing and cramming, which was continued a greater part of 
the night, and next morning the feasting was resumed. 
They journeyed on, and on October 17th they passed two 
tributary streams of the Spanish (Green) River, close under 



io8 History of Wyoming- 

the Wind River Mountains, which ranged along to the east. 
That day they saw buffalo and antelope but did not succeed 
in killing any. On the 18th, after crossing a mountain 
ridge and traversing a plain, they waded one of the branch- 
es of the Spanish River, and on ascending its bank met with 
about a hundred and thirty Snake Indians. They were 
friendly in their demeanor and conducted them to their 
encampment, which was about three miles distant. It con- 
sisted of about forty wigwams, constructed principally of 
pine branches. The Snakes, like most of their nation, were 
very poor; the meandering Crows, in their late excursion 
through the country, had picked this unlucky band to the 
very bone, carrying off' their horses, several of their squaws 
and most of their effects. In spite of their poverty, they 
were hospitable in the extreme and made the hungry stran- 
gers welcome to their cabins. A few trinkets procured from 
them a supply of buffalo meat and of leather for moccasins, 
of which the party were greatly in need. The most valuable 
prize obtained from them, however, was a horse; it was a 
sorry old animal, in truth, after a fell swoop of the Crows, 
yet this they were prevailed upon to part with to their 
guests for a pistol, an ax, a knife, and a few other trifling 
articles. 

On October 19th the party loaded their old horse with 
five days' provisions, consisting of buffalo meat. They pro- 
ceeded along a branch of the Spanish (Green) River and 
soon striking a large Indian trail they kept on it to the 
southeast. This trail was well-beaten and ran in a proper 
direction, and they therefore determined to travel it as 
far as safety would permit. This highway led through val- 
leys and high ridges, keeping a general direction to the 
southeast. That afternoon the two Canadians killed a 
young buffalo which was in good condition and afforded 
them a plentiful supply of fresh beef. The next morning 
they crossed the continental divide. Here they left the 
Indian trail, which changed its course, bearing to the north- 
east; they therefore left the trail, keeping on their course 
for eighteen miles, through a beautiful undulating coun- 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 109 

try. In the evening they encamped on the banks of a small 
stream in the open prairie. The next day (October 21st) 
they set forward, keeping to the northeast, toward the lofty 
summit of a mountain which it was necessary for them to 
cross, and having traveled fifteen miles, they camped at the 
base of the mountain and the next day crossed it. Mr. Stu- 
art's journal says that when they arrived at the opposite 
side of the mountain they found a rill of water oozing out of 
the earth, and resembling in look and taste the water of the 
Missouri. The next day they came upon a stream running 
to the east between two hills of bluish earth, strongly im- 
pregnated with copperas. Mr. Stewart was of the opinion 
that this stream was one of the tributaries of the Missouri 
and he determined to follow it, which he did for twenty- 
six miles, when he reached the top of a high hill, from 
which he could see the vast plain beyond, through which 
wandered the same stream, in a southeast direction, and he 
finally made up his mind that it could not be one of the 
sources of the Missouri ; he therefore took an easterly direc- 
tion toward a high mountain sixty miles away. For two 
days they kept on toward this mountain. 

On the 26th of October they steered east, northeast, 
for a wooded ravine in a mountain, at a small distance from 
the base of which, to their great joy, they discovered an 
abundant stream running between willow banks. Here 
they halted for the night, and Ben Jones luckily trapped a 
beaver, and killed two buffalo bulls. They remained in 
camp all the next day, feasting and reposing and allowing 
their jaded horse to rest. This stream was the Sweetwater, 
but it had not yet been named. The journal of Mr. Stuart 
says : "Pursuing the course of this stream for about twenty 
miles, they came to where it forced a passage through a 
range of high hills covered with cedars, into an extensive 
low country, affording an excellent pasture to numerous 
herds of buffalo." Here they killed three cows, which were 
the first they had been able to get, having hitherto had to 
content themselves with bull beef, which at this season of 
the year is very poor. The hump meat afforded them a re- 



no History of Wyoming- 

past fit for an epicure. It will be discovered that the trav- 
elers had made a wide circuit to the south and crossed the 
continental divide many miles south of the headwaters of 
the Sweetwater. Had they kept the Indian trail to the 
Sweetwater they would have saved themselves many weari- 
some miles. 

"Late on the afternoon of the 30th they came to where 
the stream, now to a considerable size, poured along in a 
ravine between precipices of red stone, two hundred feet in 
height. For a distance it dashed along, over huge masses 
of rock, with foaming violence, as if exasperated by being 
compressed in so narrow a channel, and at length leaped 
down a chasm that looked dark and frightful in the gather- 
ing twilight." 

They had now reached the North Platte, but having 
crossed the point of land on the north side of the Sweet- 
water, were not aware that they had come upon another 
stream. The crossing from the Sweetwater to the Platte 
is now considerably north of the place where Stuart and his 
party came over. The northern road is comparatively 
smooth, there being no steep hills to climb. 

"For a part of the next day the wild river, in its ca- 
pricious wanderings, led them through a variety of striking 
scenes. At one time they were upon high plains, like plat- 
forms among the mountains, with herds of buffaloes roam- 
ing about them; at another, among rude, rocky defiles, 
broken into cliif s and precipices, where the black-tailed deer 
bounded off among the crags, and the big-horn basked on 
the sunny brow of the precipice. 

"In the after part of the day they came to another scene, 
surpassing in savage grandeur those already described. 
They had been traveling for some distance through a pass 
of the mountains, keeping parallel with the river as it roared 
along, out of sight, through a deep ravine. Sometimes their 
devious path approached the margin of cliffs below which 
the river foamed and boiled and whirled among the masses 
of rock that had fallen into its channel. As they crept cau- 
tiously on, leading their solitary pack-horse along these 
giddy heights, they all at once came to where the river thun- 
dered down a succession of precipices, throwing up clouds 
of spray, and making a prodigious din and uproar. The 
travelers remained for a time, gazing with mingled awe and 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 1 1 1 

delight at this furious cataract, to which Mr. Stuart gave, 
from the color of the impending rocks, the name of The 
Fiery Narrows." 

Their camp was made on the banks of the river below 
the cataract and the next morning they started on down 
the river, and as they went along they discussed their situ- 
ation and their whereabouts. What stream they were on, 
they did not know. Some thought that it might be the 
Cheyenne, as it inclined somewhat to the north of east. 
They were certain that it was a tributary of the Missouri 
and that if they kept on they would reach home and friends. 
They talked over the probabilities of encountering the pi- 
ratical Sioux, Crows and Cheyennes; then they weighed 
their chances of being able to continue their journey through 
the deep snows when they reached the open prairie country, 
which they surely would farther down the river, where 
fuel for camp fires would be out of the question. It was 
finally agreed that the best thing to do was to select winter 
quarters and go into camp as soon as possible. Robert Stu- 
art says that they were brought the more promptly and 
unanimously to this decision by coming upon an excellent 
wintering place that promised everything requisite for their 
comfort. It was on a fine bend of the river, just below 
where it issued from among a ridge of mountains and bent 
toward the northeast. Here was a beautiful low point of 
land, covered by cottonwood and surrounded by a thick 
growth of willow, so as to yield both shelter and fuel, as 
well as materials for building. The river swept away in a 
strong current, about a hundred and fifty yards wide. To 
the southeast were mountains of moderate height, the near- 
est about two miles off, but the whole chain ranging to the 
east, south and west, as far as the eye could reach. Their 
summits were covered with extensive tracts of pitch pine, 
checkered with small patches of the quivering aspen. 
Lower down were thick forests of firs and red cedars, grow- 
ing out in many places from the very fissures of the rocks. 
The mountains were broken and precipitous, with huge 
bluffs protruding from among the forests. Their rocky re- 



112 History of Wyoming- 

cesses and beetling cliffs afforded retreats for innumerable 
flocks of the big-horn, while their woody summits and ra- 
vines abounded with bears and black-tailed deer. These, 
with the numerous herds of buffalo on the lower grounds 
along the river, provided the travelers abundant cheer in 
their winter quarters. 

Those who are familiar with the country along the 
North Platte below the Sweetwater will recognize this win- 
ter camp of Robert Stuart's party. The bend of the river 
spoken of is where Bessemer is now located. The mountain 
across the river is Caspar Mountain, and the little brook, 
where Ben Jones and his party collected their meat, is the 
lower Poison Spider Creek. 

"On the 2nd of November, therefore, they pitched their 
camp for the winter on the woody point, and their first 
thought was to obtain a supply of provisions. Ben Jones 
and the two Canadians accordingly sallied forth, accompa- 
nied by two others of the party, leaving but one to watch 
the camp. Their hunting was uncommonly successful. In 
the course of two days they killed thirty-two buffaloes and 
collected their meat, on the margin of a small brook, about 
a mile distant. Fortunately, a severe frost froze the river, 
so that the meat was easily transported to the encampment. 
On a succeeding day, a herd of buffalo came tramping 
through the woody bottom on the river banks, and fifteen 
more were killed. It was soon discovered, however, that 
there was game of a more dangerous nature in the neigh- 
borhood. On one occasion Mr. Crooks had wandered about 
a mile from the camp and had ascended a small hill com- 
manding a view of the river. He was without his rifle, a 
rare circumstance, for in these wild regions, where one 
may put up a wild animal or a wild Indian at any turn, it is 
customary never to stir from the campfire unarmed. The 
hill where he stood overlooked the place where the massa- 
cre of the buffalo had taken place. As he was looking 
round on the prospect, his eye was caught by an object be- 
low, moving directly toward him. To his dismay, he discov- 
ered it to be a grizz.ly bear with two cubs. There was no 
tree at hand into which he could climb; to run would only 
be to provoke pursuit, and he would soon be overtaken. 
He threw himself on the ground, therefore, and lay motion- 
less, watcliins: the movements of the animal with intense 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 1 1 3 

anxiety. It continued to advance until at the foot of the 
hill, when it turned and made into the woods, having prob- 
ably gorged itself with buffalo flesh. Mr. Crooks made all 
haste back to the camp, rejoicing at his escape and deter- 
mining never to stir out again without his rifle. A few 
days after this circumstance a grizzly bear was shot in the 
neighborhood by Mr. Miller. 

*'As the slaughter of so many buffaloes had provided the 
party with beef for the winter, in case they met with no fur- 
ther supply, they now set to work, heart and hand, to build 
a comfortable wigwam. In a little while the woody promon- 
tory rang with the unwonted sound of the ax. Some of its 
lofty trees were laid low, and by the second evening the 
cabin was complete. It was eight feet wide and eighteen 
feet long. The walls were six feet high and the whole was 
covered with buffalo skins. The fire-place was in the center 
and the smoke found its way out through a hole in the roof. 

"The hunters were next sent out to procure deer-skins 
for garments, moccasins and other purposes. They made 
the mountains echo with their rifles, and in the course of 
two days' hunting killed twenty-eight big-horns and black- 
tailed deer. 

•'The party now reveled in abundance. After all that 
they had suffered from hunger, cold, fatigue and watch- 
fulness; after all their perils from treacherous and savage 
men, they exulted in the snugness and security of their iso- 
lated cabin, hidden, as they thought, even from the prying 
eyes of Indian scouts, and stored with creature comforts; 
and they looked forward to a winter of peace and quietness ; 
of roasting, and boiling, and broiling, and feasting upon 
venison, and mountain mutton, and bear's meat, and mar- 
row bones, and buffalo humps, and other hunters' dainties, 
and of dozing and reposing around their fire and gossiping 
over past dangers and adventures, and telling long hunting 
stories, until spring should return, when they would make 
canoes of buffalo skins and float themselves down the river. 

"From such halcyon dreams they were startled one 
morning at daybreak by a savage yell. They started up 
and seized their rifles. The yell was repeated by two or 
three voices. Cautiously peeping out they beheld, to their 
dismay, several Indian warriors among the trees, all armed 
and painted in warlike style, being evidently bent on some 
hostile purpose. 

"Miller changed countenance as he regarded them. 'We 
-(8) 



114 History of Wyoming- 

are in trouble/ said he. 'These are some of the rascally 
Arapahoes that robbed me last year.' Not a word was ut- 
tered by the rest of the party, but they silently slung their 
powder horns and ball pouches and perpared for battle. 
McLellan, who had taken his gun to pieces the evening be- 
fore, put it together in all haste. He proposed that they 
should break out the clay from between the logs, so as to 
be able to fire upon the enemy. 'Not yet,' replied Stuart; 
'it will not do to show fear or distrust. We must first hold 
a parley. Someone must go out and meet them as a friend.^ 

"Who was to undertake the task? It was full of peril, 
as the envoy might be shot down at the threshold. 

" 'The leader of a party,' said Jililler, 'always takes the 
advance.' 

" 'Good !' replied Stuart. 'I am ready.' He immedi- 
ately went forth, one of the Canadians following him. The 
rest of the party remained in the garrison to keep the sav- 
ages in check. 

"Stuart advanced, holding his rifle in one hand and ex- 
tending the other to the savage that appeared to be the 
chief. The latter stepped forward and took it; his men fol- 
lowed his example and all shook hands with Stuart in token 
of friendship. They now explained their errand. They 
were a war party of Arapahoe braves; their village lay on 
the stream several days' journey to the eastward. It had 
been attacked and ravaged during their absence by a band 
of Crows, who had carried off several of their women and 
most of their horses. For sixteen days they had been track- 
ing the Crows about the mountains, but had not yet come 
upon them. In the meantime they had met with scarcely 
any game and were half famished. About two days pre- 
viously they had heard the report of firearms among the 
mountains, and on searching in the direction of the sound 
had come to a place where a deer had been killed. They had 
immediately put themselves upon the track of the hunters, 
and by following it up had arrived at the cabin." 

Making a virtue of necessity, the chief and sub-chief 
were politely invited to enter the cabin, but Mr. Stuart and 
his associates by motions indicated to the chief that the bal- 
ance of his party must remain on the outside. Upon reach- 
ing the inside of the hut, the chief glanced with satisfaction 
at the rafters, which were laden with the choicest cuts of 
buffalo, elk and deer meat. The two savages were invited 



Great Overland Trail Discovered. 1 1 5 

to partake of the hospitality of the wayfarers and large 
quantities of meat were also passed ont to the twenty-three 
savages who were awaiting their chief. Then commenced a 
scene of gormandizing so well known to all who are ac« 
quainted with the Indian character. They ate all day with 
slight intermissions and continued their feast way into the 
night. Mr. Stuart intended to feed them to stupefaction, 
and in this he succeeded admirably. The two chiefs gorged 
themselves, not unlike anacondas, became stupid and un- 
able to do the travelers harm even had they so desired. The 
chief, under the good treatment, became exceedingly friend- 
ly and boasted of the scalps they would take from the Crows 
when they should overtake them, and asked Mr. Stuart for a 
small supply of powder, promising to pay munificently out 
of the spoils of victory, saying that they were poor now and 
on foot, but when they returned in two weeks they would be 
riding horses and would provide the white men each with a 
horse to prevent them from being tired on their journey. 
The reply to this proposition was that when they brought 
the horses they should have the ammunition, but not before. 
The Indian is a good judge of human nature and understands 
the signs indicated by the tone and expression of the face, 
and seeing Mr. Stuart's attitude realized that it would be 
useless to continue further negotiations and dismissed the 
subject with a good-humored laugh. The unwelcome visit- 
ors remained until 10 o'clock of the next day and went away 
laden with the winter stores of the Astorians, sufficient to 
last them a week. 

As soon as the vagabond band was out of sight the little 
party held a council and determined to move, and thus take 
no chances of the savages returning. 

It was the 13th of December when they left their com- 
fortable winter camp where they had enjoyed the sweetest 
repose for five short weeks. They passed down the north 
side of the Platte and within twenty miles came opposite 
to where Casper now stands. The snow was deep and a 
crust had formed on the surface, but they hurried along 
and by the time they reached the locality where the city of 



ii6 History of Wyoming- 

Douglas now cheers the traveler, their feet had become sore 
by coming in contact with the hard crust which had formed 
on the snow and through which they broke at every step. 
Soon the whole party became dispirited and the opinion was 
held by the majority that they might better have remained 
in their comfortable camp and run the risk of being killed 
by Indians than to drag on thus painfully with a probability 
of perishing by the way. Their poor old horse was loaded 
down with meat, but they had nothing wherewith to feed 
him except willow twigs and cottonwood bark. The leade^ 
of the party cheered them on, assuring them that they were 
constantly shortening the distance to that point on the 
river where it would be navigable for canoes. They passed 
cottonwood groves and at last reached a place where the 
river ran between rocky hills and promontories covered 
with cedar and pitch pines, and peopled as they said with 
big-horn sheep and deer. This was the Platte River Canon. 
They kept on and finally passed the point where twenty-two 
years later Captain William Sublette and Robert Campbell 
built their trading post, which was to become the historic 
Fort Laramie. 

If Robert Stuart could have looked forward and real- 
ized that he was blazing the way for a new road across the 
continent,and that thirty-one years later Marcus Whitman 
was to pass over it with a train of a thousand people, it 
would have cheered him in his lonely wanderings. But not- 
withstanding his lack of knowledge of the future, he will 
ever be known as the pioneer explorer of the Overland Trail. 
This journey across the continent surpassed all others in 
adventure, in heroism and in results. He it was who discov- 
ered a practical route across the mountains which possessed 
great advantages over every other. 

After this digression, let us again proceed on the toil- 
some journey with these weary travelers. They pushed on, 
the weather became colder, and the swift current of the 
river was frozen over. The snow was now fifteen inches 
deep, and yet they pressed forward and soon came to where 
the face of the country was level and the timber had disap- 



Oreat Overland Trail Discovered. 1 1 7 

peared. They looked out over the great plain, where noth- 
ing but desolation met their eyes, and here they came to a 
halt, sensible of the fact that they could not safely pursue 
their journey farther east until the snow and rigors of win- 
ter were past, nor could they remain where they were. It 
will be recognized that they were now in Nebraska. They 
retraced their steps seventy-seven miles and again went into 
winter quarters in a cottonwood grove on the margin of the 
river, where the trees were large enough for canoes. Here 
again they erected a house, but before it was completed 
New Year's Day of 1813 came, and they ceased from their 
labors, resolved to make it a holiday. It was indeed a 
happy new year to them, for they saw that it was now simply 
a question of waiting until spring arrived. On the second 
day of January they went manfully to work again on their 
new house and in a few days completed it. Buffalo and 
other game was plentiful in the neighborhood and they soon 
had an abundance of provisions, and here they remained for 
the balance of the winter. During the time spent at this 
encampment they built canoes, intending to launch them 
early in the spring. By this time they were pretty well con- 
vinced that they were on the Platte River. The location of 
this camp was on the border of Wyoming, where the State 
of Nebraska joins. Some claim that the identical spot is 
Gering, and if so it would be just over the line in Nebraska. 
In their second encampment they were not troubled 
with Indian visitors, and nothing occurred to mar their 
happiness. They built two canoes, and on the 8th of March 
placed them on the turbulent waters and departed from 
their encampment. Soon they encountered innumerable 
sand-bars and snags, and after vainly attempting to go for- 
ward with the canoes they were obliged to give them up and 
make their way on foot. They finally reached Grand Island 
and three days later met an Otto Indian. This friendly sav- 
age conducted them to his village, which was near, and there 
they met two Indian traders, white men, Dornin and Roi, 
who were direct from St. Louis. These men informed them 
of the war which was then going on between the United 



1 1 8 History of Wyoming- 

Stales and England. Mr. Dornin furnished them with a 
boat made of elkskin stretched over a pole frame. With this 
boat they entered on their journey down the Platte and soon 
reached the Missouri, and on the 30th of April they arrived 
at St. Louis and brought the first intelligence of Mr. Hunt's 
party, which had left St. Louis more than a year and a half 
before. Thus terminated one of the most remarkable expe- 
ditions that ever crossed the Rocky Mountains.* 

To sum up the character of Robert Stuart, it can be said 
of him that he was resolute, absolutely void of fear, and yet 
withal endowed with great caution. He led his followers 
through a wilderness during the most inclement season of 
the year and in spite of fate or fortune preserved their lives 
and afterward safely delivered his dispatches to Mr. Astor, 
the promoter of the great enterprise of which he, himself, 
was a partner. Citizens of our state, as they study the map 
of Wyoming and follow his route, must not forget that his 
party were the first Americans to traverse the valley of the 
Sweetwater. It is a great oversight that this stream does 
not bear the name of Stuart. The members of this party 
were also the first explorers of the North Platte. The wan- 
derings, sufferings and explorations of these men forever 
associates their names with the early history of our state. 

The Stuart party were not the last Astorians to cross 
Wyoming. On the 4th of April, 1813, David Stuart, Donald 
McKenzie, Mr. Clark and such other Americans who had 
not entered into the service of the Northwest Fur Company 
left Astoria on their way across the Rocky Mountains. John 

*Many people have tried to discover the trail of the Stuart party across Wyoming. Gov- 
ernor William A. Richards, who from his profession as a surveyor has become familiar with the 
topography of the country, says that the Stuart party entered Wyoming through the Teton Pass, 
crossed Snake River somewhere near the mouth of the Hoback, proceeded up that stream to its 
head and went down Lead Creek to Green River ; continued down Green River a short dis- 
tance, then took a southeasterly course, crossing two branches of New Fork and some other 
minor streams, then the Big Sandy and some of its tributaries; crossed the Continental Divide 
in the vicinity of the South Pass, then crossed the streams forming the headwaters of the Sweet- 
water, traveling in a northeasterly direction. They left the valley of the Sweetwater, thinking it 
ran south, and continuing northeast ascended the Beaver Divide. From this elevation, seeing 
the western end of the Rattlesnake Range, they shaped their course toward it, going nearly east, 
passing across the Muskrat country, where the party suffered greatly for want of water. Reach- 
ing the Rattlesnake Range, they went down a small stream to the Sweetwater, which they fol- 
lowed east. They failed to notice its junction with the North Platte, but continued down that 
stream through the canon and made their first winter camp just below where the river emerges 
from the canon, probably two or three miles below Bessemer and near where Fort Caspar was 
subsequently located. Leaving this camp through fear of Indians, they proceeded down the 
North Platte, making their second winter camp in Nebraska. , , 



Ashley's Trappers in Wyoming. 119 

Hoback, Pierre Dorion, Pierre Delaunay, the veteran Ken- 
tuekians, Robinson and Rezner, all perished in the wilder- 
ness. Those who returned reached civilization at different 
I)eriods and told their stories of the fate of the great expedi- 
tions that went by sea and land to establish a trading post at 
the mouth of the Columbia. 



CHAPTER XL 



ASHLEY'S TRAPPERS IN WYOMING. 

Trapping on the Yellowstone, Big Horn, Big Wind and Other 
Sources of the Missouri — Names the Sweetwater and Changes 
THE Name Spanish River to Green River — Employs Over 300 
Trappers — His Expedition to Salt Lake — Marvelous Success as 
a Fur Trader — Makes a Fortune and Sells Out to Sublette, 
Campbell, Bridger and Others — His Speech to the Mountain 
Men — Changes the Character of the Trapper by Mounting Him 
on Horseback — A Life-long Personal Friend of Every Trapper 
Who Shared With Him the Dangers of the Mountains — Au- 
thor's Tribute to the American Trapper. 

After the expedition of Lewis and Clark, the fur trade 
was greatly stimulated among Americans. Not only did 
rich men, like John Jacob Astor, send out expeditions, but 
men with small capital made excursions up the Missouri, 
-entered the mountain country and pursued the perilous task 
of fur trapping. St. Louis at that time was a frontier town 
and it became the outfitting point of the fur trade. There 
was a motley population of French and Indian half-breeds, 
and Spaniards with Indian blood, and other mixed races. 
Manuel Lisa was the pioneer fur trader, and it was to his 
enterprise that St. Louis was indebted for turning the trade 
in that channel. Lisa was born in Spain but came to this 
country at an early age and on his arrival at St. Louis from 
New Orleans, he early became known as a bold partisan 
and at the same time as a man possessed of good business 



I20 History of Wyoming- 

qualifications. He had made money in merchandising and 
was reputed wealthy. There had grown up Spanish and 
French establishments in New Orleans, and these had estab- 
lished branches from time to time in the new city of St. 
Louis. The Frenchmen and Spaniards had worked together, 
consequently when Lisa determined to organize a fur com- 
pany he readily got the assistance of both the Spanish and 
French merchants. He induced eleven of the leading busi- 
ness men of St. Louis to join him in fur trapping and trading 
with a view of controlling the Indian trade and fur business 
on the upper branches of the Missouri. Among these were 
Pierre Chouteau, Sr., William Clark, Sylvester Labadie, 
Pierre Menard and Auguste P. Chouteau. These gentle- 
men organized the Missouri Fur Company, with a paid-up 
capital of |40,000. Lisa was the leading partner in the 
company and had charge of all the expeditions sent into the 
widerness. He recruited trappers and voyageurs. the former 
of Kentucky and Tennessee and the latter half-breed French 
and Spanish who had been boatmen along the Ohio and 
Mississippi. The Kentucky and Tennessee hunters readily 
took to trapping. They were unerring shots with the rifle 
and therefore had little fear of the wild Indians. The Mis- 
souri Fur Company sent its first expedition up the Missouri 
about the time Lewis and Clark returned from the Colum- 
bia, and by the time the season of 1808 arrived they had 
two hundred and fifty men in their employ and several trad- 
ing posts in successful operation in the mountain country. 
Lisa's principal lieutenant was an Alexander Henry, who 
built several of these posts and in 1810 established a post on 
Henry's Fork of the Snake River, called Post Henry. This 
latter was found to be too far in the wilderness and was 
abandoned a year after it was established. It will be re- 
membered that Mr. Hunt and his party visited Post Henry 
on October 8, 1811 and found it deserted. 

I will here mention that Alexander Henry, on leaving 
the employ of the Missouri Fur Company in 1812, engaged 
with the Northwest Company and some years later was on 
the Columbia River. The Missouri Fur Company was very 



AsMeifs Trappers in Wyoming. 121 

successful for a few years, having enjoyed a fair share of 
the fur trade on the headwaters of the Missouri. It would 
have been more profitable had not the Northwest Fur Com- 
pany, with their usual enterprise and English audacity, 
pushed their operations into American territory. Lisa had 
one great advantage, and that was his ability to keep on 
friendly terms with the Indians. Come what would, he was 
always equal to the emergency. He seldom had difficulty 
with the natives, unless it was the Blackfeet. These were 
beyond the control of even the most sagacious trader since 
the unfortunate affair of Captain Lewis, who was obliged 
to kill one of that tribe. 

From 1807 up to and including the period covered by 
the war of 1812 between England and the United States. 
a large number of trappers from the upper lake country 
transferred their enterprise to the headwaters of the Mis- 
souri. These formed minor associations, but the enterprise 
and capital of Lisa enabled him to overcome this opposition 
by engaging them to trap for the Missouri Fur Company. 
After the return of Ramsey Crooks in 1813, he became an 
active partisan in the service of Mr. Astor and assisted in 
the conduct of the affairs of the American Fur Company. 
With abundant capital, this great corporation occupied the 
territory from the great lakes west to the Rocky Mountains. 
Numerous posts were established in the country drained by 
the headwaters of the Mississippi, Missouri, Yellowstone 
and at other western points. This corporation a few years 
later had steamboats in its employ, and these carried mer- 
chandise to remote regions and brought away the furs. The 
Indian trade now included the skins of the beaver, otter, 
lynx, fox, raccoon; also the skins of the buffalo, Rocky 
Mountain sheep, deer and antelope. The steamboats of this 
company created no little wonder among the natives in the 
west and it is said that its passage up the rivers caused the 
inhabitants to rush in a fright from their villages and take 
refuge in the interior. The competition of the Northwest 
Fur Company and the American Fur Company was so ruin- 
ous to Mr. Lisa as to reduce his profits as well as the volume 



122 History of Wyoming- 

of his business. The Hudson Bay Company and the North- 
west Company from 1815 to 1821 waged a ruinous war on 
each other, and the result was that both of these British 
corporations greatly reduced their gains. In the year 
last mentioned the two companies consolidated under the 
name of the Hudson Bay Company and this amalgamated 
corporation assumed to monopolize the business on the west 
side of the Rocky Mountains, and thus matters stood in 1822 
when General William H. Ashley of St. Louis, a man of large 
business capacity, thought he saw an opportunity to suc- 
cessfully enter the fur trade. His plan was to make friends 
among the Indians and employ them to trap in his service. 
Early in the spring of 1822 he started with a select company 
of able men for the mountains. He went up the Missouri, 
established a trading post on the Yellowstone, and from 
that base of operations covered the country to a considera- 
ble distance to the south with his trappers, going up the 
Big Horn and its tributaries as far as the Wind River Val- 
ley ; trapping on Big and Little Wind Rivers, Big Popo Agie, 
Little Popo Agie, North Fork and Beaver Creek. He re- 
turned to St. Louis late in the fall. The following spring 
(1823) he started again for the mountains by way of the 
Platte River route, and on reaching the forks of that stream 
he detached a small party to go up the South Fork and pro- 
ceeded himself with the main body up the North Fork and 
thence up the Sweetwater. This stream had not yet been 
named. The trappers found the water superior for drinking 
purposes and claimed that it left a pleasant taste in the 
mouth. General Ashley consequently named it Sweetwater, 
which name it bears today.* 

In this party were several men who afterwards became 
famous in the Rocky Mountain country and whose names 



*I have heard other traditions as to the name of this river. One is that a party of trappers 
in early times were going up its banks, having with them a mule loaded with sugar. The ani- 
mal fell into the stream and his load dissolved in the water ; hence the name Sweetwater. I 
have been told by old pioneers who lived with the Indians in early days that the red men claim 
the name Sweetwater is the English for the Indian appellation. My own opinion is that Ashley 
discovered the excellent quality of the water and gave the river its name, and my reasons for 
thinking so are that his men suffered greatly from drinking the alkali waters between the place of 
crossing and the Sweetwater. After they started up the Sweetwater they came to other streams 
that were unfit for drinking purposes. All these facts were noted by General Ashley. It must 
be admitted that he was an explorer as well as a fiur trader. 



Ashley's Trappers in Wyoming. 123 

are today closely associated with its early history. These 
were Robert Campbell, Jim Bridger, William Sublette, 
Thomas Fitzpatrick, Jim Beckwourth and Moses Harris. 
Ashley, Sublette and Campbell laid the foundation in the 
next few years for great fortunes. Ashley was of a cool, 
daring disposition and under his leadership his men became 
bold trappers and successful partisans. His company 
brought out in 1823 consisted of about forty men, and with 
these he attempted to cover a large territory. His plan of 
unification of the Indian tribes for the purpose of trade was 
only partially successful and he early sent back to St. Louis 
for more trappers. With his little band he pushed forward 
to Spanish River, the name of which he promptly changed 
to Green River, after one of his St. Louis partners. It has 
been claimed by several historians that the name of this 
river comes from the color of its waters; be that as it may, 
General Ashley named it.* Arriving on the banks of this 
j*iver, he detached a party under the leadership of a man 
named Clements to go up Green River to its headwaters 
and trap on the main stream and its branches. There were 
seven men in the party, and among them Jim Beckwourth, 
a man named LeBrache and another named Baptiste. They 
were very successful in capturing beaver. These animals 

*State Auditor W. O. Owen, when asked by the author what he thought was the origin of 
the name, said : "My own opinion is that the name was given to this stream from the intense 
and beautiful color of its water, and not, as many writers have claimed, fi-om its verdant banks 
which afford such Uvely contrast with the desert country through which it runs for many miles. 
Now, while it is generally known that nearly all bodies of water, under certain conditions, will 
give forth a greenish hue, it must be understood that these conditions are not at all essential 
when viewing this particular stream ; for the water of Green River is ititrinsically green. No 
matter under what conditions it may be viewed the water of this stream, at least as far as that 
portion of it above the Green River Lakes is concerned, will be found to possess this color. The 
water in the upper portion of the two forks is as intensely green as a June meadow and is by far 
the most conspicuous feature in the landscape of that locality. Its color is so deep and striking 
that I was led, two years ago while executing surveys for Government, to make a careful and 



thorough exammation of the matter, to ascertain if possible whence this brilliant green might 
come. My research resulted in a complete and certain solution of the problem. In various lo- 
calities along the forks we found the banks of the streams composed of a mineral substance re- 
sembling soapstone, and of a bright green color. Examination showed it to be extremely soft, 
wearing readily under slightest friction. I have seen banks of this material upwards of a himdred 
yards long, and the water, tearing along, possesses a grinding power sufficient to impregnate the 
entire stream with the coloring matter referred to. A peculiar feature of this coloring process 
lies in the fact that an excess of color may be imparted to the water without in the slightest de- 
gree affecting its limpidity. This would seem to indicate a transparency of the coloring matter 
itself when reduced to particles of infinite smallness. The large lake at the head of the northern 
fork of the river is said to be without a rival in point of color, and it is of an intense, bright green. 
Not merely green when viewed under certain illumination, but literally and actually green of its 
own nature. And near this lake the soapstone referred to above is to be found in abundance. I 
have colored a bucket of water by simply adding a small quantity of this material finely pulver- 
ized ; and in the face of these experiments, and the facts above mentioned, which any one who 
cares to may verify, it is difficult indeed to refer the christening of this river to any other source 
than that of the transp.irent green of its water." 



124 History of Wyoming- 

were numerous on the headwaters of this river at that time, 
as they had never been trapped. The traps were set and 
every one secured a beaver, and besides those caught in this 
way they shot a great many with their rifles. As they 
proceeded up the river they came to a branch on the west 
side of the main stream, up which they saw a number of wild 
horses pasturing in the beautiful green meadows, and they 
promptly called it Horse Creek, a name which it still bears. 
I am aware that another origin is given for the name of this 
creek, which is to the effect that Edward Rose, in 1824, 
while acting as interpreter and guide for a large party of 
trappers under Jedediah Smith and Thomas Fitzpatrick, 
instigated the Crows to steal the horses of the party, and 
that this branch of Green River took its name from that 
incident. 

On another branch of Green River, farther up, they 
were attacked by a party of sixteen Blackfeet and one of 
their number, LeBrache, was killed. The trappers then 
retreated down the river and two days later were met by 
another detachment from the post on the Yellowstone. The 
rendezvous was to be at the place which later became the 
ford on Green River, and this detachment of trappers from 
the north was on the way to that point. It was fortunate 
for Clements' party that they met with this reinforcement, 
as the Blackfeet were still following them. 

At the rendezvous that season there was great rejoic- 
ing, as all the brigades had been uniformly successful and 
consequently a large number of beaver packs were sent to 
the market. The army of trappers was increased the next 
spring to over three hundred, and most of these reached 
the country by way of the Platte River. General Ashley 
that year (1824) went with a party under his own immediate 
command down the Green River with a view to exploring 
new trapping ground to the south and west. The expedition 
proved to be one of great advantage financially, but its 
members underwent great privation, as they had a very 
dangerous passage down the river and suffered extremely, 
having taken little provisions with them, as they did not 



Ashley's Trappers in Wyoming. 125 

expect the canon to be of such length. They lost three gun« 
and two boats when they passed over the rapids and were 
obliged to let their boats down with ropes when they came 
to the most dangerous places. Soon their provisions gave 
out and the beaver grew scarce until there was none to be 
seen. As it was impossible either to retrace their steps or 
to ascend the high cliffs on each side of them, their only 
choice was to go ahead. They passed six days without tast- 
ing food and the men were weak and disheartened. General 
Ashley listened to all their murmurings and heart-rending 
complaints. They often spoke of home and friends, declar- 
ing they would never see them more. Some spoke of wives 
and children whom they dearly loved and who must become 
widows and orphans. They had toiled, they said, through 
every difficulty; had risked their lives among wild beasts 
and hostile Indians in the wilderness. This they were will- 
ing to undergo, but they could not bear up against actual 
starvation. 

The general encouraged them to the best of his power, 
telling them that he bore an equal part in all their suffer- 
ings; that he was toiling for those he loved and whom he yet 
expected to see again. He said they should endeavor to 
keep up their courage and not add despondency to the rest 
of their misfortunes. 

One more night was passed amid the barren rocks and 
the next morning some of the party proposed that the com- 
pany east lots to see which one should be sacrificed to afford 
food for the others, without which they would inevitably 
perish. r3eneral Ashley was horrified and begged them to 
wait at least one more day and in the meantime go as far 
as they could. By doing so, he said, they must come to a 
break in the canon through which they could escape. They 
consented and moved down the river as fast as the current 
would carry them, and to their joy found a break and in it 
a camp of trappers. They all rejoiced now that they had not 
carried their fearful proposition into effect. They had fallen 
in good hands and slowly recruited themselves with the 
party, which was in charge of one Provo, with whom Gene- 



126 History of Wyoming- 

ral Ashley was well acquainted. By his advice, they left the 
river and proceeded in a northwesterly direction, Provo 
accompanying them, supplying them with horses and pro- 
visions. They remained with his party until they reached 
the Great Salt Lake. Here they fell in with a large company 
of trappers, composed of Canadians and Iroquois Indians, 
under the command of Peter Ogden, who was in the service 
of the Northwest Fur Company. With this party Ashley 
made a good bargain, purchasing all their peltries at rea- 
sonable prices. The furs were to be paid for at the rendez- 
vous at Green River and the contract was that Ogden was to 
take in exchange merchandise of which General Ashley had 
an abundance. During this same season Fitzpatrick and 
Bridger, with a detachment of thirty trappers, went up the 
Snake River and trapped in all the tributary streams of that 
locality. Bridger, with a small party, followed the Snake 
river to its very source and wandered around for some time 
in what is now known as the Yellowstone National Park, 
and he evidently became fascinated with the wonders of 
that country. He talked with many persons about it, but as 
in Colter's case, his stories were laughed at by the trappers. 
The next year he happened to be at the trading post of the 
American Fur Company on the Yellowstone and there met a 
young Kentuckian, Robert Meldrum, who came out to be 
employed as blacksmith at that post. He was a good work- 
man, but he soon imbibed the love of adventure and went 
out as a trapper. During Bridger's visit to the post he told 
Meldrum what he had seen the year before, and that young 
man was fired with an ambition to go into that country. He 
soon after joined the Crows, and it was while living with 
these people that he found an opportunity to investigate the 
wonders around Yellowstone Lake. In later years he often 
talked with army officers and others about the geysers, and 
for a wonder his stories were believed. 

General Ashley sold out his interests in the mountains 
to Captain William Sublette, Robert Campbell, James 
Bridger and others and retired from business, as he had 
accumulated a fortune. Sublette was at the head of the 



Ashley^s Trappers in Wyoming. 127 

Dew company. Fitzpatrick was retained by the Captain and 
his operations for the next few years covered a large part 
of the northern Rocky Mountain country. 

After the sale of his interest, General Ashley visited 
his trappers in the mountains for the last time and while 
at the rendezvous the Blackf eet attacked a village of Snake 
Indians, near the camp. The trappers, headed by Captain 
Sublette, went to the assistance of the Snakes and with 
right good will lent their aid to their Indian allies. Over 
300 trappers mounted their horses, wheeled into line and 
swept down upon the Indians, and 173 of the Blackf eet 
were slain. The trappers had in this engagement eight men 
wounded, but none were killed. 

General Ashley returned to St. Louis with two hundred 
packs of beaver, worth at that time about $1,000 a pack. 
Mountain men for many years talked about General Ashley's 
farewell speech to his trappers, and the following is re- 
ported to be what he said : 

"Mountaineers and friends: When I first came to the 
mountains, I came a poor man. You, by your indefatigable 
exertions, toils and privations, have procured me an inde- 
pendent fortune. With ordinary prudence in the manage- 
ment of what I have accumulated, I shall never want for 
anything. For this, my friends, I feel myself under great 
obligations to you. Many of you have served me personally, 
and I shall always be proud to testify to the fidelity with 
which you have stood by me through all danger, and the 
friendly and brotherly feeling which you have ever, one and 
all, evinced toward me. For these faithful and devoted ser- 
vices I wish you to accept my thanks. The gratitude that I 
express to you springs from my heart, and will ever retain a 
lively hold on my feelings. My friends, I am nov/ about to 
leave you, to take up my abode in St. Louis. Whenever any 
of you return thither, your first duty must be to call at my 
house, to talk over the scenes of peril we have encountered, 
and partake of the best cheer my table can afi'ord yon. I 
now wash my hands of the toils of the Rocky Mountains. 
Farewell, mountaineers and friends! Mav God bless voa 
all." 

General Ashley, by his strong personality, completely 
revolutionized the methods of trapping. From the infancy 



128 History of Wyoming- 

of the business in the Canadas and the rivers and lakes in 
the Northwest, the trapper had journeyed in canoes. Ash- 
ley mounted his men on horseback and he employed none 
but expert riders and those who could handle a rilie with 
deadly effect. Every man was expected to defend himself 
against Indians while he looked after his traps. This plac- 
ing of the trapper on horseback completely changed the 
white man as it had done the Indian before him. These 
trappers soon became as expert in horsemanship as the red- 
man, and being better armed, the Indian was no match for 
him, yet in spite of his advantage over the red man, the 
latter soon found means to wage a war almost to extermina- 
tion on the trappers. The savages learned to know the 
routes as well as the resorts of the white men on horseback, 
and they made war by waylaying them on their journey. 
They hovered about their camps and made life with them 
a perpetual warfare. This in time resulted in greatly deci- 
mating the ranks of the trappers. It is reported that three- 
fifths of all the men who served under Ashley, Sublette, 
Campbell, Bridger and Fitzpatrick were killed by Indians 
and the most of them were cut off while examining their 
traps, and yet the fascination of a mountain life kept the 
ranks recruited and the businss of fur trapping up to the 
full standard until the streams were depleted of fur-bearing 
animals. 

To tell the story of General Ashley and his men while in 
the mountains would require numerous volumes. I have 
simply sketched some of the leading events in the life of 
this wonderful man, whose favorite trapping and trading 
grounds in the west were in Wyoming. 

The American trappers and traders of Ashley and his 
followers had much to do with the early history of Wyoming. 
These intrepid men laid the foundation upon which was 
built in after years a magnificent civilization. I regret ejt- 
ceedingly that so many of the brave men who followed 
these renowned leaders are unknown today. The names of a 
few of the many I have been able to rescue from oblivion, 
but the great army, the advance guard of civilization, the 



Ashleifs Trappers in Wyoming. 129 

heroes who risked and often lost their lives in the moun- 
tains — even their names are forgotten. In these pages I 
shall present and give an account of various trapping and 
trading expeditions within the borders of what is now Wyo- 
ming, which I have been enabled to gather from many 
sources. They are all a part of our history and the story 
of their achievements and their sufferings rightfully belongs 
in these pages side by side with other heroes who completed 
the work of planting civilization in these mountains and on 
these plains. It might be claimed, and perhaps truly, that 
it was the "accursed thirst for gold" that induced these men 
to brave the dangers of a rigorous climate, the wild men 
of the mountains, hunger and thirst, but after all it was the 
beginning of all that came after. In all ages of the world 
gold has been the ambition of the race, and to secure it men 
have been willing to suffer every hardship, endure every 
privation and encounter every danger. The American trap- 
per followed an occupation fraught with great peril, and 
hundreds of these brave men met death along the many 
streams throughout our borders. Death stared them in the 
face every hour in the day and often at night, and yet they 
went forward with a splendid courage worthy of their citi- 
zenship. They crossed every mountain, traversed every val- 
ley, and it was largely through the reports of these trappers 
that our rich valleys and grand resources were made known. 
If these men fell by the wayside, their bones were left to 
bleach where they died. Few of them were even honored 
by having their names given to either mountain or stream, 
but in spite of neglect they were heroes, every one. 

General William H. Ashley was bom in Virginia and 
moved to Missouri while it was still called Upper Louisiana. 
When the state was organized he was elected Lieutenant- 
Governor and was made Brigadier-General of militia. He 
lived to a good old age and at his residence in St. Louis he 
always made his mountain associates welcome. 



-(9) 



30 History of Wyoming- 



CHAPTER XII. 

FUR TRAPPERS AND TRADERS. 

Capt. William Sublette Succeeds Gen. Ashley — He Organizes the 
Rocky Mountain Fur Company with Jedediah S. Smith, David 
E. Jackson and Others as Partners — Brilliant Campaigns 
Planned and Carried out — Names Jackson's Hole and Lake 
— Introduces Wagons into the Service in Wyoming — Capt. Na- 
thaniel J. Wyeth — Battle of Pierre's Hole — Death of Van- 
derburg — Bridger's Affair with the Chief of the Blackfeet — 
Success Attends the Fur Trade. 

It has been explained that General Ashley sold out his 
interests in the Rocky Mountain trapping and trading en- 
terprise in the year 1826. His was not an incorporated com* 
pany, and yet he had a number of partners, wealthy men of 
St. Louis, among which were Wamdorf, Tracy, Campbell, 
Green, Biddle and some three or four others. General Ash. 
ley on his last trip to the rendezvous at Green River brought 
out from St. Louis with him a large amount of supplies, 
which were turned over to Captain Sublette and made a 
part of the deal. Jedediah S. Smith was the real promoter 
of the new company, for he it was who had talked the matter 
of the purchase over with not only Sublette but with General 
Ashley, and yet at the time the deal was consummated he 
was off on a trapping expedition and had not been heard 
from for nearly a year, but Sublette did not hesitate to act 
for his absent partner. The Rocky Mountain Fur Company 
had been organized during the previous winter, in anticipa- 
tion of the purchase of the Ashley interest. The three men 
who held a majority of the stock in the new company were 
David E. Jackson, Captain William Sublette and Jedediah 
S. Smith. There were other partners holding small inter- 
ests, the largest of which was Robert Campbell's. 

Captain Sublette, finding himself at the head of a pow- 
erful organization and in a position suited to his tastes, did 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 131 

not hesitate to act promptly. With his great dash, execu- 
tive ability and fearless daring, he entered upon a cam- 
paign which was to be more extensive than any which had 
preceded it. He organized his force into thirty brigades 
and appointed the next rendezvous to be on Wind River 
near the mouth of the Popo Agie. Robert Campbell was one 
of his ablest leaders, and Thomas Fitzpatrick was next 
trusty lieutenant; then came Moses Harris, Jim Bridger 
and Jim Beckwourth. The latter was regarded as a brave 
young man, but reckless. He took great pleasure in scalp, 
ing an Indian and would often neglect the trapping part of 
the service to ijidulge in this sort of luxury. This season 
they trapped in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and far north 
into Montana. Upon the whole the campaign was a very 
successful one. The Snakes, Crows, Flatheads, Sioux and 
several other tribes brought in a large number of peltries 
which added to the general stock and made the shipment of 
furs that year very large. 

The year 1827 was marked with still more activity. 
Sublette that season had under his command 400 trappers. 
He brought into the country a large amount of merchandise 
which he managed to dispose of at remunerative prices by 
operating on a grand scale in a large territory. A number 
of outside Indian tribes, for the sake of getting goods, 
showed a disposition to be friendly. These brought in furs 
and exchanged them for commodities of which they were 
in need. The Indians seemed to awake to a consciousness 
of the power of merchandise. They realized that furs would 
procure for their use many luxuries as well as necessities. 
The rendezvous this season was at Horse Creek, on Green 
River, and here assembled the largest gathering of Indians 
that had so far been known in the history of the fur trade. 
After the goods had been distributed, Sublette went to St. 
Louis to organize the campaign for 1828, but his able lieu- 
tenants, in his absence, pushed both trapping and trading. 
They penetrated far into the recesses of the mountains and 
made a good showing in peltries for the year. 

In the springs of 1828 Captain Sublette made a rapid 



132 History of Wyoming- 

movement toward the mountains, bringing with him the 
usual amount of merchandise. After the rendezvous, he ac- 
companied Bridger up Snake River and for the first time 
beheld the beautiful valley and lake over which the Grand 
Tetons stand as sentinels. He named both the valley and 
the lake after his partner, David E. Jackson, and thus we 
have on the map of Wyoming Jackson's Hole and Jackson's 
Lake. 

The following season the rendezvous was at the mouth 
of the Popo Agie and the gathering was a large one. Cap- 
tain Sublette brought out that year fourteen wagons loaded 
with merchandise. The wagons were drawn by mules and 
the load for each vehicle was 1,800 pounds. This mode of 
hauling goods into the mountains produced a decided sen- 
sation among the trappers, and the Indians looked upon the 
long train as something quite beyond their comprehension. 

Here we have the first wagons brought into Wyoming. 
They followed the North Platte and the Sweetwater but did 
not cross the continental divide; yet they proved that ve- 
hicles could go as far west as the Wind River Valley. These 
were loaded with peltries and returned to St. Louis, making 
a successful trip. There were stormy times that season 
with the Blackfeet. These marauders that autumn managed 
to cut off a number of small parties of trappers of the Rocky 
Mountain Fur Company. Robert Campbell, with thirty-one 
men, had a desperate fight with the Blackfeet at the junction • 
of Guy's Fork and Salt River and succeeded in killing a large 
number of them without sustaining any great injury. Jim 
Bridger, during this same season, at the head of about two 
hundred trappers, attacked a large force forty miles west of 
the Green River crossing, and after a pitched battle the In- 
dians were defeated. Fitzpatrick that same year had a num- 
ber of Indian difficulties and lost some of his men. The In- 
dian situation had become, upon the whole, very annoying 
and while at the rendezvous that year Captain Sublette gave 
it as his opinion that the time had come to declare a war of 
extermination against all troublesome Indians, and for the 
purpose of waging such a war successfully, he went to St. 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 133 

Louis to recruit for his service one hundred Kentucky rifle- 
men. These were brought the next year and they had abun- 
dant opportunity during 1830 to display their marksman- 
ship. The trapping brigades were increased in size and 
strict watch was kept upon the movements of all suspicious 
Indians. The Blackfeet, Sioux, Cheyennes and some of the 
more western tribes were placed upon the list as Indians 
who were not to be trusted. That year the Crows, while 
they did not make open war, gave more or less trouble. 
They would watch Campbell's men set their traps along 
Powder River and its tributaries and then go and steal them. 
At last two trappers were killed, and this brought the cli- 
max. The Crows had been in the habit of visiting Camx)- 
bell's camp, and when they were told of the trap stealing 
that was going on they charged it to the Cheyennes, who 
they said were in the country north of the Powder River. 
When the trappers were killed they charged these murders 
to the same tribe. Jim Bridger, who was present, gave it as 
his opinion that the Crows were not only the thieves but the 
murderers, and he was in favor of bringing swift retribution 
to that tribe. Campbell was evidently of the same opinion 
as Bridger, but he did not care to act hastily, as the Crows 
were numerous. He preferred not to bring on an open war, 
so he sent for a number of the chiefs and told them that 
some of his men felt certain that the Crow Indians were 
responsible for all the troubles and that while he was not 
altogether satisfied he feared that his men would kill every 
Indian they saw prowling around, no matter whether they 
were Crows or Cheyennes. This he said would be very bad, 
for the long guns of the trappers would shoot a great dis- 
tance. He hoped that the chiefs would assist him in keep- 
ing the peace, which could only be done by preventing the 
stealing of traps and the killing of trappers. 

The chiefs said they were absolutely certain that the 
Crows had not done the mischief, and they were equally 
certain that the Cheyennes were the guilty parties. They 
proposed to protect the trappers against these bad Indians 
and to this end they would send out scouting parties, locate 



134 History of Wyoming- 

the Cheyennes and then with sufficient force drive them 
from the country. After that Campbell's trappers suffered 
no more from Indian depredations. The incidents of that 
summer are too numerous to even mention. Every band of 
trappers had their story of adventure to relate at the ren- 
dezvous. The American Fur Company, of which Mr. Astor 
was the head, had established a post on the Yellowstone 
and had distributed many trappers up the various streams, 
reaching even the southern borders of Wyoming. With 
these Sublette made common cause against the Indians and 
for a time held the marauding bands in check, and thus the 
fall of 1830 passed. 

The two companies were represented in the mountains 
by what were called resident partners. Fitzpatrick and 
Bridger were the partners of the Rocky Mountain Fur Com« 
pany and in consequence of their position remained in the 
mountains the year round, and Vanderburgh and Dripps 
were the resident partners of the American Fur Company. 
Fontenelle was also a leader of this company. 

The rendezvous in 1831 was at Pierre's Hole* for both 
the American Fur Company and the Rocky Mountain Fur 
Company. The Indians were not disposed to be entirely 
peaceable, but the year passed by without any serious en- 
counter. To the practiced eye of William Sublette, and also 
Robert Campbell, there was trouble ahead; but as they were 
prepared to meet it, were content to await results. Sub- 
lette and Campbell spent the winter of 1831-32 in St. Louis 
and returned to the mountains in the early spring. 

The year 1832 was one of great activity in Wyoming 
among the fur traders and trappers. Several hundred men 
were engaged in this calling along our various streams. 
Captain Bonneville came that season with his 110 men. The 
American Fur Company gave employment to fully as many 
more within our borders. The Rocky Mountain Fur Com- 

♦The name " Pierre's Hole" is derived from axi incident that occurred in the early part of 
the century. A party of Iroquois hunters in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company wandered 
into that locaUty and were there attacked by a fierce band of Blackfeet. Many were killed on 
both sides and the chief of the Iroquois, Pierre, was among the slain. He was a noted man 
among the Indian tribes and a firm friend to the whites. In consequence of the death ot this 
chieftain in this valley his name was given to the locality. It is now called Teton Basin. 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 135 

pany kept about 150 men within the territory that is now 
Wyoming, and in addition to these there were a dozen bands 
of free trappers numbering from fifteen to thirty men each. 
The competition was great, but when there were savages to 
fight they acted as brothers in one common cause. The vari- 
ous tribes who followed trapping added to the sum total of 
the men engaged in exterminating the fur-bearing animals. 
The caravan of Captain Sublette and Robert Campbell 
started that year from Independence, Missouri. There were 
sixty men in the outfit, nearly all of them being recruits. 
As they were about ready to leave, a company from Boston, 
commanded by Nathaniel J. Wyeth, arrived, bound for the 
Columbia river. Captain Sublette's men were much amused 
at the sight of these "down-easters." They had heard of 
them before. The newspapers of St. Louis had given an 
account of the plans and purposes of the Wyeth expedition. 
They had started out of New England with twenty-two per- 
sons and with a vehicle that was only half vehicle; that is, 
it ran on wheels on the land, and when water was reached it 
was intended to be turned upside down and the top form a 
boat; but this half land and half water combination had 
been abandoned at St. Louis. Not one of Captain Wyeth's 
company had ever been west or had seen a wild Indian, and 
being city-bred were unaccustomed to the use of fire-arms, 
nor had they any experience in horsemanship. They were 
men of theory, not practice, but many of them were college 
graduates. Two of Mr. Wyeth's brothers, John and Jacob, 
were members of his company. I am particular to mention 
these New Englanders, as they are to be heard from in a 
few short weeks in Wyoming. Mr. Wyeth furnished the 
capital to fit out the expedition, and his purpose was to es- 
tablish a post on the Columbia river and trade for salmon 
and furs. He made up in enterprise for what he lacked in 
experience, and like most educated New England men, soon 
"caught on" and found no difficulty in being of use to him- 
self and others in the west. He possessed ability of a high 
order and his courage was soon to be tested in the wilds of 
Oreen River and Pierre's Hole. Captain Sublette evidently 



136 History of Wyoming- 

had great respect for this man from Boston and he invited 
him to go in convoy of his train, which was ready to depart 
for the annual rendezvous in Pierre's Hole. The combined 
party started out and pursued the now well worn route up 
the Platte. On the way west Captain Wyeth and his men 
picked up many ideas regarding conditions in the Rocky 
Mountains and they learned something of horsemanship 
and how to shoot buffalo and other wild animals, and what 
is equally important, they learned of the treacherous charac- 
ter of the wild tribes who infested the mountains. 

Robert Campbell in 1885 gave Washington Irving an 
account of this trip and what befell the party when they 
reached the mountains, so I will use this story of Campbell, 
taking up the narrative after the cavalcade had come to the 
eastern border of Wyoming. 

"In the course of their march, Mr. Fitzpatrick, the part- 
ner of the company who was resident at that time beyond 
the mountains, came down from the rendezvous at Pierre'* 
Hole to meet them and hurry them forward. He traveled in 
company with them until they reached the Sweetwater; 
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 descried several 
horsemen at a distance and came to a halt to reconnoitre. 
He supposed them to be some detachment from the rendez- 
vous, 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 Black- 
feet. Springing on his fleetest horse and abandoning the 
other to the enemy, he made for the mountains and succeed- 
ed 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 pur- 
sued, lost his remaining horse, and only escaped by scramb- 
ling 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-defense. 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 137 

"In the meantime, Sublette and Campbell, with their 
fellow-traveler, Wyeth, had pursued their march unmo- 
lested and arrived in the Green River Valley, totally uncon- 
scious that there was any lurking enemy on 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 hor- 
rible 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 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 of 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 respecting 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 w as a matter of general joy, there- 
fore, when he made his appearance conducted by two Iro- 
quois half-breed 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 difficulty to the rendez- 
vous. 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 domi- 
neer as landmarks over a vast extent of country. 

"A fine stream, fed by rivulets and mountain springs, 
pours through the valley towards the north, dividing it into 
nearly equal parts. The meadows on its borders are broad 
and extensive, covered with willow and cottonwood trees. 



138 History of Wyoming- 

so closely interlocked and matted together as to be nearly 
impassable. 

''In this valley was collected the motley populace con- 
nected 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 
eonnected with the trade, the Nez Perces or Chopunnish In- 
dians, 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 Arkan- 
sas named Sinclare, 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 dis- 
posed of to Indians and trappers ; 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 trap- 
pers, led by Milton Sublette, brother of the Captain, set out 
with the intention of proceeding to the southwest. They 
were accompanied by Sinclare 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 sup- 
posed they were Fontenelle and his party, whose arrival had 
been daily expected. Wyeth, however, reconnoitered 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 chil- 
dren. 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 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 139 

trappers before they were themselves discovered, and came 
down yelling and whooping into the plain. On nearer ap- 
proach they were ascertained to be Blackfeet. One of the 
trappers of Sublette's brigade, a half-breed named Antoine 
Godin, now mounted his horse and rode forth as if to hold a 
conference. He was the son of an Iroquois hunter who had 
been cruelly murdered by the Blackfeet at a small stream 
below the mountains, which still bears his name. In com- 
pany 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 maraud- 
ers 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 pre- 
tended to consider it a treacherous movement. 

** *Is your piece charged?' said Antoine to his red com- 
panion. 

" '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 I' cried he. 

"The Flathead leveled his piece and brought the Black- 
foot to the ground. Antoine snatched off his scarlet blan- 
ket, 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 cottonwood trees, 
interwoven with vines. Here they began to fortify them- 
selves; 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 position in a ravine in front, 
whence they kept up a scattering fire. As to Wyeth and his 
little band of 'down-easters,' they were perfectly astounded 
by this second specimen of life in the wilderness; the men 
being especially unused to bush-fighting and the use of rifles 
were at a loss how to proceed. Wyeth, however, acted as a 
skillful 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 



I40 History of Wyoming- 

leaders, determined to take his share in the conflict. In the 
meantime an express had been sent otf to the rendezvous 
for reinforcements. Captain Snblette and his associate, 
Campbell, were at their camp when the express came gallop- 
ing 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 riiie. 
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 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 with- 
drew into their fort, which was completely hid from sight in 
the dark and tangled woods. Most of their women and chil- 
dren had retreated to the mountains. The trappers now 
sallied forth and approached the swamp, firing into the 
thickets at random ; the Blackfeet had a better sight at their 
adversaries, who were in the open field, and a half-breed was 
wounded in the shoulder. 

"When Captain Sublette arrived he urged to penetrate 
the swamp and storm the fort, but all hung back in awe of 
the dismal horrors of the place and the dangers of attacking 
such desperadoes in their savage den. The very Indian al- 
lies, though accustomed to bush-fighting, regarded it as al- 
most impenetrable and full of frightful danger. Sublette 
was not to be turned from his purpose, and offered to lead 
the way into the swamp. Campbell stepped forward to ac- 
company him. Before entering the perilous wood, Sublette 
took his brothers aside and told them in case he fell, Camp- 
bell, who knew his will, was to be his executor. This done 
he grasped his rifle and pushed into the thicket, followed by 
Campbell. Sinclair, the partisan from Arkansas, was at the 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 141 

edge of the wood with his brother and a few of his men. 
Excited by the gallant example of the two friends, he pressed 
forward to share their dangers. 

"The swamp was produced by the labors of the beaver, 
which by damming up a stream had inundated a portion of 
the valley. The place was all overgrown with woods and 
thickets, so closely matted and entangled that it was im- 
possible to see ten paces ahead, and the three associates in 
peril had to crawl along one after another, making their way 
by putting the branches and vines aside, but doing it with 
caution, lest they should attract the eye of some lurking 
marksman. They took the lead by turns, each advancing 
about twenty yards at a time, and now and then hallooing 
to their men to follow. Some of the latter gradually entered 
the swamp and followed a little distance in their rear, 

"They had now reached a more open part of the wood 
and caught glimpses of the rude fortress from between the 
trees. It was a mere breastwork, as we have said, of logs 
and branches, with blankets, buffalo robes and the leathern 
covers of lodges extended round the top as a screen. The 
movements of their leaders, as they groped their way, had 
been descried by the sharp-sighted enemy. As Sinclare, who 
was in the advance, was putting some branches aside, he 
was shot through the body. He fell on the spot. 'Take me 
to my brother,' he said to Campbell. The latter gave him in 
charge of some of the men, who conveyed him out of the 
swamp. Sublette now took the advance. As he was recon- 
noitering the fort he perceived an Indian peeping through 
an aperture. In an instant his rifle was leveled and dis- 
charged and the ball struck the savage in the eye. While he 
was reloading he called to Campbell and pointed out to him 
the hole. 'Watch that place,' said he, 'and you will soon 
have a fair chance for a shot.' Scarce had he uttered the 
words when a ball struck him in the shoulder and almost 
wheeled him around. His first thought was to take hold of 
his arm with his other hand and move it up and down. He 
ascertained, to his satisfaction, that the bone was not 
broken. The next moment he was so faint that he could not 
stand. Campbell took him in his arms and carried him out 
of the thicket. The same shot that struck Sublette wounded 
another man in the head. 

"A brisk fire was now opened by the mountaineers from 
the wood, answered occasionally from the fort. Unluckily 
the trappers and their allies, in searching for the fort, had 
got scattered so that Wyeth and a number of Nez Perces 



142 History of Wyoming- 

approached the fort on the northwest side, while others did 
the same on the opposite quarter. A crossfire thus took 
place which occasionally did mischief to friends as well as 
foes. An Indian was shot down close to Wyeth by a ball 
which, he was convinced, had been sped from the rifle of a 
trapper on the other side of the fort. 

"The number of whites and their Indian allies had by 
this time so increased by arrivals from the rendezvous that 
the Blackfeet were completely overmatched. They kept 
doggedly in their fort, however, making no olfer of surren- 
der. An occasional firing into the breastwork was kept up 
during the day. Now and then one of the Indian allies, in 
bravado, would rush up to the fort, fire over the ramparts, 
tear off a buffalo robe or a scarlet blanket, and return with 
it in triumph to his comrades. Most of the savage garrison 
that fell, however, were killed in the first part of the attack. 
At one time it was resolved to set fire to the fort, and the 
squaws belonging to the allies were employed to collect com- 
bustibles. This, however, was abandoned, the Nez Perces 
being unwilling to destroy the robes and blankets and other 
spoils of the enemy, which they felt sure would fall into 
their hands. 

"The Indians when fighting are prone to taunt and re- 
vile each other. During one of the pauses of the battle the 
voice of the Blackfeet chief was heard. 

" 'So long,' said he, 'as we had powder and ball we 
fought you in the open field; when those were spent, we 
retreated here to die with our women and children. You 
may burn us in our fort; but stay by our ashes and you who 
are so hungry for fighting will soon have enough. There are 
four hundred lodges of our brethren at hand. They will 
soon be here — their arms are strong — their hearts are big — 
they will avenge us!' 

"This speech was translated two or three times by Nez 
Perces and Creole interpreters. By the time it was rendered 
into English, the chief was made to say that four hundred 
lodges of his tribe were attacking the encampment at the 
other end of the valley. Everyone now was for hurrying to 
the defense of the rendezvous. A party was left to keep 
watch upon the fort; the rest galloped off to the camp. As 
night came on the trappers drew out of the swamp and re- 
mained about the skirt of the wood. By morning their com- 
panions returned from the rendezvous with the report that 
all was safe. As the day opened, they ventured within the 
swamp and approached the fort. All was silent. They ad- 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 143 

vanced up to it without opposition. They entered; it had 
been abandoned in the night, and the Blackfeet had effected 
their retreat, carrying off their wounded on litters made of 
branches, leaving bloody traces on the herbage. The bodies 
of ten Indians were found within the fort; among them the 
one shot in the eye by Sublette. The Blackfeet afterwards 
reported that they had lost twenty-six warriors in this bat- 
tle. Thirty-two horses were likewise found killed; among 
them were some of those recently carried off from Sublette's 
party in the night, which showed that these were the very 
savages that had attacked him. They proved to be an ad- 
vance party of the main body of Blackfeet which had been 
upon the trail of Sublette's party. Five white men and one 
half-breed were killed, and several wounded. Seven of the 
Nez Perces were also killed, and six wounded. They had an 
old chief who was reputed as invulnerable. In the course of 
the action he was hit by a spent ball, and threw up blood; 
but his skin was unbroken. His people were now fully con- 
vinced that he was proof against powder and ball. 

"A striking circumstance is related as having occurred 
the morning after the battle. As some of the trappers and 
their Indian allies were approaching the fort, through the 
woods they beheld an Indian woman, of noble form and fea- 
tures, leaning against a tree. Their surprise at her linger- 
ing here alone, to fall into the hands of her enemies, was dis- 
pelled when they saw the corpse of a warrior at her feet. 
Either she was so lost in grief as not to perceive their ap- 
proach, or a proud spirit kept her silent and motionless. 
The Indians set up a yell on discovering her, and before the 
trappers could interfere her mangled body fell upon the 
corpse which she had refused to abandon. We have heard 
this anecdote discredited by one of the leaders who had been 
in the battle; but the fact may have taken place without 
his seeing it, and been concealed from him. It is an instance 
of female devotion, even to the death, which we are well 
disposed to believe and record. 

"After the battle, the brigade of Milton Sublette, to- 
gether with the free trappers and Wyeth's New England 
band, remained some days at the rendezvous to see if the 
main body of Blackfeet intended to make an attack ; nothing 
of the kind occurring, they once more put themselves in mo> 
tion and proceeded on their route toward the southwest. 

Captain Sublette having distributed his supplies, had 
intended to set off on his return to St. Louis, taking with 
him the peltries collected from the trappers and Indians. 



144 History of Wyoming- 

His wound, however, obliged him to postpone his departure. 
Several who were to have accompanied him became impa- 
tient at this delay. Among these was a young Bostonian, 
Mr. Joseph More, one of the followers of Mr. Wyeth, who 
had seen enough of mountain life and savage warfare, and 
was eager to return to the abodes of civilization. He and 
six others, among whom were a Mr. Foy of Mississippi, Mr. 
Alfred K. Stephens of St. Louis and two grandsons of the 
celebrated Daniel Boone, set out together, in advance of 
Sublette's party, thinking they would make their own way 
through the mountains. 

"It was just five days after the battle of the swamp 
that these seven companions were making their way through 
Jackson's Hole, a valley not far from the three Tetons, when, 
as they were descending a hill, a party of Blackfeet that lay 
in ambush started up with terrific yells. The horse of the 
young Bostonian, who was in front, wheeled round with af- 
fright and threw his unskillful rider. The young man 
scrambled up the side of the hill, but, unaccustomed to 
such wild scenes, lost his presence of mind and stood as if 
paralyzed on the edge of a bank until the Blackfeet came 
up and slew him on the spot. His comrades had fled on the 
first alarm; but two of them, Foy and Stephens, seeing his 
danger, paused when they got half way up the hill, turned 
back, dismounted, and hastened to his assistance. Foy was 
instantly killed. Stephens was severely wounded but es- 
caped to die five days afterwards. The survivors returned 
to the camp of Captain Sublette, bringing tidings of this new 
disaster. That hardy leader, as soon as he could bear the 
journey, set out on his return to St. Louis, accompanied by 
Campbell. As they had a number of pack horses richly laden 
with peltries to convoy, they chose a different route through 
the mountains, out of the way, as they hoped, of the lurking 
bands of Blackfeet. They succeeded in making the frontier 
in safety," 

I have seen a number of accounts of this fight, and all 
of them charge the white men with being the aggressors. 
Kev. Samuel Parker, who passed over the battlefield in 1835, 
says that the battle was not much to the honor of civilized 
Americans. Other writers speak in the same vein; but all 
these seem to lose sight of the fact that the various bands 
that were included under the name Blackfeet never lost an 
opportunity to cowardly murder a white man when they 



Fiir Trappers and Traders. 145 

came upon him in a defenseless condition. The trappers had 
suffered so often and so severely at the hands of these ma- 
rauders and murderers it is no wonder that they learned not 
to trust them even when they came presenting the pipe of 
peace. Their intentions may have been good at this particu- 
lar time, but it was only because the trappers were well 
armed and in sufficient numbers to protect themselves. 
Western men who know anything of pioneering will hardly 
condemn the killing of these Indians, no matter what the 
circumstances. Captain Lewis killed one of the Blackfeet in 
1806 after the Indian had stolen his horse and was running 
off with it. The thief was ordered to stop, but he defiantly 
rode on. The only way the Captain could regain his horse and 
save himself from walking many miles was to kill the In- 
dian, which he did, and all the world applauded him for the 
act, but Indian logic would not permit them to view the 
matter in the same light as civilization did. They visited 
their vengeance on the next white man who came along. 
John Potts was their first victim; Colter would have been 
the second had he not by almost superhuman effort saved 
his life; Ezekiel Williams next lost five men at the hands of 
these bloody monsters, and so their work of killing went on 
until their tribe was utterly crushed by the government. 
It is estimated that the Blackfeet killed first and last 3,000 
white people, many of them women and children, and all 
this because Captain Lewis killed a horse thief whom ha 
caught in the act. 

It is just possible that the magic pen and power of Ir- 
ving has to some extent exaggerated this engagement with 
the Blackfeet, but as he drew his facts from a source en- 
tirely reliable, we must conclude that the narrative is cor- 
rect. 

Fitzpatrick and Bridger, a few days after the fight, 
started north, intending to trap on the headwaters of the 
Missouri. Before leaving camp, they proposed to Vander- 
burgh and Dripps, who represented the American Fur Com- 
pany, to divide the territory with them, so as not to interfere 
with each other. This proposition was rejected, and much 
—(10) 



146 History of Wyoming. 

to the annoyance of Fitzpatrick and Bridger, they followed 
on and kept with them for several days. Vanderburgh and 
Dripps were strangers in that part of the country, and it 
may have been this fact that induced them to keep near 
Fitzpatrick and Bridger. The latter did not appreciate their 
company and resolved to get rid of them, so they turned 
abruptly west into the country of the Blackfeet and not 
many days afterwards Vanderburgh and Dripps divided 
their force and started out to trap regardless of their adver- 
saries. With about fifty men each they went in different 
directions. Some time later Vanderburgh's party was at- 
tacked by Blackfeet and the leader was killed; but it was 
not an easy victory for the Indians, as the trappers fought 
with great bravery and succeeded in killing a number of the 
savage foe. The death of Henry Vanderburgh was deeply 
regretted by the American Fur Company, as he was one of 
their bravest leaders. The Blackfeet now turned their at- 
tention to the party under Fitzpatrick and Bridger, and 
after following them many days the white men and Indians 
met face to face on an open plain but near some rocks and 
cliffs. The Blackfeet made friendly signs while yet some 
distance away and the white men replied in the same man- 
ner, but both kept at a distance; finally the chief of the 
Blackfeet came forward, bearing the pipe of peace, and the 
whites went to meet him. The pipe was smoked and all the 
ceremonies of such an occasion duly observed. While this 
was going on Bridger left the main body of the trappers 
and rode toward the place where the conference was being 
held. As this renowned leader came up the Indian chief, 
seeing him, stepped forward to shake hands. From soms 
cause, which Bridger could never afterwards explain, he 
felt a feeling of distrust and cocked his rifle. The quick ear 
of the chief caught the click of the lock and in an instant he 
grasped the barrel and forced the muzzle downward just 
as the gun went off. His next move was to wrench the rifle 
from Bridger's hands and fell him with it to the earth. Al- 
ready Bridger had received two arrows in his back. The 
chief now vaulted into the saddle of the fallen leader and 



Fur Trappers and Traders. 147 

galloped off to his band ; then there was a rush by both par- 
ties to gain positions behind rocks and trees, and soon a 
fusillade was opened on both sides and kept up until night 
closed in, when the contestants withdrew from the field. 
This affair greatly humiliated Bridger, but it undoubtedly 
served to make him the careful leader which he afterwards 
became. At that time he had been ten years in the service 
and had been uniformly successful in his fights with the In- 
dians. The wounds he received in his back were not danger^ 
ous, but the arrow points remained in the flesh and were 
cut out by Dr. Whitman at Green River in 1835. 

In spite of the Indian troubles, the fur trappers of the 
year 1832 were richly rewarded, and the shipment of furs 
amounted in round numbers to something like |175,000. 
This was the product gathered by the Sublette trappers, 
which included the bands of Fitzpatrick, Campbell, Bridger, 
Harris, Clements, Milton Sublette and a dozen or more par- 
tisans of less prominence. During this same year Captain 
B. L. E. Bonneville, at the head of 110 men, entered Wyo- 
ming, but of this rather distinguished character I will tell 
in a separate chapter. 



48 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE IN WYOMING. 

Leaves Fort Osage with Twenty Wagons and One Hundred and 
Ten Men — Reaches the Platte River Below Grand Island — 
Scott's Bluff and Origin of the Name — Follows the North 
Fork of the Platte — Crosses Over to the Sweetwater — Ex- 
perience of Tom Cain — Rejoicings After Crossing the Conti- 
nental Divide — Fontenelle Overtakes the Bonneville Party — 
Arrival at Green River — Fortifies His Camp — Free Trappers 
Visited by Blackfeet. 

Among the most noted fur traders and trappers ever in 
Wyoming was Captain B. L. E. Bonneville of the Seventh 
United States Infantry, who secured leave of absence in 
1831 and on the 1st of May, 1832, started west from Fort 
Osage on the Missouri River with 110 men and a train of 
twenty wagons drawn by four mules, four horses or four 
oxen each. These wagons were loaded with ammunition, 
provisions and merchandise. The expedition was well or- 
ganized and conducted with military precision. Captain 
Bonneville selected two subordinate officers to assist him in 
the command; the first being J. R. Walker, who was a native 
of Tennessee but who had lived for many years on the Mis- 
souri frontier and had led a life of adventure, being one of 
the first to penetrate the southwest as far as Santa Fe. On 
this expedition he trapped for beaver and was finally taken 
prisoner by the Spaniards. After being liberated, he re- 
mained in that country for a time, engaged with the Span- 
iards in a war against the Pawnee Indians. On his return to 
Missouri he was elected sheriff of his county, in which posi- 
tion he won distinction as a brave and faithful civil officer. 
After leaving the sheriff's office he engaged in fur trapping 
and trading and it was while thus employed that he met 
Captain Bonneville and enlisted in his service. The second 
assistant was M. S. Cerre, whose experience and adventures 



Captain Bonneville in Wijoming. 149 

were not unlike those of Walker. He is spoken of as an ex- 
perienced Indian trader. These two men were in every way 
worthy to serve under their great leader, Captain Bonne- 
ville. This expedition had been carefully planned and the 
wagons were introduced for the reason that this practical 
military commander wished to avoid packing every morning 
and unpacking every night. The labor thus saved, Captain 
Bonneville argued, would more than make up for transport- 
ing the wagons over deep rivers and across the gulches whicH 
might lie in his way. The latter would also require fewer 
horses than the packing service, and from a military point 
of view vehicles would serve as a sort of fortification in 
ease of an attack by hostile Indians. The expedition started 
out with the wagons in two columns, close order in the cen- 
ter of the party, which marched with an advance and rear 
guard. 

Captain Bonneville had been careful to inform himself 
as to the plans of the American Fur Company, and also of 
the Kocky Mountain Fur Company for that year. He had 
learned that the rendezvous of the two companies for the 
season would be in Pierre's Hole at no great distance apart, 
and the Captain resolved to make for the same destination. 
He took a westerly course from Fort Osage across what is 
now the state of Kansas, and on the 12th of May reached the 
Kansas River at a point near the Agency of the Kansas 
tribe of Indians. This agency was at the time in charge of 
General Clark, a brother of Captain Clark who accompanied 
Captain Lewis on his expedition down the Columbia in 1804. 
Captain Bonneville found General Clark living like a patri- 
arch and surrounded by all the comforts then possible to 
secure in the far west. Without loss of time Bonneville 
pushed forward and on June 2nd reached the Platte River, 
twenty-five miles below Grand Island. On the 11th they 
reached the forks of the Platte, and taking the north tribu- 
tary of that stream, they on the 21st reached Scott's Bluffs.* 

•Captain Bonneville makes this explanation as to the origin of the name " Scotl's Bluffs ": 
" A ntimber 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 lood 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 



150 History of Wyoming. P 

On these bluffs Captain Bonneville saw for the first time 
the mountain or big-horn sheep. He describes them as 
"bounding like goats from crag to crag, often trooping along 
the lofty shelves of the mountains, under the guidance of 
some venerable patriarch, with horns twisted lower than hid 
muzzle, and sometimes peering over the edge of a precipice, 
so high that they appear scarcely bigger than crows; indeed, 
it seems a pleasure to them to seek the most rugged and 
frightful situations, doubtless from a feeling of security." 

On the 24th, while the caravan was moving up the North 
Platte, the party encountered a band of Crow warriors and 
the gallant Captain on the first alarm ordered his men to 
prepare for action. Each man sprang to the position as- 
signed him and the little army remained drawn up ready to 
do battle. Soon the Crows, to the number of some sixty 
warriors, came dashing up in a body as if to make a furious 
charge, then suddenly opened to the right and left, riding in 
a circle around the travelers, yelling in the meantime in sav- 
age style, after which the chief approached Captain Bonne- 
ville, extending the hand of friendship. The pipe of peace 
was smoked and good fellowship prevailed. The Crow war* 
riors exhibited great friendship for Captain Bonneville and 
his men and that night the warriors camped beside the white 
men. The evening was spent in eating and smoking and the 
Captain was enabled to get acquainted with the representa- 
tives of a tribe with which he in the next three years was to 
have much to do. His first impressions of this tribe were 
evidently correct. He admired their horsemanship and ap- 

small tributary of the north branch of the Nebraska, about sixty miles above the cliffs just men- 
tioned. 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 search- 
ing round in quest of edible roots they discovered a fi-esh trail of white men, who had evidently 
but recently preceded them. Whit was to be done ? By a forced march they might be able to 
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 pretense of seeking food and such simples as might be efficacious in his malady, they de- 
serted him and hastened forward upon the trail. They succeeded in overtaking the party of 
which they were in quest, but concealed their faithless desertion of Scott, alleging that he had 
died of disease. On the ensuing summer these very individuals, visiting in these parts in com- 
pany with others, came suddenly upon the bleached bones and grinning skull of a human skele- 
ton which by certain signs they recognized as the remains of Scott. This was sixty long miles 
from the place where they had abandoned him ; and it appeared that the wretched man had 
crawled that immense distance before death had put an end to his miseries. The wild and pic- 
turesque bluffs in the neighborhood of his lonely grave have ever since borne his name." 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 151 

predated their friendliness, but he leaves upon record the 
fact that they were great thieves, as they managed to steal, 
while in his camp, articles from the pockets of his men and 
even the buttons from their coats. Fortunately the Crow 
warriors departed early the next morning. 

On May 26th the trappers encamped at Laramie's Fork. 
This was two years before the trading post was established 
at that point. From that place on west the Captain had 
great difficulty with his wagons. Ravines had to be filled up 
and in many places a road made before the cavalcade could 
pass on. On the 12th of July the party left the banks of the 
North Platte and three days later reached the Sweetwater. 
Up this stream they now shaped their course with more or 
less difficulty. The men complained of sore mouths, chapped 
lips, violent headaches and in some cases severe colic. To 
add to the difficulty, the woodwork of the wagons shrunk so 
that the tires and spokes became loose and the wagons al- 
most refused to stand up. At this point they came ui)on 
immense herds of buffaloes, of which the hunters connected 
with the expedition secured large numbers. Here happened 
an amusing incident, which is admirably told in Washington 
Irving's "Adventures of Captain Bonneville." 

"Among the motley retainers of the camp was Tom 
Cain, a raw Irishman, who officiated as cook, whose various 
blunders and expedients in his novel situation, and in the 
wild scenes and wild life into which he had been suddenly 
thrown, had made him a kind of a butt or droll of the camp. 
Tom, however, began to discover an ambition superior to his 
station, and the conversation of the hunters and their sto- 
ries of their exploits inspired him with a desire to elevate 
himself to the dignity of their order. The buffalo in such 
droves presented a tempting opportunity for making his 
first essay. He rode, in the line of march, all prepared for 
action; his powder flask and shot pouch knowingly slung at 
the pommel of his saddle, to be at hand; his rifle balanced 
on his shoulder. While in this plight a troop of buffalo 
came trotting by in great alarm. In an instant Tom sprang 
from his horse and gave chase on foot. Finding they were 
leaving him behind, he leveled his rifle and pulled the trig- 
ger. His shot produced no other effect than to increase the 
speed of the buffalo and to frighten his own horse, who toob 



152 History of Wyoming. 

to his heels and scampered off with all the ammunition. Tom 
scampered after him, hallooing with might and main, and 
the wild horse and wild Irishman soon disappeared among 
the ravines of the prairie. Captain Bonneville, who was at 
the head of the line and had seen the transaction at a dis- 
tance, detached a party in search of Tom. After a long 
interval they returned, leading the frightened horse; but 
though they scoured the country and looked out and shouted 
from every height, they had seen nothing of his rider. As 
Captain Bonneville knew Tom's utter awkwardness and in- 
experience, and the dangers of a bewildered Irishman in 
the midst of a prairie, he halted and encamped at an early 
hour, that there might be a regular hunt for him in the morn- 
ing. At early dawn on the following day scouts were sent 
off in every direction, while the main body, after breakfast, 
proceeded slowly on its course. It was not until the middle 
of the afternoon that the hunters returned, with honest 
Tom mounted behind one of them. They had found him in 
a complete state of perplexity and amazement. His appear- 
ance caused shouts of merriment in the camp; but Tom for 
once could not join in the mirth raised at his expense; he 
was completely chapfallen, and apparently cured of the 
hunting mania for the rest of his life." 

On the 20th of July they came in sight of the Wind 
River range, and to the Captain this mountain was an in- 
spiration, for soon he would reach the goal of his ambition, 
the trapping country in which he intended to operate. The 
rugged peaks stood out bold and gloomy in their awful 
grandeur. The veteran hunters and trappers of the part;^ 
told many a story of adventure among the savage tribes 
which haunted the dark recesses of this grand old mountain. 
Four days later the caravan left the banks of the Sweet- 
water, taking a westerly course, and passed over a rocky 
ridge and after several hours' travel reached a small river 
running south. Here they encamped, discovering that there 
were fish in the stream. A shout of joy went up, as they 
had been told that the streams on the opposite side of the 
continental divide contained fish, while those on the easterly 
side were barren of this great luxury. Fish-hooks and lines 
were procured and a dozen of the men soon caught trout for 
a dinner for the party. Captain Bonneville felt great exul- 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 153 

tation that he had been able to take the first wagon train 
over the crest of the Rocky Mountains. Feed was fairly 
good at this point and the Captain would have gladly given 
his stock a rest, but he was anxious to reach the banks of 
Green River, and so the next morning he pushed on. On the 
26th he was overtaken by sixty mounted trappers belonging 
to the American Fur Company with Mr. Fontenelle in 
charge. After pleasant greetings the newcomers took the 
lead, hoping, as Mr, Fontenelle said, to reach Green River by 
night, but he told the Captain that he would not be able to 
get through with his wagons before the day following. Cap- 
tain Bonneville made all the haste that circumstances and 
the jaded condition of his horses would permit and arrived 
at Green River the following day at noon. Here the animals 
were turned out to graze and rest, as they were in a lameta- 
ble condition. As he was obliged to remain for some time in 
that locality to recruit the strength of both his men and 
animals, he proceeded to fortify his camp by the erection of 
log breastworks, a precaution that proved his military train- 
ing. The Green River country at that time was infested with" 
roving bands of Blackfeet Indians, and it was necessary to 
use great caution to insure the safety of the party. Captain 
Bonneville, being an educated soldier, was very careful not 
only in camp but while on the march to prevent a surprise. 
He likewise used great diplomacy, thus avoiding trouble 
with the Indians. 

Captain Bonneville, during his stay in his fortified camp 
at Green River, undertook the study of the practical part of 
trading and trapping. He realized that there was much to 
learn about the business, and so he applied himself to the 
task of gathering up all the details. He had not been many 
days in his camp before Fontenelle taught him some of the 
strategy of a trader. He had procured at the Osage mission 
a number of Delaware Indians, most excellent hunters, who 
he thought would be of great service to him. These the 
rival leader had won over to his service by the promise of 
increased pay. The captain was astonished at this breach of 
courtesy and he resolved to retaliate on the first opportuni- 



154 History of Wyoming. 

tj, and learning that Fontenelle intended to remain in his 
present camp until the arrival of a certain band of free trap- 
pers who were to meet him there, he sent out two scouts to 
bring these to his own camp, and they in due time arrived. 
Captain Bonneville exerted himself to entertain them. A 
keg of fresh liquor was brought out and the health of every- 
body was pledged in many a royal round. Then the trappers 
were invited to a feast which was washed down by again 
tapping the keg. By this time the guests were in a condition 
to relate stories of successful trapping as well as wonderful 
feats of daring in connection with Indian fights. These he- 
roes of the wilderness voted their entertainer a royal good 
iellow and were completely won to his service — that is, as 
many as he cared to engage. During their stay in the camp 
they were a center of attraction, yet these were a part and 
parcel of the great fur trade as it was then carried on in this 
locality. Captain Bonneville has left a capital description 
of these worthies and of the manner in which they entered 
his camp. He calls them rangers of the wilderness. They 
came dashing forward, he says, at full speed, firing their 
fusees and yelling in Indian style. Their dark, sunburned 
faces and long, flowing hair, their leggings, flags, mocca- 
sins and richly dyed blankets, and their painted horses 
gaudily caparisoned, gave them so much the air and appear- 
ance of Indians that it 'was difficult to persuade oneself that 
they were white men and had been brought up in civilized 
life. The free trapper deserves more than a mere mention, 
and I therefore insert Captain Bonneville's description.* 
They come and go, says he, when and where they please; 
provide their own horses, arms and other equipments; trap 

*I desire to here remark that I have in some instances used Washington Irving's account 
of Captain Bonneville's hunting experience, but only such portions as relate to the mountains, 
plains and streams of Wyoming. Mr. Irving tells us the adventures of Bonneville are substan- 
tially the narrative of the worthy Captain and that many pages are but little varied from his own 
language. The work was originally prepared by Captain Bonneville for publication, but becom- 
ing disgusted with his task he turned the manuscript over to Mr. Irving, who interwove in it the 
stories of other trappers and thus was enabled to bring out a volume of more than usual interest 
which has been a popular book for all classes for more than fifty years. Bonneville was one of 
those interesting characters almost from his birth, and I have often regretted that Washington 
Irving's book did not contain the early history of this remarkable hero. This, I am glad to say, 
I have been able to gather from reliable sources, and the subsequent history of Irving's hero, 
down to the close of his life. My friend, Hon. M. P. Langford, was kind enough to contribute 
the portrait of Captain Bonneville which is given in this volume, and thus I am enabled to give 
for the first time the complete story of the man whose life and adventures will always form a part 
of the history of Wyoming. 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 155 

and trade on their own account, and dispose of their skins 
and peltries to the highest bidder. Sometimes, in a dan- 
gerous hunting ground, they attach themselves to the camp 
of some trader for protection. Here they come under some 
restrictions; tTiey have to conform to the ordinary rules for 
trapping and to submit to such restraints and to take part in 
such general duties as are established for the good order and 
safety of the camp. In return for this protection, and for 
their camp keeping, they are bound to dispose of all the 
beaver they take to the trader who commands the camp, at 
a certain rate per skin; or should they prefer seeking a mar- 
ket elsewhere, they are to make him an allowance of from 
thirty to forty dollars for the whole hunt. 

The wandering whites who mingle for any length of 
time with the savages have invariably a proneness to adopt 
savage habitudes ; but none more so than the free trappers. 
It is a matter of vanity and ambition with them to discard 
everything that may bear the stamp of civilized life, and to 
adopt the manners, dress, habits, gesture and even walk of 
the Indian. You cannot pay a free trapper a greater compli- 
ment than to persuade him you have mistaken him for an 
Indian brave; and in truth the counterfeit is complete. His 
hair, suffered to attain a great length, is carefully combed 
out, and either left to fall carelessly over his shoulders, or 
plaited neatly and tied up in otter skins of parti-colored 
ribbons. A hunting-shirt of ruffled calico of bright dyes, 
or of ornamented leather, falls to his knees, below which 
curiously fashioned leggings, ornamented with strings, 
fringes and a profusion of hawks' bells, reach to a costly pair 
of moccasins of the finest Indian fabric, richly embroidered 
with beads. A blanket of scarlet or some other bright color 
hangs from his shoulders, and is girt round his waist with 
a red sash, in which he bestows his pistols, knife, and the 
stem of his Indian pipe; preparations either for peace op 
war. His gun is lavishly decorated with brass tacks and ver- 
milJion, and provided with a fringed cover, occasionally of 
buckskin, ornamented with a feather. His horse, the noble 
minister to the pride, pleasure and profit of the mountaineer, 



156 History of Wyoming. 

is selected for his speed and spirit and prancing gait, and 
holds a place in his estimation second only to himself. He 
shares largely of his bounty, and of his pride and pomp of 
trapping. He is caparisoned in the most dashing and fan- 
tastic style; the bridles and crupper are weightily embossed 
with beads and cockades; and head, mane and tail are inter« 
woven with abundance of eagles' plumes which flutter in the 
wind. To complete this grotesque eqipment, the proud ani- 
mal is bestreaked and bespotted with vermilion, or with 
white clay, whichever presents the most glaring contrast to 
his real color. 

While the two camps were occupying positions near 
each other on Green River, there arrived a large band of 
Blackfeet warriors at the camp of Fontenelle. These war- 
riors had just suffered defeat in Pierre's Hole in an engage- 
ment with the bands of trappers under William Sublette 
and his brother Milton, Robert Campbell and Nathaniel J. 
Wyeth, which has been told in a previous chapter. Fonte- 
nelle did not know of the fight, and it was fortunate that 
his camp was a strong one. The Blackfeet had evidently 
intended to attack him, but on approaching they discovered 
that his position was a strong one and so a talk took place. 
Fontenelle treated them kindly, though his long experience 
with Blackfeet had convinced him of their dangerous char- 
acter. On the first opportunity he informed them of the 
presence of Captain Bonneville's band in the neighborhood, 
at the same time assuring them that the Captain was a great 
war chief and that his followers were brave and well-armed 
warriors. At the request of the Indians, Fontenelle sent 
one of his Delaware Indians to conduct fifteen of them to 
Fort Bonneville. On arriving there, the Captain entertained 
them in a friendly manner. There were two Crow visitors 
in the camp at the time and as they were the implacable ene- 
mies of the Blackfeet they looked with horror as well as 
surprise on the friendly reception given the dangerous war 
party. They took the first occasion possible to inform Cap- 
tain Bonneville that the Blackfeet were bad Indians; that 
the best thing he could do was to put them to death on the 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 157 

spot. The soldier trapper saw no reason for extreme uneasi- 
ness and they were therefore allowed to remain in the camp 
some little time. They were evidently satisfied that it would 
be useless for them to attack a fortified position the defense 
of which was provided for in true military style. They went 
back to their warriors and must have reported that the trap- 
pers were dangerous enemies to attack, as they left the 
country and nothing more was heard of them. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



BONNEVILLE SENDS OUT HIS TRAPPERS. 

Various Detachments in the Field — Main Party Pass Through 
Jackson's Hole and Pierre's Hole on the Way to Solomon 
River — Meets the Nez Perces — His Opinion of this Tribe— Ex- 
periences During the Winter — Rendezvous on Green River 
IN 1833 — Stories of His Several Leaders — Scenes at the Ren- 
dezvous — A Digression by the Author, in Which He Tells of 
the Relations Between Captain Bonneville and Washington 
Irving — Valuable Services Rendered the Government. 

Captain Bonneville learned from the free trappers many 
important things regarding the methods and the proper sea- 
son to visit certain localities. He was informed that the 
Green River Valley was undesirable as a winter camp, as 
snow to the depth of several feet sometimes fell there and 
that winter came on very early. He therefore decided to 
cache his goods and supplies, also his wagons. This he ac- 
complished by the aid of a few confidential men. The bal- 
ance of his goods were placed in packs ready to be loaded 
on pack animals, and on the 21st of August his party headed 
for the upper waters of Solomon River, intending to trap on 
the way. His broken-down horses were given in charge of 
a reliable trapper named Matthieu. He was to take with 
him a brigade of trappers and to proceed west to Bear 
River, where there was good feed for the horses and oppor- 



158 History of Wyoming. 

tunities to secure beaver. It was expected he would meet 
a village of Shoshones on the way, and with them he was to 
trade for a time while his party was engaged with their 
traps and the horses were renewing their strength on the 
rich grasses that abound on Bear River, after which he 
was to join the Captain on the headwaters of the Solomon, 
where Bonneville intended to make his winter camp. The 
Captain's own command proceeded up the Green River Val- 
ley to near its headwaters. He crossed over into Pierre's 
Hole and came upon the battlefield where William Sub- 
lette and his friends had had the sanguinary encounter with 
the Blackfeet. They also passed on their way through the 
dark defile leading to Jackson's Hole, where More and Foy 
had been killed by the Blackfeet on the 23rd of July. Their 
remains were found among the rocks and the Bonneville 
party decently interred them. Arriving in Pierre's Hole, a 
camp was made on the celebrated battleground near the 
abandoned fortress of the Blackfeet. 

The next two weeks were occupied in the march from 
Pierre's Hole to the upper waters of the Solomon River, and 
on the 20th of September they met a large body of Nez Per- 
ces Indians. Captain Bonneville says that the savages sent 
forward a single warrior, who made signals of peace and 
offers of friendship. The Captain, knowing that this tribe 
was friendly to white people, halted and went into camp and 
invited the savages to visit him. The warriors lingered long 
enough to put on their war paint and plumes. They placed 
themselves in martial array under their chiefs, and ad- 
vanced shouting, singing, firing off their fusees and clash- 
ing their shields. The Bonneville party at this time were? 
sadly in need of provisions, and it turned out that the Indi- 
ans were nearly so, having only a small supply of dried sal- 
mon; this they offered to share with the white men. The 
Indians were on a hunting expedition and they expected to 
be able to secure a large amount of buffalo meat. Captain 
Bonneville sent with the party Mr. Cerre, accompanied by a 
few men with instructions to trade with the Indians for a 
winter's supply of meat. After the hunting party had 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 159 

passed, Captain Bonneville steered his course down the 
river a few miles and camping on the bank proceeded to 
erect winter quarters. Here he found abundance of feed 
for his horses and all the necessary surroundings for the 
construction of his winter cantonment. Temporary forti- 
fications were constructed and huts for the use of men and 
merchandise, and an inclosure was also built in which the 
horses could be driven at night. This done, three brigades 
were organized and sent off in different directions to hunt 
and trap, with orders to subsist themselves by hunting the 
buffalo. Twenty men remained with Captain Bonneville 
at the winter quarters and an attempt was made to supply 
the camp with wild meat, but it was soon discovered that the 
Indians had driven the game from that section and the 
hunters found themselve unable to supply sufficient food for 
the party and starvation stared them in the face. On the 
8th of October five families of Nez Perces arrived and these 
visitors were in even a worse condition than themselves, 
and while they could not relieve the wants of the white men 
they taught them the edible qualities of certain roots and 
rosebuds, which for the time being kept off starvation. Af- 
ter this Captain Bonneville dispatched a party to Horse 
Prairie, some distance north of his winter quarters, to pro- 
cure a supply of buffalo meat, and he invited some of the 
Nez Perces to accompany his men, but this was declined, 
the excuse being given that it was a sacred day with them, 
and if they devoted it to hunting the great spirit would be 
angry. From this on he employed much time in studying the 
character of this tribe of Indians. He found them possessed 
of moral and religious qualities which in spite of their sav- 
age state and forlorn condition stamped them as superior 
to any tribe of Indians he met with while on his expedition. 
From his narrative it would seem that he explained to these 
people the Christian faith. 

"Many a time," says he, "was my little lodge thronged 
or rather piled, with hearers, for they lay on the ground, one 
leaning over the other, until there was no further room, all 
listening with greedy ears to the wonders which the Great 



j6o History of Wyoming. 

Spirit had revealed to the white man. No other subject gave 
them half the satisfaction, or commanded half the attention, 
and but few scenes in my life remain so freshly on my mem- 
ory, or are so pleasurably recalled to my contemplation, as 
these hours of intercourse with a distant and benighted race 
in the midst of the desert." 

The Captain calls these Indians exemplary people and 
says the only excesses they were guilty of were gambling and 
horse racing. In this respect they are no worse than white 
men, and I cannot close this part of the story without mak- 
ing another quotation regarding what Captain Bonneville 
has to say about the gambling propensities of these Indians: 

"Knots of gamblers will assemble before one of their 
lodge fires, early in the evening, and remain absorbed in 
the chances and changes of the game until long after dawn 
of the following day. As night advances, they wax warmer 
and warmer. Bets increase in amount ; one loss only serves 
to lead to a greater, until in the course of a single night's 
gambling the richest chief may become the poorest varlet 
in camp." 

It is not my purpose to follow Captain Bonneville in de- 
tail beyond the borders of our state. One of the parties sent 
out came in contact with the Blackfeet. This party was 
under the charge of Mr. Walker, and at the time the Indi- 
ans came up the guard stationed over the camp had become 
interested in a game of cards and in the midst of the fas- 
cinating pastime the Blackfeet stole upon them unperceived, 
and springing upon the backs of the horses of the party 
would have carried them off had it not been for the stub- 
bornness of several mules which were in among the horses. 
These when the Indians had mounted them bareback and 
commenced yelling and discharging their firearms, became 
so confused that they imitated the bucking bronco and 
threw their riders to the ground. Those who had mounted 
the horses came to the rescue of their dismounted brethren 
in the face of a perfect fusillade from the camp. The Indi- 
ans were glad to steal away without taking any of the ani- 
mals, seeking shelter in a thicket, from which position they 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. i6i 

sent forth a shower of arrows and bullets, thus preventing 
Mr. Walker's men from following them. The party of hunt- 
ers sent out, after six weeks' absence returned in safety with 
plenty of meat for the winter. The Captain appears to have 
enjoyed this winter encampment and a hunter's life and the 
society of the Nez Perces, Flatheads and Hanging-Ears 
tribes. During the winter he conceived the idea of acting as 
a peace commissioner between the Nez Perces and Flatheads 
and Blackfeet, as he thought by such peace he would be 
placed upon a better business basis with the Blackfeet tribe. 
He submitted the proposition to the chief of the Nez Perces 
and Flatheads and these wise warriors took the matter un- 
der consideration and held a council for two days, at the 
end of which time they reported to Captain Bonneville the 
result of their deliberations. One of the chiefs rendered the 
decision thus: "War," said he, "is a bloody business and 
full of evil ; but it keeps the eyes of the chiefs always open, 
and makes the limbs of the young men strong and supple. 
In war everyone is on the alert. If we see a trail we know it 
must be an enemy; if the Blackfeet come to us, we know it 
is for war, and we are ready. Peace, on the other hand, 
sounds no alarm ; the eyes of the chiefs are closed in sleep, 
and the young men are sleek and lazy. The horses stray into 
the mountains; the women and their little babes go about 
alone. But the heart of a Blackfoot is a lie, and his tongue 
is a trap. If he says peace, it is to deceive. He comes to us 
as a brother ; he smokes his pipe with us ; but when he sees 
us weak and off our guard, he will slay and steal. We will 
have no such peace; let there be war." 

This ended the Captain's attempt to play the role of a 
peacemaker, but he was afterwards much vexed with these 
same Indians for allowing the Blackfeet to steal their horses 
with impunity, and he finally told them that unless they 
roused themselves from their apathy and properly resented 
the intrusion of the Blackfeet in their camp they would 
not be worthy to be considered warriors, and he further told 
them that his property was unsafe while he remained with 
them, for the reason that the Blackfeet having got away 
-(II) 



1 62 History of Wyoming. 

with the horses of his Indian associates, his turn would prob- 
ably come next. He assured them unless they should speed- 
ily do something to put an end to the continual plundering 
of their camp by the Blackfeet he would be obliged to leave 
them. Spurred up by this severe language, the Indians or- 
ganized a war party and went out in search of their enemies. 
The next day the warriors returned without having encoun- 
tered the Blackfeet marauders and then things went on as 
bad as before. 

On the 19th of December Captain Bonneville changed 
his camp to a good hunting ground up the North Fork of 
the Solomon. He was accompanied by his Indian friends. 
The balance of the winter was spent in hunting the large 
game of the neighborhood. Becoming uneasy as to the fate 
of Matthieu, who, it will be remembered, had been placed 
in charge of the broken-down stock on the Captain's depart- 
ure from his fortified camp on Green River, he placed him- 
self at the head of thirteen resolute hunters and started out 
in search of the lost party, and after much suffering he at 
last succeeded in finding the men he was in search of. The 
Matthieu party had encountered deep snows and bands of 
hostile Indians, and three of his men, Leroy, Ross and Jen- 
nings, had been killed. The party had been so severely han- 
dled by coming in contact with the savages that they gave 
up hunting trips and remained in their camp, now and then 
killing an old or disabled horse for food. About the middle 
of March, Captain Bonneville, having been joined by all his 
detached parties, commenced making preparations to open 
the spring campaign, and selected Malade River as the 
neighborhood in which to begin operations. During the 
summer he penetrated the western country beyond what is 
now Wyoming, but had fixed a rendezvous in the upper part 
of the Green River Valley for the latter part of July; but 
when about to return to that country the free trappers de- 
clined to make the weary journey. They pointed out to 
Captain Bonneville that the distance was great and that 
danger lurked on every side, as the Blackfeet were known to 
be in great strength in the country through which it was 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 163 

proposed to go. Their business, they said, was hunting, 
and they did not propose to fight Indians unless they were 
obliged to . They preferred to trap on the headwaters of the 
Solomon. Captain Bonneville found it necessary to accede 
to their wishes, and he accordingly fitted them out for the 
season and placed Hodgkiss at their head with instructions 
where the party was to meet him the ensuing winter. The 
brigade consisted of twenty-one free trappers, Mr. Hodgkiss 
and five hired men who went along as camp keepers. Cap- 
tain Bonneville with the balance of his men started for the 
Green River rendezvous. Great precautions were taken to 
prevent a surprise. Scouting parties were thrown out in 
advance and encampments were selected with care, with a 
view to strength of position. The march was conducted in 
military style, everything being done to insure the safety of 
the party. On the 13th of July Captain Bonneville reached 
Green River and went up that stream, where he was met 
by the different parties he had detached the previous year. 
Each had a story of success or failure to tell. The party 
which had been sent into the Crow country and the tribu- 
tary streams of the Yellowstone had suffered total annihila- 
tion and the leader alone came into the rendezvous. His 
story was soon told. He had fallen in with a band of Crows. 
These had induced most of his men to desert. With the 
balance of his band, he sought the neighborhood of Tullock's 
Fort on the Yellowstone, under the protection of which he 
went into winter quarters. Here the temptation of whisky 
proved too much for the trappers and his stock of furs was 
purloined by the men and used for the purchase of alcoholic 
drinks. The leader finding that being near the fort was even 
worse than being in the vicinity of the Crows, resolved to 
make another move and induced a number of strange free 
trappers to join him. He, with these and the balance of his 
own men who had remained faithful, started in the spring 
for the Powder River country. On the way he had rugged 
hills and a steep mountain to cross. This so jaded his horses 
that they soon became unfit for service and he was induced 



164 History of Wyoming. 

to turn them out to graze at night. What happened we will 
let Captain Bonneville tell in his own way. 

**The place was lonely; the path was rugged; there was 
not a sign of an Indian in the neighborhood ; not a blade of 
grass that had been turned by a footstep. But who can cal- 
culate on security in the midst of an Indian country, where 
the foe lurks in silence and secrecy, and seems to come and 
go on the wings of the wind? The horses had scarce been 
turned loose when a couple of Arickara (or Rickaree) war- 
riors entered the camp. They affected a frank and friendly 
demeanor; but their movements and appearance awakened 
the suspicions of some of the veteran trappers, well versed 
in Indian wiles. Convinced that they were spies sent on 
some sinister errand, they took them in custody and took 
to work to drive in the horses. It was too late — the horses 
were already gone. In fact, a war party of Arickaras had 
been hovering on their trail for several days, watching with 
the patience and perseverance of Indians for some moment 
of negligence and fancied security to make a successful 
swoop. The two spies had evidently been sent into camp to 
create a diversion, while their confederates carried off the 
spoil. 

"The unlucky partisan thus robbed of his horses, turned 
furiously on his prisoners, ordered them to be bound hand 
and foot, and swore to put them to death unless his property 
was restored. The robbers, who soon found that their spies 
were in captivity, now made their appearance on horseback 
and held a parley. The sight of them mounted on the very 
horses they had stolen set the blood of the mountaineers in 
a ferment; but it was useless to attack them, as they would 
have but to turn their steeds and scamper out of the reach of 
pedestrians. A negotiation was now attempted. The Aric* 
karas offered what they considered fair terms : to barter one 
horse or even two horses for a prisoner. The mountaineers 
spurned at their offer and declared that, unless all the 
horses were relinquished the prisoners should be burned to 
death. To give force to their threat, a pyre of logs and 
fagots was heaped up and kindled into a blaze. 

"The parley continued. The Arickaras released one 
horse and then another in earnest of their proposition ; find- 
ing, however, that nothing short of the relinquishment of all 
their spoils would purchase the lives of the captives, they 
abandoned them to their fate, moving off with many parting 
words and lametable bowlings. The prisoners seeing them 
depart and knowing the horrible fate that awaited them, 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 165 

made a desperate effort to escape. They partially succeeded 
but were severely wounded and retaken; then dragged to 
the blazing pyre and burnt to death in the sight of their 
retreating comrades. 

"The loss of his horses completed the ruin of the un- 
lucky partisan. It was out of his power to prosecute his 
hunting or to maintain his party; the only thought now was 
how to get back to civilized life. At the first water-course 
his men built canoes and committed themselves to the 
stream. Some engaged themselves at various trading es- 
tablishments at which they touched, others got back to the 
settlements. As to the partisan, he found an opportunity 
to make his way to the rendezvous at Green River Valley." 

The Green River Valley that year was the rendezvous 
of the American Fur Company, and also the Rocky Moun- 
tain Fur Company, as well as that of Captain Bonneville. 
Competition had been carried on to the very utmost limits 
during the season and Captain Bonneville expected that 
men who had for a whole season been trying to outdo each 
other would certainly hold aloof when they reached the 
rendezvous; but imagine his surprise when he saw these 
men mingle in each other's camps on the most friendly 
terms. The past was buried and everybody seemed bent 
upon having a good time. It was the trappers' holiday and 
they were determined to make the most of it, and seeing the 
leaders of the other companies disposed to enjoy good fel- 
lowship the Captain joined in the interchange of visits. 
There was feasting and carousals all around from the lead- 
ers down to the humblest employes of the camp. Here the 
free trapper outshines all rivals and is ready at all times 
to sing, drink or dance. Such stories of adventures and 
achievements as were told would make the most marvelous 
tales of fiction stale in comparison. The rough trappers 
would amuse themselves making violent love to Shoshone 
beauties, whose tribe was encamped hard by. Strings of 
gay beads, papers of vermilion and bright red blankets were 
at a premium, as these articles were found to be just what 
was needed to win the smiles of the fair ones. It would take 
many pages to tell the scenes and incidents which happened 
at the rendezvous that season; but I must confine my story 



1 66 History of Wyoming. 

to the history of Captain Bonneville's adventures during 
his three years' residence in the west, most of the time in 
the territory which is now embraced in our state. 

By the terms of his leave of absence, the Captain was 
required to investigate the condition of the Indian tribes 
of the mountains and make a full report to the war depart- 
ment.* This he did. Lewis and Clark had received the same 
instructions, but as these gentlemen had passed rapidly 
through the country, on their way to and from the mouth of 
the Columbia, it was not to be expected that they should be 
able to supply the government with a carefully prepared 
report of the condition of the various wild tribes occupying 
the interior. The Captain undertook to secure this informa- 
tion. He made a careful study of all the tribes with whom 
he came in contact, and his report made on his return is 
entitled to be considered not only reliable, but valuable. 
This report of the condition of the Indians of this part of 
the Rocky Mountains, their methods of warfare, their nu- 
merical strength, the alliances of the tribes, was the first 
reliable information the government had received regarding 



•INSTRUCTIONS TO CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE FROM THE MAJOR-GENERAL 
COMMANDING THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES. 

Headquarters of the Army, I 

Washington, August 3, 1831. f 

Sir : The leave of absence which you have asked, for the purpose of enabling you to carry 
into execution your design of exploring the country to the Rocky Mountains and beyond, with 
a. view of ascertaining the nature and character of the several tribes of Indians inhabiting those 
regions ; the trade which might be profitably carried on with them ; the quality of the soil, the 
productions, the minerals, the natural history, the climate, the geography and topography, as 
well as geology, of the various parts of the country within the limits of the territories belonging to 
the United States, between our frontier and the Pacific — has been duly considered and submitted 
to the War Department for approval, and has been sanctioned. You are, therefore, authorized 
to be absent from the army until October, 1833. It is understood that the government is to be at 
no expense in reference to your proposed expedition, it having originated with yourself; and all 
that you required was the permission from the proper authority to undertake the enterprise. You 
will, naturally, in preparing yourself for the expedition, provide suitable instruments, and espe- 
cially the best maps of the interior to be found. 

It is desirable, besides what is enumerated as the object of your enterprise, that you note 
particularly the number of warriors that may be in each tribe or nation that you may meet with ; 
their alliances with other tribes, and their relative position as to a state of peace or war, and 
whether their friendly or warlike dispositions toward each other are recent or of long standing. 
You will gratify us by describing their manner of making war ; of the mode of subsisting them- 
selves during a state of war, and a state of peace; their arms, and the effect of them ; whether 
they act on foot or on horseback ; detailing the discipline and maneuvers of the war parties ; the 
power of their horses, size, and general description ; in short, every information which you may 
conceive would be usefiil to the government. 

You will avail yourself of everj' opportunity of informing us of your position and progress, 
and, at the expiration of your leave of absence, will join your proper station. 

I have the honor to be sir, 

Your ob't servant, 

Alexander Macomb, 
Capt. B. L. E. Bonneville, Major General, commanding the Army. 

7tk Reg't of Infantry, New York. 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 167 

these Indians, Considering that Captain Bonneville was 
doing this work without pay and performing other im. 
portant services, such as mapping the country and showing 
the location of different tribes, and searching for desirable 
passes through the mountains, where wagon roads might be 
built, the War Department certainly took advantage of his 
good nature by imposing upon him a task which was richly 
worth many thousands of dollars to the government. 

Captain Bonneville's place in history is that of an ex- 
plorer as well as fur trader. While in this country he bore 
credentials signed by the commander of the army proving 
his high and honorable position. His education and natural 
qualifications enabled him to discharge faithfully the duties 
to which he had been assigned. Well might President Jack- 
son say to him that he had performed a great service for 
his country and deserved promotion. It is to be regretted 
that a considerable portion of his report, especially that con- 
taining scientific and geological information and valuable 
maps was not published by the government. We are not 
obliged to search far to find a reason why this valuable in- 
formation was not given to the public. This soldier, it is 
generally understood, was on leave of absence and had 
overstayed his time, and for this reason he was dropped 
from the rolls. The facts are, he was on detached service, 
performing arduous and responsible duties in the wilder- 
ness. Under such circumstances, the haste with which he 
was dropped from the rolls of the army reflects but little 
credit on those concerned, when it is understood that he 
was displaced to make room for other officers anxious for 
promotion. His reinstatement by the President regardless 
of the protest of Major General Macomb and other officers, 
resulted in his services being under-rated in official quarters. 

Captain Bonneville felt these slights put upon him 
and resolved to set himself right with the people, and there- 
fore enlarged his report and had it nearly ready for the print- 
er when he met Washington Irving for the second time 
and turned over to him his manuscript for publication. It 
has been stated by some newspaper writer within the last 



1 68 History of Wyoming. 

few years that Mr. Irving on receiving this manuscript 
made a trip to the west for the purpose of going over the 
ground of Bonneville's exploits, and thus it was that he waa 
enabled to produce a work containing so much reliable in- 
formation concerning the Indians and the country. This 
story is not only not true, but it is silly in the extreme. The 
incidents, the descriptions and in fact all the details are 
from the pen of Captain Bonneville. By reference to Ir- 
ving's introductory notice in his volume, "Captain Bonne- 
ville," this will be conclusively proven.* Mr. Irving did 
visit the west, but it was three years previous to his meeting 
with Captain Bonneville. He had been made a member of 
a commission, connected with government service, and this 
took him to a number of posts on the border, but it must 

*It was in the autumn of 1835, at the country seat of Mr. John Jacob Astor, at Hell- 
gate, that I first met with Captain Bonneville. He was then just returned from a residence 
of upward of three years among the mountains, and was on his way to report himself at 
headquarters, in the hopes of being reinstated in the service. From all that I could learn, 
his wanderings in the wilderness, though they had gratified his curiosity and his love of 
adventure, had not much benefited his fortunes. Like Corporal Trim in his campaigns, he 
had "satisfied the sentiment," and that was all. In fact, he was too much of the frank, free- 
hearted soldier, and had inherited too much of his father's temperament, to make a schem- 
ing trapper or a thrifty bargainer. There was something in the whole appearance of the 
Captain that prepossessed me in his favor. He was of the middle size, well made and well 
set; and a military frock of foreign cut, that had seen service, gave him a look of compact- 
ness. His countenance was frank, open and engaging; well browned by the sun, and had 
something of a French expression. He had a pleasant black eye, a high forehead, and, 
while he kept his hat on, the look of a man in the jocund prime of his days; but the mo- 
ment his head was uncovered, a bald crown gained him credit for a few more years than he 
was really entitled to. 

Being extremely curious, at the time, about everything connected with the Far West, 
I addressed numerous questions to him. They drew from him a number of extremely strik- 
ing details, which were given with mingled modesty and frankness ; and in a gentleness of 
manner, and a soft tone of voice, contrasting singularly with the wild and often startling na- 
ture of his themes. It was difficult to conceive the mild, quiet-looking personage before 
you, the actual hero of the stirring scenes related. 

In the course of three or four months, happening to be at the city of Washington, I 
again came upon the captain, who was attending the slow adjustment of his affairs with the 
War Department. I found him quartered with a worthy brother in arms, a major in the 
army. Here he was writicg at a table, covered with maps and papers, in the center of a 
large barrack room, fancifully decorated with Indian arms, and trophies, and war dresses, 
and the skins of various wild animals, and hung round with pictures of Indian games and 
ceremonies, and scenes of war and hunting. In a word, the captain was beguiling the tedi- 
ousness of attendance at court by an attempt at authorship, and was rewriting and extend- 
ing his traveling notes, and making maps of the regions he had explored. As he sat at the 
table, in this curious apartment, with his high bald head of somewhat foreign cast, he re- 
minded me of some of those antique pictures of authors that I have seen in old Spanish 
volumes. 

The result of his labors was a mass of manuscript, which he subsequently put at my 
disposal, to fit it for publication and bring it before the world. I found it full of many inter- 
esting details of life among the mountains, and of the singular castes and races, both white 
and red men, among whom he had sojourned. It bore, too, throughout, the impress of his 
character, his bonhomie, his kindliness of spirit, and his susceptibility to the grand and 
beautiful. 

That manuscript has formed the staple of the following work. I have occasionally- 
interwoven facts and details, gathered from various sources, especially from the conversa- 
tions and journals of some of the captain's contemporaries, who were actors in the scenes 
'he describes. I have also given it a tone and coloring drawn from my own observation 
during an excursion into the Indian country beyond the bounds of civilization ; as I before 
observed, however, the work is substantially the narrative of the worthy captain, and many 
«f its most graphic passages are but little varied from his own language. 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 169 

be remembered that the border at that time was the Mis- 
souri River. While performing this service he went with 
a distinguished party on a grand hunting trip to the Red 
Fork of the Canadian River, then went westerly to the great 
forest known as '^Cross Timbers," and from there took a 
southerly route home. He mentions meeting Captain Will- 
lam Sublette and Robert Campbell in the western part of 
Missouri in the fall of 1832 on their return trip from Pierre's 
Hole. Washington Irving never saw the Rocky Mountains. 
It is true it would have been possible for him to have visited 
this country, but such a trip was not easy to make until he 
was too old to undertake the journey. He was born in 1783 
and died in 1859. It was my good fortune to have known 
Mr. Irving in my childhood days. I remember him very 
distinctly and pleasantly. His polished manners and kind- 
ly greetings would and did captivate every one with whom 
he came in contact. In the year 1859 it had been decided 
that I should make a trip to California overland. Mr. Ir- 
ving hearing of it, took occasion to give me some sound ad- 
vice and instructions regarding the journey. Such a trip he 
thought was a great opportunity for a young man to see the 
world. I remember he expressed the idea that no man 
should go abroad until he had become acquainted with 
every part of his own country. He said that he hoped to 
see and talk with me of my travels and adventures, on my 
return. This was in the early spring of 1859. On my arrival 
home in I860, from California, I w^as shocked to learn that 
he had been dead for more than six months. 

Washington Irving has been unkindly criticised by 
some western writers because he could not foresee that the 
Rocky Mountain country was to become peopled with a race 
of men and women of the highest type of civilization. Here 
is the offending paragraph: 

"An immense belt of rocky mountains and volcanic 
plains, several hundred miles in width, must ever remain 
an irreclaimable wilderness, intervening between the abodes 
of civilization, and affording a last refuge to the Indian. 
Here roving tribes of hunters, living in tents or lodges, and 
following the migrations of the game, may lead a life of sav- 



170 History of Wyoming. 

age independence, while there is nothing to tempt the cu- 
pidity of the white man. The amalgamation of various 
tribes and of white men of every nation will in time produce 
hybrid races like the mountain Tartars of the Caucasus. 
Possessed as they are of immense droves of horses, should 
they continue their present predatory and warlike habits, 
they may in time become a scourge to the civilized frontiers 
on either side of the mountains, as they are at present a 
terror to the traveler and trader." 

That paragraph was written more than sixty-five years 
ago and from what was known of the Rocky Mountains at 
that time, it was a fair conclusion to be arrived at. The 
wonders in the way of civilization which have taken place 
in this part of the country in the last forty years have as- 
tonished us, but it was the magic influence of gold which did 
it all. Had it not been for this, Washington Irving's pro- 
phecy would have been fulfilled. At the time Mr. Irving 
wrote Bonneville it had never even been whispered that 
gold existed in these mountains. That was yet to be dis- 
covered, and when it was all things were changed. Mr. Ir- 
ving only saw value in the fur trade, and the well-watered 
lands on either side of the great mountains. The develop- 
ment which came with the opening of the gold mines and 
the digging of our irrigation canals has been the wonder of 
the Nineteenth century, and no peoples have been more suif- 
prised than we who have participated in and have been a 
part of the great transformation scene. Irving, by the 
magic of his pen attracted attention to the west. One of the 
purposes he had in view when he brought out his "Astoria" 
was to build up this country, and he did more than any other 
man of his time to educate the people of the east in the 
great values that were contained in the western half of the 
continent. I am glad that he lived long enough to see the 
wild western country, of which he wrote so charmingly, 
become the great center of enterprise. He saw the rush to 
California in forty-nine and through the early fifties, and 
again in 1859 the reports from Pike's Peak reached him 
as if to cheer the closing year of his' life. 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 171 



CHAPTER XV. 

BONNEVILLE LEAVES WYOMING. 

Furs Collected, Convoyed to the Big Horn and Shipped by Bull 
Boats — Interesting Incidents of the Journey North — Discovery 
OF the Great Tar Spring — Dangers and Difficulties of the 
Return Trip — Discovery of Big Hot Spring Near Present Site 
OF Fort Washakie — Captain Bonneville Attempts to Work His 
Way Through the Wind River Range — Ascent of Mount Bon- 
neville — Toilsome Journey — Discovers a Community of Beavers — 
Returns to His Caches on Green River by Way of South Pass 
— Crosses the Wind River Range at the Head of Green River 
— Many Incidents of His Second Journey to the Columbia — 
Last Winter in the Mountains — Rendezvous in the Wind River 
Valley — Returns to Civilization. 

We left Captain Bonneville at the rendezvous on Green 
River, it being his second season at that point. He had 
collected a considerable number of furs which he determined 
to send to St. Louis in charge of Mr. Cerre. He concluded 
that the trip should be made by water down the Big Horn, 
Yellowstone, and thence by the way of the Missouri River. 
Before leaving his camp he detached Mr. Walker on a tour 
of exploration to Great Salt Lake, which was then little 
known and not at all understood. He determined to have 
the lake properly explored, and he instructed Mr. Walker to 
keep along the shores of it until he had traversed the whole 
distance to the place of beginning. He was to have his men 
trap in all the streams on his route, keep a journal and mi- 
nutely record the events of his journey and note everything 
curious or interesting. He was also to make maps of the 
country through which he passed and on these he was to lay 
down the trail of his party from the time of leaving until his 
return. Forty men were to accompany Mr. Walker, and the 
party was outfitted with provisions for a year. Mr. Walker 
was instructed to meet Captain Bonneville on Bear River 
twelve months from that time. After the departure of the 



172 History of Wyoming. 

Walker party, the Captain with sixty men took up the line 
of march and started for the Crow country. He followed 
round the southern end of the Wind River Range, then 
turned north until he reached the Popo Agie, down which 
stream he made his way. On reaching this point he was 
reminded by some of his trappers that he was in the vicinity 
of the "great tar spring." This spring was known among 
trappers and the tar was supposed to contain great medici- 
nal properties. This is the well known Murphy oil wells 
of today, and Irving's account was undoubtedly the first 
ever published. This reads: 

"After a toilsome search, he found it at the foot of a 
sand bluff, a little to the east of the Wind River Mountains, 
where it exuded in a small stream of the color and consist- 
ency of tar. The men immediately hastened to collect a 
quantity of it, to use as an ointment for the galled backs of 
their horses and as a balsam for their own pains and aches. 
From the description given of it, it is evidently the bitu- 
minous oil, called petroleum or naphtha, which forms a 
principal ingredient in the potent medicine called British 
Oil. It is found in various parts of Europe and Asia, in seve- 
ral of the West India Islands and in some places of the 
United States. In the state of New York it is called Seneca 
Oil, from being found near the Seneca lake." 

It will be discovered that Captain Bonneville made 
the mistake of supposing he was on the Popo Agie, whereas 
he had only reached the south branch of that stream, known 
at this day as the Little Popo Agie. The name Popo Agie, 
he says, like most Indian names, is characteristic, Popo, in 
the Crow language, signifying head, and Agie, river. 

After leaving the tar springs, he proceeded down the 
left bank of the Little Popo Agie and finally reached Big 
Wind River, where he encamped on account of the river 
being swollen by recent rains. During the course of the 
afternoon he beheld a long line of horsemen descending the 
slope of the hills on the opposite side of the Popo Agie. 
They were first thought to be Indians, but after a time 
Captain Bonneville became satisfied that they were white 
men. They proved to be the convoy of Robert Campbell, 
who was on his way to St. Louis with a large stock of furs. 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 173 

Fitzpatrick and a hardy band of trappers were the convoy; 
also Nathaniel J. Wyeth on his way to Boston. The two 
parties came together some days afterward on the Big 
Horn Eiver and camped and traveled in company until they 
reached a point below the Grand Canon of the Big Horn, 
at which place they arrived about the middle of August, 
where they constructed bull boats of buffalo hides stretched 
over wooden frames. It took three of these boats to convey 
the peltries, and they were manned by Mr. Cerre and thirty- 
six men. On the way to the place of embarkation on the 
Big Horn, Captain Bonneville had detached two parties to 
trap in the Crow country, and after the departure of Mr. 
Cerre and the boats, this brave leader found himself with 
only four men and forty-six horses. With these he retraced 
his steps across the Big Horn Mountains, intending to join 
his two bands which he had left on the road going north. 
On the mountain the Captain discovered traces of the ter- 
rible Blackfeet and he felt no little solicitude about the 
two small parties of trappers which he had detached, lest 
the Indians should have come upon them. He felt still 
more keenly the situation of his own little band. He re- 
solved to use the greatest caution and thus elude the sav- 
ages. No guns were discharged or fires lighted for some 
days, and it was not until the last day of their march to the 
rendezvous, where they expected to meet the two bands, 
that they discharged a gun. Hunger overcame their cau- 
tion, so they fired at a buffalo bull and brought him down. 
The best pieces of meat were cut from the carcass, but they 
now hesitated to build a fire and cook it, as all along their 
route there had been indications of the presence of savages. 
They therefore conveyed the meat to their place of rendez- 
vous, at which they arrived that evening, celebrating their 
arrival by a hearty supper. The two detachments had not 
yet come up, therefore the next morning they constructed a 
log fortress for their own defense and a strong pen in which 
to confine the horses. On the 29th the two detachments so 
anxiously looked for arrived. They had experienced many 
adventures with Indians, and in consequence had been un- 



174 History of Wyoming. 

able to secure any great amount of furs. They had been 
attacked by both Blackfeet and Crows, and while they had 
lost some horses and camp equipage, none of the men had 
been killed. The combined party after this moved south. 
This was on the 1st of September. The men were given an 
opportunity to trap as they passed slowly through the 
country. After reaching Wind River they turned westward 
up that stream. Many traps had been lost on the journey 
and Captain Bonneville discovered that it would be neces* 
sary to visit the caches on Green River for a fresh supply; 
also to procure a few other much needed articles. He deter- 
mined to take three men with him and make the journey, 
giving instructions to the main body to proceed up the Wind 
River, trapping on the way in the small tributaries of the 
stream. It was understood he would join the party on the 
headwaters of this stream as soon as he could make the 
trip to Green River and return over one of the low passes in 
the mountains which have an outlet at the head of Wind 
River. Captain Bonneville and his party of three crossed 
Wind River and followed up the Little Wind River. On the 
way he discovered smoke arising, which on closer investiga- 
tion proved to be steam, from an hot spring that was about 
twenty-five yards in diameter and so deep that the water 
was of a bright green color. My readers will recognize this 
as the great hot spring located near Fort Washakie. They 
were now advancing in the direction of the Wind River 
Mountain, but the Captain saw that to reach the goods he 
had cached on Green River by a detour around the south 
end of the mountain made a distance nearly three times as 
great as it would be if there were some practical route 
through the Wind River Range. He therefore determined 
to try and find such an opening. The party first went u0 
the North Fork Canon, but after several hours spent in 
climbing precipices they reached a point where they seemed 
surrounded by stupendous crags which barred further pro- 
gress. There was nothing to do but again return to the 
plains. Following south, they soon came to the main Popo 
Agie and here again they attempted to force their way 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 175 

through the mountain. During the first day they had little 
difficulty. They passed up the slope half a mile north of the 
Popo Agie, thinking to find an elevated plain a few miles 
farther up, but instead they found deep ravines and a sec- 
ond slope similar to the one they had just ascended, and so 
they kept on, toiling forward and upward, until night over- 
took them as they had just reached a wild dell, where they 
made their camp for the night. The next morning they 
pushed on again, and the difficulties increased as they pro- 
ceeded. They at last reached a point where they had to 
climb down into a rocky ravine in order to ascend the next 
mountain. In attempting to get their horses down this 
place, some of them lost their footing and rolled to the bot- 
tom. They crossed many bright streams that went tumbling 
down to the valley below. On the third day they came upon 
two lakes of dazzling beauty surrounded by green meadows. 
Here they left their horses in charge of one man and Cap- 
tain Bonneville with the other two climbed the neighboring 
height, expecting to find a way out of the labyrinth of moun- 
tains. He gained the summit after much toil, only to find 
himself at the foot of another lofty peak. To the right and 
left were other tall mountains, the summits of which were 
covered with snow. Selecting the loftiest peak, they turned 
their footsteps in that direction and finally reached its base 
and commenced the ascent, and found it the most difficult 
task of their lives; but onward they pushed and, climbing 
at times on their hands and knees, and frequently they be- 
came so exhausted with their exertions that they gladly 
dropped down in the snow and rested from their laborious 
efforts and slaked their thirst with handfuls of snow. At 
times it seemed impossible to go any farther, but the Cap- 
tain's pride would not permit him to turn back, so he still 
led the way onward and upward. At last the three men 
threw off their coats and hung them on some stunted bushes 
in a position in which they could be easily seen on the return 
journey. Thus lightly clad, they nerved themselves for 
another effort, and on they went again, climbing as it 
seemed to them to the very clouds, and at last reached the 



176 History of Wyoming. 

highest point of this stupendous mountain peak. The 
scene that here burst on the Captain's view fairly over- 
whelmed him with its grandeur. No matter which way he 
turned his eyes he was confounded by the vastness and va- 
riety of its objects. Beneath him, the Rocky Mountains 
seemed to open all their secret recesses; deep solemn val- 
leys; treasured lakes; dreary passes; rugged defiles and 
foaming torrents; while beyond their savage precincts the 
eye was lost in an almost immeasurable landscape, stretch- 
ing on every side into dim and hazy distance, like the ex^ 
pause of a summer's sea. Whichever way he looked, he be- 
held vast plains glimmering with reflected sunshine; mighty 
streams wandering on their shining course toward either 
ocean, and snowy mountains, chain beyond chain, and peak 
beyond peak, until they melted like clouds into the horizon. 
The peak on which Captain Bonneville had climbexi is thir- 
ty-six miles on a direct line west from Lander, and will be 
found on a map of the state marked Mt. Bonneville. The 
Captain earned the distinction of having his name given 
to one of the grandest peaks of the Wind River range, not 
only by ascending it, but by being the pioneer mountain 
climber in Wyoming. He was nine years ahead of Fremont 
and underwent this hardship as a volunteer in the ranks of 
explorers. 

I am well. aware that it has been claimed that the Mt. 
Bonneville marked on the map is not the mountain peak 
climbed by Captain Bonneville. Later explorations by the 
United States government resulted in the selection of this 
peak as the one Bonneville ascended, and as this is oflScial 
it serves my purpose. It is easy to split hairs, but it is use- 
less, when there is no proof, to get into an argument. 

The party, after satisfying their curiosity by glancing 
at the headwaters of the Columbia, Green River, the Big 
Horn and numerous other streams that circle away in all 
directions, and looking across at the Grand Tetons, finally 
left the mountain peak and retraced their footsteps to the 
valley below, regaining their coats in their downward pass- 
age. They at length reached the camp where the horses 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 177 

were pasturing and on the second day came to the narrow 
valley of the Popo Agie, some distance above the place now 
occupied by the farm of J. S. Meyer. They soon came upon 
numerous communities of beaver. Captain Bonneville gives 
an interesting description of the beaver at work, which he 
chanced to discover during a noonday halt. He came to a 
beaver pond and caught a glimpse of one of the painstaking 
inhabitants busily at work upon the dam. The curiosity of 
the Captain was aroused to behold the mode of operating of 
this far-famed architect; he moved forward, therefore, with 
the utmost caution, parting the branches of the water-wil- 
lows without making any noise, until having attained a 
position commanding a view of the whole pond, he stretched 
himself flat on the ground and watched the solitary work- 
man. In a little while three others appeared at the head of 
the dam, bringing sticks and bushes. With these they pro- 
ceeded directly to the barrier, which Captain Bonneville 
perceived was in need of repair. Having deposited their 
loads upon the broken part, they dived into the water and 
shortly reappeared at the surface. Each now brought a 
quantity of mud, with which he would plaster the sticks and 
bushes just deposited. This kind of masonry was continued 
for some time, repeated supplies of wood and mud being 
brought and treated in the same manner. This done, the 
industrious animals indulged in a little recreation, chasing 
each other about the pond, dodging and whisking about on 
the surface or diving to the bottom, and in their frolic often 
slapping their tails on the water with a loud clacking sound. 
While they were thus amusing themselves another of the 
fraternity made his appearance and looked gravely on these 
sports for some time without offering to join them. He 
then climbed the banks close to where the Captain was 
concealed, and, rearing himself on his hind quarters, in a 
sitting position, put his fore paws against a pine tree, and 
began to cut the bark with his teeth. At times he would 
tear off a small piece and holding it between his paws, and 
retaining his sedentary position, would feed himself with it 
after the fashion of a monkey. The object of the beaver, 
-(12) 



178 History of Wyoming. 

however, was evidently to cut down the tree, and he was 
proceeding with his work when he was alarmed by the ap- 
proach of Captain Bonneville's men, who, feeling anxious 
at the protracted absence of their leader, were coming in 
search of him. At the sound of their voices, all the beavers, 
busy as well as idle, dived beneath the surface and were 
no more to be seen. 

The day following the beaver incident. Captain Bonne- 
ville shaped his course to the south, going round the end of 
Wind River Range, and soon arrived at the place on 
Green River, where his goods were cached. Taking the arti- 
cles and supplies he needed, he set out on the 18th of Sep- 
tember to join his party at the head of Wind River. This 
time he followed up a branch of the Green River and finally 
reached what is now known as Sheridan Pass, by which he 
crossed the mountain after various escapes from a band of 
Indians who had dogged his footsteps through the valley. 
Arriving on Wind River, he, after much searching, came 
upon a trail made by his party, and in two days more suc- 
ceeded in finding them. They now remained in camp for 
three days to rest their horses, but some of the trappers, 
however, pursued their vocations about the neighboring 
streams. While one of them was setting his traps he heard 
the tramp of horses and looking up beheld a party of Crow 
braves moving along at no great distance with a consider- 
able cavalcade. The trapper hastened to conceal himself 
but was discerned by the quick eye of the savages. With 
whoops and yells they dragged him from his hiding place, 
flourished over his head their tomahawks and scalping 
knives, and for a time the poor trapper gave himself up for 
lost. Fortunately the Crows were in a jocose rather than a 
sanguinary mood. They amused themselves heartily for 
a while at the expense of his terrors, and after having played 
off divers Crow pranks and pleasantries suffered him to de- 
part unharmed. It is true they stripped him completely, 
one taking his horse, another his gun, a third his traps, a 
fourth his blanket, and so on through all his accoutrements, 
and even his clothing, until he was stark naked; but then 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 179 

they generously made him a present of an old battered buf- 
falo robe, and dismissed him with many complimentary 
speeches and much laughter. When the trapper returned 
to camp in such a sorry plight he was greeted with peals of 
laughter from his comrades, and seemed more mortified by 
the style in which he had been dismissed than rejoiced at 
escaping with his life. A circumstance which he related to 
Captain Bonneville gave some insight into the cause of the 
extreme jocularity on the part of the Crows. They had 
evidently had a run of luck, and, like winning gamblers, 
were in high good humor. Among twenty-six fine horses 
and some mules which composed their cavalcade, the trap- 
per recognized a number which had belonged to Fitzpat- 
rick's brigade, when they parted company on the Big Horn. 
It was supposed, therefore, that these vagabonds had been 
on his trail, and robbed him of part of his cavalry. 

The Crows were decidedly troublesome that season 
and Captain Bonneville felt fortunate to escape from the 
country without suffering further loss. He went south to 
the Sweetwater and fortunately a heavy fall of snow oblit- 
erated his track. From the Sweetwater he turned west 
to Green Kiver and arrived once more at his caches on the 
14th of October. From that point he went down the Green 
River, barely escaping a war party of three hundred Crows. 
Continuing on, he reached Ham's Fork on the 26th of Oc- 
tober. A day of two after he fell in with Fitzpatrick's party 
and learned of that leader's experience on the banks of the 
Big Horn with the thieving Crows, the incident I relate in 
the sketch of Jim Beckwourth. 

Bonneville now proceeded toward Bear River and going 
down this stream encamped on the 6th of November at the 
outlet of what is now known as Utah Lake. On the 11th he 
with three men set out in search of Mr, Hodgkiss, who had 
been sent with a party to trap on the headwaters of the Solo- 
mon, but before starting appointed a rendezvous on Snake 
River. On the way he met with a number of Bannocks and 
was invited by them to participate in a buffalo hunt, which 
invitation the Captain accepted. The hunt was a success 



i8o History of Wyoming. 

and was of course followed by a feast, which was enjoyed to 
the full by all hands. Of this feast the Captain gives an 
amusing account. Loads of meat were brought in and 
choice pieces roasted before large fires. Everybody, in- 
cluding the Bonneville party, fell to and performed their 
parts with a relish. The warriors in proportion to the ex- 
tent they had crammed themselves with buffalo meat, grew 
brave, and after supper they began to chant war songs, set- 
ting forth their mighty deeds done in battle, and the vic- 
tories they had gained over the Blackfeet. Warming with 
the theme, and inflating themselves with their own eulo- 
gies, these magnanimous heroes of the trencher would start 
up, advance a short distance beyond the light of the fires, 
and apostrophize most vehemently their Blackfeet enemies, 
as though they had been within hearing. Ruffling and 
swelling and snorting, and slapping their breasts, and bran- 
dishing their arms, they would vociferate all their exploits; 
reminding the Blackfeet how they drenched their towns in 
tears and blood; enumerate the blows they had inflicted, 
the w^arriors they had slain, the scalps they had brought off 
in triumph. Then, having said everything that could stir a 
man's spleen or pique his valor, they would dare their 
imaginary hearers, now^ that the Bannocks were few in num- 
ber, to come and take their revenge. Receiving no reply to 
this valorous bravado, they would conclude by all kinds of 
sneers and insults, deriding the Blackfeet for dastards and 
poltroons that dared not accept their challenge. "Such is 
the kind of swaggering," says Bonneville, "in which the red 
men are prone to indulge in their vainglorious moments; 
for with all their vaunted taciturnity, they are vehemently 
prone at all times to become eloquent about their exploits 
and to sound their own trumpet." 

Captain Bonneville now shaped his course towards 
Snake River and on the 19th of November fell upon traces 
of the party of which he was in search and on the follow- 
ing day reached the encampment of Hodgkiss and his free 
trappers. This was the band that refused to accompany the 
Captain to Green River, preferring to trap on the upper 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. i8i 

waters of the Solomon, but fate had been against them. 
They had become entangled in the mountains and had lost 
much time in extricating themselves, and they had also 
been so unfortunate as to encounter unfriendly Indians 
and were obliged to again take shelter in the mountains, so 
altogether their season's work amounted to little. Captain 
Bonneville, at the head of the united party, set out to join 
the band he had recently left, and succeeded in finding them 
on December 4th and proceeded at once to establish a win- 
ter camp on the Portneuf. , After the camp had been put in. 
order for the winter, the Captain organized an expedition to 
penetrate as far west as the Columbia, with a view to estab- 
lishing a fort on its lower waters. Taking with him three 
men and five horses, he set out on his journey on Christmas 
morning, promising to return to the Portneuf camp during 
the early part of March. They journeyed down Snake River,, 
following the identical path over which Mr. Hunt and his 
party had traveled twenty-two years before. It was a wild 
winter's journey and they suffered much with cold and 
hunger. They encountered many Indian villages, but they 
were so poverty stricken that they had nothing in the way 
of provisions to sell, and the party found themselves re- 
duced to the necessity of living on small rations of dried 
flesh secured by killing a mule which was about to give out, 
and when that was gone they subsisted on roots. At last 
they came to a camp of the Nez Perces, and were thus saved 
from perishing from fatigue, hunger and cold. Purchasing 
fresh horses of these friendly Indians, they pushed on and 
on March 4, 1834, reached Fort Walla Walla, on the Colum. 
bia, a trading post of the Hudson Bay Company. The Cap- 
tain and his men received every kindness at the hands of the 
company's agent at that point, but when he made applica- 
tion to purchase provisions for his return journey, he was 
politely but firmly refused, as it was against the policy of 
the Hudson Bay Company to assist those who proposed to 
become rivals in trade. Two days later Captain Bonneville 
and his three companions started on their return, and after 
many adventures reached Portneuf River on May 12, near 



1 82 History of Wyoming. 

the place he had left his people encamped on the Christmas 
previous. The party left at the winter camp had suffered 
much during the absence of its leader and he did not find 
them until the 1st of June. After this, the course of the 
party was up Bear River and on the 13th of June they 
reached Utah Lake, and after spending four days in exam- 
ining the shores and outlets, pushed on and soon came upon 
the detachment sent out the year before to explore 
the shores of the Great Salt Lake, It will be remembered 
that this party left Green River Valley July 24, 1833, 
charged with an important mission. They had entirely lost 
sight of the instructions and had wandered over sandy des- 
erts and mountains, trapping on various streams, and final- 
ly encountered a band of Root-Digger Indians. These were 
seemingly an inoffensive people, but the trappers com- 
plained that some one was stealing their traps. It was be- 
lieved that these Indians were the guilty parties. A trapper 
with an ungovernable temper discovering the loss of his 
traps one morning, vowed he would kill the first Indian he 
met, whether he be innocent or guilty. Soon after this man 
came upon two Indians who were seated upon the bank of a 
river fishing. One of these he shot and threw the body into 
the stream. The other escaped and it was presumed gave 
the alarm to his tribe. Shortly after this the trappers con- 
cluded it was best to leave the neighborhood, as they saw 
signs which induced them to believe the Indians contem- 
plated vengeance. Proceeding west, they arrived at a cross- 
ing of Ogden's River, where they noticed a large party of 
Indians gathered upon the opposite side of the stream, in- 
tending, as they supposed, to oppose their passage. The 
trappers fired upon the natives and killed twenty-five. The 
balance fled in terror for a short distance, when they stopped 
and set up fearful cries of distress. The trappers now pur- 
sued the remainder of the tribe and drove them far from 
their path. The victors proceeded down Ogden's River and 
crossed the mountain, when they turned south and entered 
the Spanish village Monterey. Here they spent a season 
in gay life, attending bull and bear fights, used up the sup- 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 183 

plies provided by Captain Bonneville, and even sold the furs 
taken on the journey to furnish means to keep up their feast- 
ing and mad revelry. When Captain Bonneville received 
these reports, his indignation knew no bounds; the worse 
than failure of the expedition pricked him to the quick, as 
it had cost him a large amount of money which he could ill 
afford. The great Salt Lake still remained unexplored. The 
expedition he had led into the wilderness was not turning 
out to be a money-making venture. At this juncture Mr. 
Cerre arrived at the rendezvous with supplies for the season 
direct from the east, and after these had been distributed 
detachments were sent out on another trapping campaign. 
Montero, with his band, proceeded to the Crow country to 
trap; he was then to go through the Black Hills and follow 
south to the Arkansas, where he was to winter. Cerre and 
Walker started with a number of men to convey the furs 
they had taken the past season to St. Louis. The Captain 
started for the Columbia country, where he expected to 
winter, then recross the mountains and join Montero the 
following July on the Arkansas, where the rendezvous was 
fixed for the next season. Accordingly, the various compa- 
nies separated on July 3rd for their different destinations. 
Captain Bonneville's trappers worked all the streams on the 
way to the Columbia. He had hoped to do a thriving trade 
with the natives on this river, but on arriving there he dis- 
covered that the Indians had been influenced by the Hudson 
Bay Company not to trade or hold any communication with 
him. The farther he proceeded the more marked became 
this disposition on the part of the natives to obey their mas- 
ters, the agents of the rival company. He was unable to 
buy even the necessary provisions for his party and conse- 
quently he retraced his steps to the headwaters of the Port- 
neuf, where they found abundant game and good pasturage 
for their horses. Arriving there about November 1st, they 
remained until the 17th, when, having received two mes- 
sengers from Montero's party who had been sent after sup- 
plies, the Captain broke up his camp and started for his 
caches on Bear River to procure the articles called for. By 



184 History of Wyoming. 

these messengers he countermanded the order previously 
given to the Montero party to rendezvous on the Arkansas, 
changing the place to the Wind River Valley on the forks of 
the Popo Agie. After the departure of the messengers, 
Bonneville remained in camp several days to trade with a 
band of Shoshones in the neighborhood. He then moved up 
Bear River to the place selected for his winter encampment, 
where his brigade enjoyed peace and plenty during the cold 
weather. On the 1st of April, 1835, he broke up his camp. 
Passing down Ham's Fork to Green River, he trapped along 
that stream until June 22, when he set out with his party 
for the rendezvous in the Wind River Valley. Montero 
arrived in good time and reported a successful trapping 
expedition in the Crow country. He had had one encounter 
with the Blackfeet and lost some of his horses. The united 
parties celebrated the 4th of July at the rendezvous in true 
patriotic style. Captain Bonneville had erected three cab- 
ins for the use of his men and in which to store his goods. 
These cabins were long a landmark in the lower valley and 
are known to this day as the "Three Cabins." Major Noyes 
Baldwin, when he received his permit in 1866 to trade with 
the Shoshones, moved his family and goods into these cab- 
ins, and it was on this spot that he first set up business in 
that country. Montero, having drawn his supplies, placed 
himself at the head of his brigade of trappers and again 
started on another campaign, while Bonneville, with the 
residue of his command, turned south and reaching the 
Sweetwater followed the course of that stream to the North 
Platte, and so on to civilization. 

This renowned trader, trapper and explorer is worthy 
of a biographical sketch in these pages, which is herewith 
appended. 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 

Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie Bonneville was born 
in France, 1796. His father was a man of superior educa- 
tion and the owner of a printing establishment in Paris at 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 185 

the time Bonneville was born. He was a Republican and 
belonged to a Paris club organized by Tom Paine. During 
our Revolutionary War with England there were many 
pamphlets published at the Bonneville printing establish- 
ment which were in the interest of the Americans, and these 
publications contributed not a little to the building up of a 
sentiment favorable to the struggling colonies. When Na- 
poleon came into power he took measures to control the 
press of Paris and tracing some offensive pamphlets to the 
Bonneville press, he ordered the proprietor imprisoned in 
the "Temple." After a time he was released and he ex- 
pressed a desire to go to America with his family, but Na- 
poleon ordered him kept under surveillance by the police 
and that he be not allowed to leave France. Tom Paine, 
who had been in Paris for some time, was informed by 
friends that he was in danger of arrest ; he therefore secretly 
left France, taking with him, by desire of her husband, 
Madame Bonneville and her son Benjamin, then a small 
boy. On arriving in New York, Mrs. Bonneville and her 
son were sent to the country residence of Tom Paine, New 
Rochelle. The elder Bonneville after a time escaped from 
Paris and joined his wife and son in New York City, where 
she had opened a school for young ladies. When young 
Benjamin was old enough, Tom Paine secured his appoint- 
ment to West Point, from which institution he graduated in 
1819. When General Lafayette visited America in 1824 
he looked up the Bonneville family and evinced a deep in- 
terest in them. This becoming known to the War Depart- 
ment, young Bonneville, out of compliment to General La- 
fayette, was appointed an aide on the staff of the distin- 
guished and much beloved visitor, and the young man ac- 
companied the General on his tour through the United 
States. When Lafayette returned to his home, he asked 
that young Bonneville be allowed to return with him to 
France as his guest. How long he remained abroad I do not 
know, but on his return to America he was appointed a 
Lieutenant and went into service on the frontier, and it was 
here he acquired a desire to penetrate the wilderness. In 



1 86 History of Wyoming. 

course of time he was promoted to a Captaincy. From time 
to time he met trappers and traders from the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and it soon became the ambition of his life to lead an 
expedition across the continent with the object of studying 
the character of Indian tribes, the discovering of a road for 
the use of emigrants and the making of a correct map of the 
country through which he passed. He believed that such 
an expedition could be made self-sustaining by trading with 
Indians and by trapping, provided he could secure the capi- 
tal necessary for the outfitting and the purchase of goods 
to be used in trading with Indians. The Captain fortunately 
had wealthy friends who were willing to advance the money 
needed. He applied to General Macomb for leave of ab- 
sence, giving in detail his plans. His request was promptly 
granted. 

Three years and four months from the time of his de« 
parture from Fort Osage, on the Missouri, Captain Bonne- 
ville reported to General Macomb at Washington and asked 
permission to file his report of the expedition he had con- 
ducted into the interior of the continent. He was informed 
that the war office had eagerly looked for his return for a 
long time, but had finally come to the conclusion that he and 
his companions had met death in the wilderness, and he 
had therefore been dropped from the rolls of the army. 
The Captain was dumfounded when informed that he had 
been deposed, but he promptly demanded reinstatement. 
He was told that this was irregular, and as it concerned a 
large number of officers who were anxious for promotion, 
his request was denied. His return created a profound sen- 
sation in army circles, but there was not an officer who 
would espouse his cause. He was told that he had been en- 
gaged in a private enterprise for his own profit and emolu- 
ment and that he could not expect to be restored to his rank 
after having overstayed his leave of absence nearly two 
years. Bonneville now went to the President, General Jack- 
son and laid the case before him. The old hero and states- 
man heard him with kindness and attention, and knocking 
the ashes from his cob-pipe said: "You were absent from 



Captain Bonneville in Wyoming. 187 

duty for specific objects, such as information in regard to 
the wild tribes, the mountain routes and passes and maps 
of the country. Have you these maps to prove this service?" 
"I have, sir." "Let me examine them." Jackson put on 
his spectacles and was absorbed in them some time. "By 
the eternal, sir," he said, "I'll see that you are reinstated 
to your command. For this valuable service you deserve a 
high promotion." Bonneville was restored. Soon after his 
restoration he was given command of Fort Gibson, and 
later was ordered to Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, and 
while there met Miss Annie Lewis, a daughter of Judge 
Lewis of that place. The gallant soldier was an ardent ad- 
mirer of this young lady and in due course of time he mar- 
ried her, and soon after was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, 
By this union they had one child, a girl. This daughter's 
name was Mary, and she is spoken of as a beautiful and ac- 
complished young lady, but at the age of eighteen she died. 
A few days after the death of Mary her grief-stricken 
mother died also, and the two occupied graves side by side 
in a St. Louis cemetery. At the breaking out of the Semi- 
nole war Captain Bonneville played a conspicuous part and 
was promoted to Major of the Sixth Infantry, for merit- 
orious service. He went with his command to Mexico and 
again distinguished himself and was promoted Lieutenant- 
Colonel of the Fourth Infantry and in 1852 was ordered to 
the Pacific coast. February 3, 1855, he was promoted Golo» 
nel of the Third Infantry. He was retired from active ser- 
vice September 9, 1861. At the breaking out of the war he 
volunteered his services to the government and was ordered 
to Jefferson Barracks and made mustering ofiicer, which 
position he held until the close of the war. On March 13th, 
1865, he was brevetted Brigadier-General. He was married 
a second time late in life and at the close of the war went to 
live on his farm, located at Fort Smith, Arkansas, where he 
died on June 12, 1878. The photograph which appears on 
another page was taken in the year 1873. 

The Indians of the Rocky Mountains called Bonneville 
the "Bald Headed Chief," as he was in fact very bald. In 



1 88 History of Wyoming. 

the latter years of his life he wore a wig, as will be noticed 
in his published portrait. His widow is still living at Fort 
Smith. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



SKETCHES OF TRAPPERS AND TRADERS. 

Trappers First Permanent Settlers in Wyoming— Personal Mention 
Jim Beckwourth — Nathaniel J. Wyeth— James Bridger— Kit Car- 
son — ^Jedediah S. Smith — ^Joshua Pilcher — George W. Ebberts — 
Robert Newell — Captain William Sublette — Thomas Fitzpatrick 
— Frapp — Jervaise — Fontenelle — Jennings — LeRoy — Ross ^ Sin- 
clair Brothers — Dripps — Vasques — Goodale— Pappen — Tulleck. 

It will be clearly established in the minds of those who 
read the early history of Wyoming that to the trappers be- 
long the credit of having first made permanent homes in 
this country. Many of the men who came out with Ashley, 
Sublette, Bonneville and other renowned heroes, conceived 
the idea of making the mountains their abiding place. They 
paid dearly for their temerity, and the estimate is that 
three-fifths of this number met violent deaths at the hands 
of the savages. A majority took Indian wives, but this only 
protected them from the particular tribes to which their 
wives belonged. The hereditary enemies of such tribea 
scalped these white men whenever the opportunity offered. 
When Fremont came into the country he found numerous 
white men who had married among Indians, and he es- 
pecially mentions the fact that as a result of such marriages 
there was an abundance of half-breed children. I can im- 
agine that some of my readers will be inclined to the opinion 
that these white men had become by association little bet- 
ter than the natives; but this by no means follows; nor was 
it the case. Those who settled down to make homes in the 
wilderness, far from civilization, were the bravest of the 
brave; they lived for the most part honorably with their na- 



'Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 189 

tive wives and provided abundantly for their offspring. 
Their surroundings did not permit them to give to their 
children the advantages of education and civilization, and 
yet it is only fair to say that their homes ' were the 
abodes of love and tenderness. In those days educa- 
tion was not the privilege of all, even in the states. 
The most of the trappers were men without education 
and their lot was no worse in the mountains than it 
would have been at home, except for the dangers incl- 
dent to their calling. It must be admitted that even savage 
women have their charms, under certain circumstances. 
The fair daughters of the mountain chieftains of Wyoming 
were no less charming than those of Powhatan, who wed 
Pocahontas to a white man, and polite society approved. 
The daughter of the Virginia chieftain, it is true, saved Cap- 
tain John Smith from the murderous war club of her savage 
father. Are there any to claim that the princesses of the 
mountains were less powerful to protect white men? Hu- 
manity is alike to some extent in all countries and all ages, 
and the white men who came to Wyoming in the first half of 
the century were no exception to the rule. To live with a 
squaw was the custom of the country, and besides, the un- 
lettered trappers were not the only white men who indulged 
their fancy in this particular. Men highly educated did the 
same thing. "The Free Trapper's Bride" is pictured in ele- 
gant prose by Washington Irving in his story of Captain 
Bonneville, and Bancroft, who loses no opportunity to stab 
Irving's hero, says in his "Adventures of Nathaniel J. Wy- 
eth," in 1834: "They also reached Powder River the 28th 
and on the 31st arrived at Grand Ronde, where they found 
Bonneville and his company. This amateur forester, with 
a troop of Nez Perces and Cayuses at his heels, visited Wy- 
eth's camp, and by his broad, genial good humor, which then 
happily possessed him, and his French manners, created a 
favorable impression. Meanwhile, flitting in the distance, 
astride a sleek bay horse, gayly caparisoned, the mane and 
tail tied full of scarlet and blue ribbons, was a beautiful 
damsel, glittering in finery, loaded with bells, beads, and 



190 History of Wyoming. 

rings fastened to bands of scarlet cloth, and who managed 
her horse as being part of it, but held aloof as the property 
of one who brooked no familiarity in the matter of mis- 
tresses." 

I have no desire to apologize for the personal conduct 
of the early trappers. They came into the country and took 
their chances, braved the dangers, and a majority of them, 
as has been said, lost their lives. Their social relations with 
the Indian tribes have no bearing on the subjects discussed 
in this volume. Their alliances with the daughters of the 
mountains are mere incidents in the history of these men. 

The introduction of spiritous liquors was an evil far- 
reaching, not only among the trappers but also to the Indian 
tribes. Of course this traffic added to the profits of the 
trader, and yet the injury it inflicted on the whites, half- 
breeds and natives was beyond calculation. Whole tribes 
were demoralized, white men brutalized, and all because of 
the greed of those who came to the mountains to build up 
fortunes. It was the one great blot on the character of the 
heroes who established commerce in the wilderness. Fu- 
ture generations, when they come to sum up the moral 
worth of the trader and trapper, will see no great difference 
between the men who sold skins for whisky and those who 
bartered whisky for skins. 

In this chapter I desire to group together many of the 
trappers and traders and tell their experiences while in 
Wyoming. I shall be obliged in most instances to barely 
mention names. The task has been a difficult one. My pur- 
pose from the first was to give the names of these men in 
connection with incidents relating to the fur trade, and this 
has been done wherever possible. It should be understood 
that the fur trade, first and last, employed in this state seve- 
ral thousand people, and only a very small percentage of 
these have left any record, and that record very imperfect. 
Full names are the exception, as I find them mentioned in 
publications relating to the fur trade. 

Jim Beckwourth, who came to the mountains under 
Ashley and was known among the trappers and traders as 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 191 

one of the bravest of the brave, led a life of adventure such 
as few men of his day could boast. He served at first under 
Ashley and then under Sublette. While serving the lattep 
he joined the Crow nation and by his bravery became a 
powerful chief. After joining the Crows he was charged by 
trappers with instigating that tribe to steal furs and horses 
from the trappers of the Rocky Mountain and American 
Fur Companies. This he has denied many times. He never 
contradicted, however, the many marriages charged to hia 
account. Being sent to trade with the Blackfeet tribe on 
one occasion by Fitzpatrick, he prepared the way by marry- 
ing the daughter of the chief, after which he opened up and 
did a thriving business. While he was with the Crows he 
had fully a dozen wives. Fremont in 1842 met at Chabon- 
ard's ranch on the Platte a young Spanish woman who he 
said was the wife of Jim Beckwourth. It has been charged 
that he on one occasion infected some goods with the 
germs of smallpox and then sent them to a camp of Black- 
feet, and the result was that a large number of the savages 
took the disease and many died. I have carefully exam- 
ined many of the charges made against Beckwourth, and 
have come to the conclusion that he was one of those charac- 
ters who delight in telling monstrous stories about them- 
selves, but they are really not as bad as they make out. Hei 
was constantly boasting about the number of Indians he had 
killed on various occasions, and he tried to make people be"- 
lieve that, like David, he had slain his tens of thousands. 
The real facts are, he had killed a number of Indians, it is 
true, but he was fond of exaggeration. He had some good 
traits; this cannot be denied. After living with the Crows a 
number of years he went into the service of the American 
Fur Company on the Yellowstone, but later withdrew and 
went to California. At one time he kept a hotel, but falling 
under suspicion of being connected with a band of horse- 
thieves, he was obliged to leave California; returning to 
Wyoming. When Denver was first settled he went to that 
place and opened a store but did not continue long in busi- 
ness. W. N. Byers informs me that at the time he came to 



192 History of Wyoming. 

Denver, in 1859, he took up a ranch in what is now a popu- 
lous part of the city, and his next neighbor was Jim Beck- 
wourth. He had located on a quarter section of land and 
lived on it in a cabin. Beckwourth afterward built a good 
house and while living there married a daughter of a col- 
ored washerwoman in town. The Crow Indians sent him 
many pressing invitations to come and see them, as they 
were in need of his advice. This tribe claimed that he was 
their "good medicine." Finally Beckwourth resolved to 
pay his old friends a farewell visit. Mr. Byers thinks that 
this was about the year 1867, but he does not feel certain as 
to the date. The tribe at this time was in Montana and re- 
ceived Beckwourth with open arms. The Crows before this 
period had met with great misfortunes. Between war and 
disease the tribe was greatly decimated, and they attributed 
their bad luck of late years to the absence of Beckwourth. 
He was feasted in all their villages and his visit was one 
grand ovation. Finally he announced his intention of re- 
turning to Denver and the head men of the tribe made this 
the occasion of a grand farewell feast. There was boiled 
puppy and all the choice dishes of the Indian epicure and 
Beckwourth was seated in the center of the feast while good 
cheer went the rounds. The memories of happy days when 
the Crows were a numerous and powerful nation, were re- 
vived, and stories told of battles fought and victories won 
while Beckwourth was their chief. At last the feast drew 
to a close, when one more choice dish, prepared for the hon- 
ored and loved former chieftain, was pressed upon him. Of 
this he ate and dropped dead ! He had been poisoned. They 
explained afterwards that in spite of all their entreaties 
Beckwourth was determined to return to Denver. He had 
always been "good medicine" to the tribe, and if they could 
not have him alive they resolved to have him dead, that his 
bones might be kept with them. Thus perished one of the 
most remarkable characters ever in the Rocky Moun- 
tains. He was born April 26, 1798, at Fredricksburg, 
Virginia, his mother being a slave woman and his father a 
white man. Beckwourth took great pride in the fact that 



SJcetches of Trappers and Traders. 193 

his father was a major in the War of the Revolution. The 
following interesting story is told of Beckwourth's services 
to white men who suffered capture among the Indians: 

^'During 1834, Captain Stuart, an English army oflQcer, 
who had served under the Duke of Wellington, Dr. Ben- 
jamin Harrison, a son of the first President Harrison, Colo- 
nel Charles A. Wharfleld, a Mr. Brotherton and several 
other gentlemen who were in search of adventure, werd 
with Thomas Fitzpatrick's trappers. They had appeared at 
the rendezvous on Green River that year and followed Fitz- 
patrick through the W^ind River Valley, down the Big Wind 
River, and had finally reached the Big Horn Basin, where 
they were all captured by a band of Crows. Jim Beck- 
wourth, who was then working for the American Fur Com- 
pany, happened to be with the Crow party who made the 
capture. Fitzpatrick appealed to Beckwourth to get him- 
self and friends out of the scrape. Beckwourth called upon 
his relatives, Indians related to him by marriage, for each 
warrior to mount a horse and take a prisoner behind him, 
while he gathered up the horses and goods belonging to the 
white men. Captives according to the laws of war among 
Indians are safe while being conducted to or from the camp, 
and a captive mounted behind a warrior, that warrior is 
directly responsible for his safe keeping. While the white 
captives were being mounted. Captain Stuart declared he 
would not get on behind a murdering, thieving, red rascal. 
Col. Wharfield and Dr. Harrison told the English blusterer 
that he was using very unbecoming language and that he 
was endangering the lives of the whole party as well as his 
own. Thus persuaded. Captain Stuart meekly mounted be- 
hind an Indian. After much difficulty, Beckwourth secured 
all the property belonging to the white men, returned it to 
the owners, and sent an escort with them several miles. 
The party once out of the Indian village remounted their 
own horses and went on their way. These pleasure-seekers 
•during that same season visited Captain Bonneville in his 
camp near Solomon River." 

I have explained the presence of Nathaniel J. Wyeth in 
Wyoming during the spring of 1832, and his disappearance 
beyond our borders. His twenty-two men had dwindled 
down to eleven, yet he persisted in going forward to fulfill 
the dream of his ambition; that is, to build trading posts and 
«hip to Boston, by way of the Columbia, furs and salmon. 
-{13) 



194 History of Wyoming. 

Previous to his leaving Boston, he had sent a ship around 
Cape Horn, calculating that the vessel would meet him on 
the lower Columbia about the time his expedition by land 
should reach there. Concerning the trials and tribulations 
of Mr. Wyeth on the Pacific coast, my history has nothing 
to do. He remained there during the fall and winter of 
1832 and then bent his steps back across the mountains and 
appeared at Green River, having failed in his enterprise, but 
like the true New Englander, he was more enthusiastic than 
ever. From Green River he went in convoy of Robert Gamp- 
bell and Captain Bonneville, through the Wind River Val- 
ley, down the Big Horn River to the Yellowstone, and after 
constructing a bull-boat floated down the Yellowstone to 
the Missouri — thence back to St. Louis and on to Boston by 
the usual modes of conveyance. He had failed, but that did 
not prevent his Boston friends furnishing all the money 
he needed for a second expedition. Another ship was fitted 
out, well loaded with merchandise and dispatched to the 
Columbia. He raised 200 men and started by land to make 
his second journey up the Platte, through South Pass, 
boldly pushing forward to Snake River, down which stream 
he took his course. Seventy-five miles below Henry's Fort 
he stopped to build his first post in the interior. This post 
was a log structure with ample accommodations for the 
business for which it was intended. The logs were squared 
with a broad-ax, and consequently his buildings when com- 
pleted presented a creditable appearance. He named the 
place Fort Hall and it became famous as the years went by, 
first as a fur-trading establishment, then as an important 
station on the old overland emigrant and stage route, and 
still later as a military post ; though our government finally 
moved Fort Hall a few miles up the river. Wyeth built 
other posts and pushed his business with true Yankee spirit 
and persistence, but it was too late in the history of the 
fur trade for it to be a success. The fur-bearing animals 
were fast disappearing from the streams, and besides he 
had to encounter a well organized competition of the power- 
ful Hudson Bay Company. He shipped salmon and furSy 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 195 

but his vessels were only half loaded and consequently there 
was no margin for profits, and after pursuing the unprofita- 
ble business several years, he finally sold to the Pacific Fur 
Company all his posts, merchandise, vessels, and other prop- 
erty, and went to Boston and engaged in the wholesale ice 
business, in which calling he succeeded in amassing a for- 
tune. Had Wyeth come west a few years earlier and 
remained in the mountains he would have fought his way 
to the front and made fortune and reputation, but the trou- 
ble was, when he arrived the fur business was already on 
the wane. The beaver, otter and mink were growing scarce 
in the mountain streams, and there was no room for a new 
leader in the fur trade. 

James Bridger has been called the Daniel Boone of the 
Rockies, but this does not do him justice. Boone was simply 
a courageous Indian fighter, a hunter of renown in a com- 
paratively level country. True, though there were dense 
forests and numerous lurking foes, the difficulties in no way 
compared with those Bridger had to encounter. He and 
his band of trappers were daily exposed in open ground. The 
Indians knew their whereabouts at all times because the 
valleys in the Rocky Mountains were devoid of timber, and 
through these the streams flowed where the beaver were 
to be found. These same streams came out of rocky recesses 
in the mountains, covered on either side with a dense growth 
of cedar, pine and other timber, where the savages lurked in 
ambush, because they knew the hunters, once on a stream, 
would follow it to its source. Narrow passes led from one 
valley to another, and here again the wild men of the moun- 
tains watched to hurl a shower of arrows at the lonely trap- 
pers, and if they escaped these pitfalls along their path, 
their camp at night was surrounded by a savage horde 
awaiting an opportunity to deal death and destruction to 
the tired sleepers. Trapping grounds lay wide apart and to 
go from one to another required long marches, every mile of 
the way exposed to dangers seen and unseen. The country 
was subject to seasons of intense cold, and this was even 
more dangerous than the encounters with the savages. In 



igS History of Wyoming. 

short, Bridger's life was one of constant peril, and he met 
all with a courage sublime; therefore, I say, Daniel Boone, 
who lives in hundreds of tales of the border, and who has 
been made many times a hero by the pen which tells the 
story of border life in border days so eloquently, never was 
called upon to suffer the privations or to meet the dangers 
which fell to the lot of the hero of the Rockies, James 
Bridger. 

Born in Richmond, Virginia, March, 1804, he early came 
to St. Louis and enlisted in one of General Ashley's brig- 
ades of fur trappers. From a boy he was an expert shot 
w^ith the rifle and soon learned woodcraft and the art of 
defending himself against savage beasts and at times equally 
savage men. Some writers claim that he came to the moun- 
tains in 1820. That would make him but sixteen years old. 
I am unable to trace him back of 1822, when he came to 
Wyoming with Ashley's trappers on their first trip to the 
A'ellowstone and Wind River country. General Ashley soon 
noted his courage and fidelity, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, 
who was many years his senior, clung to him as to a younger 
brother. He was skillful as a trapper, and the Indians soon 
learned to respect his unerring aim and kept themselves at 
a safe distance or met him as a friend. Of all the white men 
who came to the mountains, none learned the geography of 
the country so well as he. Every mountain defile, every 
principal stream and all its tributaries were engraved upon 
the tablet of his memory, which enabled him to lead his 
men by the shortest route through any desired locality. In 
later years he became a guide to the army and often aston- 
ished military commanders by the accuracy of his know- 
ledge of the country through which they desired to pass. 
It has been said of him by Generals in the army that he 
could either name any stream he came to or tell in an instant 
of what it was a tributary. Not only was he familiar with 
Wyoming, but possessed a topographical knowledge of all 
parts of the Rocky Mountains. Possessing little education 
drawn from books, he graduated in the school of the moun- 
tains. His knowledge of human nature was beyond that 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. igy 

acquired by the majority of mankind, and he read the hu- 
man face of the white man or the savage at a glance. I have 
no occasion to write his life, for the reason that his name 
occurs in connection with many events which are detailed m 
these pages. Fort Bridger, which he built, and Bridger 
Pass, which he discovered, are his monuments. His explora- 
tions in the Yellowstone National Park and his life servicer 
in Wyoming are all related in their proper place. 

After a service of thirty-four years, he went east in 1856 
and purchased a valuable and improved farm at Westport, 
now a suburb of Kansas City, on which he intended to re- 
side the remainder of his days, but after the stirring scenes 
in the wild west through which he had passed, the hum- 
drum of farm life was unendurable, and he returned to the 
mountains, locating at Fort Laramie, and engaged perma- 
nently with the government as a guide to the army, which 
occupation he followed until his advanced years compelled 
him to retire to his farm, where he died July 17, 1881. Jim 
Bridger, as he was familiarly called, will remain for all time 
to come a part of the history of Wyoming. He lived to see 
it develop from utter darkness to the noonday of civilization. 
In appearance, Bridger was a typical hunter, tall, slim, with 
a face bronzed by exposure, wearing a slouch hat and ever 
accompanied by his trusty rifle. 

The name of Kit Carson will forever be associated with 
the early events in Wyoming, where he trapped during his 
young manhood. He was born in Kentucky, December 24, 
1809. In 1826, when a mere boy, he went to Santa Fe, New 
Mexico. From there he drifted into Old Mexico and finally 
to California. From this place he came to Wyoming and 
located on Green River, trapping and hunting. He early 
made a reputation for bravery and of being an expert shot 
with the rifle. These qualities naturally made him a leader. 
In 1830 he completed a tour of Wyoming, trapping in nearly 
all the streams. He fought Indians and trapped with Jim 
Bridger, Jim Baker, O. P. Wiggins, Thomas Fitzpatrick 
and numerous other noted mountain men. The Rocky 
Mountain passes were familiar to him from one end to the 



198 History of Wyoming. 

other. Rev. Samuel Parker, who crossed the continent in 
1835, the incidents of whose journey have already been 
given, speaks of meeting Jim Bridger at the Green River 
rendezvous in the month of August, and also mentions Car- 
son. He says: 

^'I will relate an occurrence which took place near even- 
ing, as a specimen of mountain life. A hunter who goes 
technically by the name of the great bully of the mountains, 
mounted his horse with a loaded rifle and challenged any 
Frenchman, American, Spaniard, or Dutchman to fight him 
in single combat. Kit Carson, an American, told him if he 
wished to die he would accept the challenge. Shunar defied 
him. Carson mounted his horse, and wnth a loaded pistol 
rushed into close contact, and both almost at the same in- 
stant fired. Carson's ball entered Shunar's hand, came out 
at the wrist, and passed through the arm above the elbow. 
Shunar's ball passed over the head of Carson, and while he 
went for another pistol Shunar begged that his life might 
be spared." 

Carson's home was at Taos, New Mexico, for many 
years, where he married in 1843. In 1842 he accompanied 
Fremont on his first tour of exploration to the Rocky Moun- 
tains and the two from that time forward were warm per- 
sonal friends. In nearly all of Fremont's explorations Car- 
son was his guide. During the lifetime of this noted moun- 
tain man he held many positions of trust and was ever on 
the move in the varied callings in which he was engaged. 
He fought Indians in Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico and 
other territories. In 1864 he was in command of Fort 
Union, New Mexico, and in 1865 and 1866 commanded Fort 
Garland, Colorado. In 1867 he moved from Taos, New 
Mexico, to Bent County, Colorado. He died May 24, 1868. 
Frank Hall, the author of the history of Colorado, was per- 
sonally acquainted with Carson, and says of him: "This 
man was a rare combination of dauntless courage, keen pen- 
etration, true nobility of mind and generous impulse, tem- 
pered with discretion and sound sense." Of his personal 
appearance, this author says: "In physical mould and stat- 
ure he was not unlike the great Napoleon, but in voice and 
action in ordinary life the personification of amiability and 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 199 

retiring modesty. But when roused by great events por- 
tending danger to himself or others who for the time being 
were under his protection, he became a whirlwind of yenge- 
ance, tempered and restrained from rashness by the keenest 
sagacity and most marvelous generalship." 

Jedediah S. Smith, after trapping in Wyoming in the 
spring of 1824, led his party west down the Snake River 
among the Flatheads. They wintered at the Hudson Bay 
Company's post and in the spring pushed their way west- 
ward to California. He trapped in that country and was 
very successful, and in 1828 started north for the Oregon 
country with nineteen men. He had with him a long train 
of pack mules on which he carried $20,000 worth of furs. 
The natives along the route home seemed friendly, but when 
he reached TJmpqua, Oregon, his party was attacked and all 
were killed except Smith, Turner and a man named Black, 
and the furs stolen. Smith made his way to the Hudson 
Bay Company post at Fort Vancouver, where he informed 
Superintendent McLoughlin of his misfortune. The feeling 
at that time against the Hudson Bay Company and its offi- 
cers was very bitter among Americans, and yet this leader 
of the company sent out an expedition to recover Smith's 
furs; and they were successfully brought into the post. 
When Smith returned to Green River that fall and told 
Captain Sublette of the generous treatment he had received 
at the hands of McLoughlin, they agreed between them- 
selves that they would withdraw their men from the terri- 
tory of the Hudson Bay Company, which they immediately 
proceeded to do. Smith was a man of great courage, able 
in business matters and generally successful. He trapped 
in 1829 in the streams on both sides of the Wind River 
Range. In September he headed a party to descend the 
Green and Colorado rivers, and while he was successful in 
securing a large number of furs, he unfortunately lost them 
while attempting to cross the Colorado River. In 1830 he 
withdrew from the Rocky Mountain Fur Company and en- 
tered into operations further south. He established a trad- 
ing post at Santa Fe and started in to do a large business. 



200 History of Wyoming. 

By agreement with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, they 
were not to enter his territory, and he on his part agreed not 
to enter theirs. He did not long enjoy the business in this 
new field, as he was killed in 1831 by a band of savages who 
attacked his train at some point on the the Cimarron River. 
He was one of the best men ever engaged in the business 
and his death was deplored by all who knew him. 

Godin, a Canadian trapper who came to Wyoming in 
1829, was for some years with Wyatt's band, and while un- 
der that chieftain participated in the great battle with the 
Blackfeet at Pierre's Hole. Old trappers tell the story of 
the fight of Godin with a chief of the Blackfeet at the open- 
ing of the battle. The Indians advanced to the number of 
400 to attack the trappers. Suddenly a tall, well-built chief, 
splendidly mounted and arrayed in all his savage finery, 
came forward, intimating by his action that he desired to 
fight any or all the trappers single-handed. It was a feat of 
reckless daring such as chiefs who desire to distinguish 
themselves not infrequently resort to. Godin saw the move- 
ment, and being well mounted and armed with a short rifle, 
rode forward to meet the chief. They approached to within 
a few yards of each other when Godin raised his rifle and 
fired at his adversary. The chief was instantly killed and 
Godin rushed forward and springing to the ground stripped 
a scarlet coat from the dead chieftain, remounted and rode 
back to his companions under a heavy fire from the savages. 
This was regarded among the trappers as a feat showing 
great bravery, and won for Godin a reputation among moun- 
tain men. This trapper was a familiar figure in the Rocky 
Mountains for many years. Washington Irving tells this 
incident in quite another way, as will be discovered in the 
account of the fight at Pierre's Hole. The story as above 
related is told by old trappers of Wyoming who were there 
and saw the encounter between Godin and the Indian chief, 
and this is substantially the account given by Bancroft. 

One of the trappers who worked under Ashley and af- 
terwards under Sublette was Thomas L. Smith. In a year 
or two after reaching the mountains he had the misfortune 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 201 

to break one of his legs. Jim Cockrell, another trapper, was 
with him at the time, and Smith not being able to travel, 
the two went into camp together. The leg was not only- 
broken but badly crushed, the bones protruding through the 
flesh. Smith was axious to have Cockrell amputate his leg, 
and the latter, seeing that the situation was desperate, 
agreed to undertake the surgical operation. They chanced 
to have with them an old-fashioned three-cornered file, and 
with this Cockrell made a saw out of a butcher knife. He 
cut the flesh down to the bone with a hunting knife, then 
with the saw cut off the bone. The arteries were tied,and the 
flow of blood stopped. The operation was a success and 
before many weeks Smith was able to ride horse-back and 
Cockrell took him to one of the trading posts of the com- 
pany. This trapper Cockerell was an uncle of the present 
Senator Cockerel of Missouri. Smith did not leave the 
mountains, but soon after established a road ranch along 
what became a few years later the Overland Trail. He went 
east as soon as he was able and procured a wooden leg and 
became known after this as "Pegleg Smith." He was one 
of the characters during the days of the Overland. He was 
kind-hearted and generous to a fault, but somewhat addicted 
to drink. In 1866 he went to California, and while there 
died. 

Bill Williams, or "Parson Williams," as he was some- 
times called, enjoyed the reputation of being a well-posted 
mountain man, and was considered by Kit Carson one of the 
bravest men in the mountains. In the fall of 1848 he was 
engaged by Fremont as guide to his fourth expedition 
across the Eocky Mountains. The command started from 
Bent's Fort with thirty-three men and one hundred and 
twenty-three mules with forage for the same. They went up 
the Arkansas and attempted to go across the San Juan 
Mountains, which had always been known to be inaccessi- 
ble even in summer. They plunged about in the snow, 
nearly all the mules were lost, eleven of the men either 
starved or were frozen to death, and the balance barely es- 
caped with their lives. Williams has always feeen held re- 



202 History of Wyoming. 

sponsible for the disaster. The next season, with a small 
party, he went back over the trail of the unfortunate explor- 
ers to pick up the pack saddles, clothing and arms strewn 
along the route. While on this service Williams and all 
his companions were killed by Indians. During the thirties 
and forties this guide was often in Wyoming. I have met 
many persons intimately acquainted with him, and have 
been told that he was called "Parson Williams" for the rea- 
son that in his young manhood he was a Methodist preacher. 

Descoteaux was a trapper in Wyoming in the thirties 
and was regarded as a man of great personal courage. In 
1842 he joined Fremont's expedition at Fort Laramie and 
accompanied the explorer to the Wind River Mountains 
and was one of the men selected to ascend Fremont's Peak. 
He remained in the country for many years, trapping and 
trading, and often visited St. Louis to dispose of his furs. 
On one of these trips he met a lad in that city who appeared 
to be friendless and alone, and he at once told the boy that if 
he would go with him he would be taken care of. The lad 
accepted the kind offer of the big-hearted trapper and from 
that day the two became inseparable. Visiting Wyoming 
shortly after this, the boy came along and thus became 
one of the pioneer settlers in this state. This lad was Tom 
Sun, now the proprietor of a large ranch at Devil's Gate, on 
the Sweetwater. His name will appear in a number of 
places in this history in connection with important events 
and enterprises. 

Joseph L. Meek was a Virginian by birth, came to St. 
Louis and enlisted under Captain Sublette in 1828. Robert 
Newell, who was born in Ohio in 1810, also enlisted with 
Sublette, and both during the same year came to Wyo- 
ming and served many years as trappers. They were both 
reliable men and served under Captain Sublette and his 
brother Milton; also Bridger, Frapp, Fitzpatrick and Jer- 
vais. In 1840 these trappers went to Oregon and helped 
organize that commonwealth. They now settled down as 
staid members of society and became useful citizens with no 
desire to return to their former mountain life. 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 203 

Peter Gauthier and Paul Ojet were Canadian trappers 
who came to Wyoming in the early thirties and worked 
for the American Fur Company on the Big Horn and Big 
Wind Rivers for a number of years. After the American 
Fur Company purchased Fort Laramie, these two trappers 
came to the North Platte and trapped on the tributaries of 
that stream for nearly eight years. The two were great 
friends and were always found together. When beaver 
grew scarce, they determined to go to Oregon, take land, 
become fanners, and settle down. In 1843 they joined a 
party of emigrants and became Oregon settlers, married in 
the new country and raised families. 

In 1827 a company of forty-five men with a hundred 
horses came into Wyoming by the Platte and Sweetwater 
route, crossed the mountains at South Pass and proceeded 
to Green River. This company was under the command of 
Joshua Pilcher of the revived Missouri Fur Company. Pil- 
cher employed his men trapping on the upper waters of 
Green River and on the east side of the Wind River Range. 
He wintered high up on Green River and remained in that 
neighborhood until 1829, when he crossed the Snake River 
and went over into the Oregon country, where he lost all 
the furs he had gathered and had all but two of his men 
killed by Indians. 

Jervais, who was associated in 1830 with Milton Sub- 
lette, Fitzpatrick and Frapp in the Rocky Mountain Fur 
Company, was one of the remarkable characters in the fur 
trade. He was one of the Astorians and endured much 
suffering while with that expedition in 1811-12. After serv- 
ing may years, first as trapper, then as trader, in the Rocky 
Mountains, he finally settled on Willamette River, in Ore- 
gon, and had for his neighbors Luciere and Deslard, two 
other trappers. Luciere was one of the Canadian voyageurs 
who came out with Mr. Hunt in 1811. 

Peter Skeens Ogden, better known as Peter Ogden, was 
a Hudson Bay Company superintendent and a popular man 
among the early trappers. This leader was in Wyoming a 
number of times in the twenties and thirties. He was a 



204 History of Wyoming. 

friend of General Ashley and also of Captain William Sub- 
lette. Ogden City and Ogden River, Utah, are named after 
this pioneer fur trader. 

William Small, who went out with Captain Bonneville 
in 1832, was a trapper who had been in the mountains be- 
fore and was known as a man of character and determina- 
tion. He was selected to go with Walker on his expedition 
to Salt Lake and California in 1833. He was killed on Sep- 
tember 9th of that year by Shoshone Indians, while setting 
his traps. 

Fontenelle, who served many years in Wyoming as a 
representative of the American Fur Company and was con- 
spicuous as a leader, committed suicide in 1837. Of the cir- 
cumstances under which this occurred I am not informed. 
Fontenelle Creek, a tributary of Green River, was named 
after this pioneer fur trader and trapper of Wyoming. 

Alexander Godey is spoken of by Fremont as a peerless 
hunter and guide and is called by the explorer a formidable 
rival of Kit Carson in courage and professional skill. He 
was well known in Wyoming and many old timers even to 
this day speak of him as a mighty hunter, and as a man who 
was never lost in the mountains. 

William Sinclair was a leader of free trappers who 
trapped in Wyoming for many years and were often in the 
employ of Captain William Sublette. Sinclair had a bro- 
ther, who was a member of his band, to whom he was 
greatly attached. They were both brave Indian fighters and 
successful trappers. 

George W. Ebberts became prominent as a trapper in 
Wyoming in 1829, through his service with the Rocky Moun- 
tain Fur Company. He was a Kentuckian by birth, born in 
1810. Ebberts trapped in Wyoming eight years, then went 
to Oregon. His life was full of adventure and stirring inci- 
dents. 

Tim Goodale was a noted mountain guide and a per- 
sonal friend of Kit Carson. The two spent much time trap- 
ping and trading in Wyoming. Goodale was well known at 
Fort Laramie during the fifties. 



Sketches of Trappers and Traders. 205 

Dripps, a partner in the American Fur Company, spent 
many years trading and trapping in Wyoming, and is spoken 
of by all trappers as a successful trader and a brave Indian 
fighter. He is mentioned in connection with many trapping 
and trading events in this volume. 

George Nidever, a leader of a band of trappers, who in 
1831 crossed from the North Platte to Green River, where 
he and his party wintered. In the spring of 1832 he partici- 
pated in the battle of Pierre's Hole and later that season 
trapped southwest of Salt Lake. 

Louis Vasques established a trading post on Clear 
Creek, in Colorado, and from that point sent numerous ex- 
peditions into Wyoming for the purpose of trading with 
Indians as well as trapping. He is sometimes confounded 
with Auguste Vasquez. 

Matthieu was a partisan under Captain Bonneville and 
possessed the confidence of his great leader. He returned 
to the states with Captain Bonneville but soon after found 
his way back to the mountains, where he remained for a 
number of years. 

Tulleck was an experienced fur trader connected with 
different fur companies, but more particularly with the 
American. During the thirties he commanded a post of that 
company on the Yellowstone. 

Joseph Pappen was a well known trapper, who for many 
years was on the North Platte. Later he was engaged in 
trade along the Overland Trail. 

Jennings, LeRoy and Ross, three of Captain Bonne- 
ville's trappers, were killed by Bannock Indians in the win- 
ter of 1832-33. 



The rendezvous had a broad meaning with the early 
trappers; not only was it the place to which they carried 
their furs and exchanged them for all sorts of commodities, 
such as clothing, saddles, bridles, tobacco, whisky, bright 
dyes for coloring the trappings for their horses, vermilion 
powders, extensively used for winning the smiles of the fair 
ones, but it was a place to meet traders who might wish to 



2o6 History of Wyoming. 

engage their services for the coming year. They also met 
here brother trappers from the various sections of the moun- 
tains, likewise men from the east who brought news of what 
was going on in the states and the world. They had here 
also an opportunity to drink the health of big-hearted lead- 
ers whom they admired. They renewed old friendships and 
made new ones, participated in the frivolities of the ren- 
dezvous, mingled with savage tribes, learned the language 
of the Indians, chose a sweetheart from among the native 
beauties, who came to the rendezvous to find some one to 
deck them in finery suited to their peculiar taste. It was 
indeed a place noted for business, pleasure, mirth, gambling 
and brawls, and the motley collection was not without in- 
terest even to the early missionaries, who have written of 
the things they saw and heard at this great annual gather- 
ing. Along about 1835, religious teachers became a regular 
feature at the rendezvous. These good men, in their trips 
across the continent, remained over for a week or two to 
rest and incidentally do a little missionary work. Rev. 
Samuel Parker made a number of religious talks to white 
men and Indians at Green River in 1835, and after that all 
missionaries who went out made it a point to preach to the 
trappers. Father De Smet made a number of his winning 
and pleasant talks in 1840 at this same place. I hardly 
think, however, it can be said that the influence of the mis- 
sionaries amounted to much with the trappers. They gave 
a respectful hearing to all such, but their business at the 
rendezvous was for everything else than to listen to religion 
or even morality, and yet they respected that class of men 
who were devoting their lives to the cause of Christ. 



Opening of First Highway. 207 



CHAPTER XVII. 

OPENING OF FIRST HIGHWAY. 
1835-1843. 
The Missionaries, Parker and Whitman, Pass Up the Platte, Sweet- 
water, u and Reach Green River— Dr. Whitman Returns to the 
States — A Romantic Wedding Tour — First Two White Women 
IN Wyoming — Remarkable Fourth of July Celebration at South 
Pass — Grand Reception Given the Pioneer Women at Green 
River — Arrival in„ Oregon — Perilous Ride of Dr. Whitman — 
Passes Through Wyoming With a Thousand Settlers — The In- 
dian Massacre — The Hero of Western Civilization. 

We have been passing through the days of the fur trap- 
pers and traders, and I have shown in the preceding pages 
the experiences of these men. There has been little in the 
story to remind us of the better side of civilization. God 
and humanity have hardly entered into the conditions which 
prevailed in a territory that afterwards became Wyoming, 
but in the year 1835, Eeverend Samuel Parker and Dr. Mar- 
cus Whitman passed up the Platte River in company with 
Fontenelle, of the American Fur Company. The train 
was a large one and it was taking out goods for the Indian 
trade and recruits for trapping service in Wyoming. This 
party proceeded up the North Platte, which stream they 
reached about the middle of July. On the 22nd they passed 
Chimney Rock, and the following day Scott's Bluffs, and on 
the 26th they reached the mouth of Laramie River and 
camped at the fort, where Fontenelle remained, Thomas 
Fitzpatrick taking his place in charge of the train. On the 
5th of August they reached the Sweetwater, and on the 7th 
Independence Rock, and pushed on up the river and camped 
one night above the Sweetwater Canon, somewhere near 
the spot where Lewiston now stands. The next day they 
continued their journey westward through the South Pass 
and reached the Newfork. These preachers were certainly 



2o8 History of Wyoming. 

observing men, as they noticed the geology of the region 
through which they passed. They commented on the soda 
deposits, and Rev. Parker gives a description of the Johns- 
town soda lake, which he calls crystallized Epsom salts. 
On the 12th they reached Green River, the rendezvous of the 
fur traders that season. They found there about 200 white 
men, mostly trappers, and about 2,000 Indians. These God- 
ly men were making observations as to the possibility of 
benefiting the Indians by religious teachings. They made 
up their minds that the field was a promising one and de- 
termined that Dr. Whitman should return to the states and 
procure additional missionaries to come west and spread 
the gospel among the red men of the mountains. Accord- 
ingly, the Doctor returned East in convoy of a fur train 
and laid before the board of foreign missions the necessity 
for religious teachers in the new field. Rev. Parker pur- 
sued his journey to the west and was escorted for eight days 
by James Bridger, who was going in that direction with a 
party of trappers. Mr. Parker, after leaving Bridger, was 
taken in charge by a band of Indians and safely conveyed 
down the Snake River, and finally reached Walla Walla. 
Dr. Whitman, on his return trip, brought with him two 
young Indians of the Nez Perces tribe. The following year, 
in company with Rev. H. H. Spalding and W. H. Gray and 
two young women and the two Indian boys. Dr. Whitman 
retraced his steps to the west. This man Marcus Whitman 
was a remarkable character and he played a conspicuous 
part in the history of Oregon. He was born in Russville, 
New York, September 4, 1802. Receiving a good education, 
he studied medicine and early became interested in religious 
matters. He was appointed a medical missionary to go to 
Oregon. Before starting out on his second trip westward, 
he married Miss Narcissa Prentis, the daughter of Judge 
Prentis of Angelica, New York. Rev. Spalding was mar- 
ried about the same time, and the two young men resolved 
to take their brides with them across the Rocky Mountains, 
thus making it a wedding tour. They went by the way of 
Council Bluffs, and there were joined by Mr. Gray, who 



Opening of First Highway. 209 

afterwards became the historian of Oregon. The young 
brides are spoken of as women of great force of character. 
They both believed that they would be of great service to 
their husbands and they willingly and even joyfully under- 
took the journey through the wilderness and across the 
mountains where never a white woman had crossed before. 
Mrs. Whitman had enjoyed the reputation in her native 
village of being a sweet singer and the journey to the west 
was enlivened by the rich melody of her voice. Dr. Whit- 
man had placed the two Nez Perces boys at school in New 
York during the winter of 1835-36, where they had learned 
to speak English and had seen the advantages of civiliza- 
tion. These lads were taken back with the party. At Coun- 
cil Bluffs Dr. Whitman and his friends joined a caravan 
belonging to the American Fur Company, and thus the 
journey westward along the Platte River, the North Platte 
and up the Sweetwater was made. They reached the South 
Pass on the night of July 3rd, 1836. The following morn- 
ing, the Fourth of July, the fur traders pulled out, but Dr. 
Whitman and his wife, Mr. Spalding and wife, Mr. Gray 
and the two Nez Perces boys remained behind for a few 
hours to properly celebrate the great national holiday. 
Their patriotism would not permit them to pass over in 
silence the anniversary of American independence. They 
hardly knew how to proceed with the celebration, but 
finally Dr. W^hitman took from their wagon a national flag 
and a Bible. Spreading a blanket on the ground, he placed 
the Bible upon it and taking the flagstaff in his hand he said, 
"Let us pray." The two women and the two white men 
kneeled while he with uplifted voice prayed for his coun- 
try and for the cause of Christ in Oregon, and he then and 
there took possession of the territory which afterwards be- 
came Wyoming, and the country beyond, in the name of 
God and the United States. Mrs. Whitman led in a patri- 
otic hymn, in which the company joined her. After the 
service was over the little party mounted their wagon, 
which was drawn by four strong horses, and followed the 
fur traders' caravan. Was there ever before or since such 
-{14) 



2IO History of Wyoming. 

a Fourth of July celebration? It is true the fireworks were 
absent, the booming of cannon did not disturb the silence 
which at that time prevailed at South Pass, but the spirit 
of 1776 was present in that patriotic little company. As I 
in after years passed over that divide which separates the 
waters which flow to the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Gulf 
of California, I thought how fortunate it would be if the 
ground whereon that celebration was held could have been 
marked. I am sure if the good women of our state knew the 
spot, they would erect upon it a monument to Mrs. Whitman 
and Mrs. Spalding, the first white women to cross the State 
of Wyoming and the Rocky Mountains. 

At Green River Dr. Whitman's party rested for ten 
days. More than 200 white men had gathered there for the 
annual rendezvous, besides several thousand Indians. The 
scene was not different to the one Dr. Whitman and the 
Rev. Parker had witnessed the year before, but the arrival 
of the wedding party was an additional incentive to the 
rugged trappers to enjoy themselves. The sight of two 
white women was indeed a welcome one to men who had 
for years lived in the mountains. They extended every 
courtesy and kindness to these brave young wives, who had 
come to them bearing civilization in their hands, as well as 
sweet womanly ways, to the mountains and plains. The 
Indians, not to be outdone by the white men, searched the 
country round for delicacies for the white squaws. They 
brought to their tents the mountain trout, as well as venison 
and elk meat, and not content with this, the warriors put on 
their war paint and to the number of 600 mounted their 
horses and riding several hundred yards off on the prairie, 
wheeled into line and with war-whoops and yells rode 
down upon the tents occupied by Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. 
Spalding, It looked very much as if the tents and their 
occupants were to be trampled to the earth by the oncoming 
squadron, but fortunately when the warriors reached a 
point a few yards from the tents they gracefully wheeled to 
the right and left and passed over to the prairie beyond. 
These were gallant warriors and magnificent riders, and 



Opening of First Highway. 2 1 1 

their display of horsemanship was intended as the highest 
compliment they could pay to the first white women they 
had ever beheld. It cannot be said that the two ladies 
fully appreciated the wild charge of the six hundred; they 
felt the earth tremble under the heavy tread of the horses, 
and when they saw them bear down upon their tents, for the 
time being, at least, they were panic stricken, and it was 
not until the clatter of hoofs had died aw^ay in the distance 
that they w^ere restored to perfect peace of mind. The In- 
dians got up war dances to please the ladies, and while they 
were conducted in the most lavish manner, I fear that these 
fair women, who had been nurtured in Christian and cul- 
tured homes, were not well pleased with the entertainments 
provided by the savages. 

From Green River they pushed forward. After encoun- 
tering many dangers and overcoming many diflSculties, they 
at last reached their destination, Fort Walla Walla. It 
will be understood by the reader that this was no ordinary 
journey. The distance traveled was 3,500 miles, and a 
greater part of the way, two-thirds of the distance, was 
through an unsettled country and much of it inhabited by 
savage tribes. They forded rivers, climbed steep moun- 
tains, and were obliged to live on the wild meat they se- 
cured by the way. There was no sentiment connected with 
the journey; stern duty called them to the work to which 
they had devoted their lives, and they bore the hardships 
without a murmur. The fur trapper had introduced into the 
country a bravery that was never daunted, but the Whitman 
party brought to the west, patriotism as well as Christianity, 
and these were to bear fruit and result in great good to the 
millions who have since that day conquered a province and 
founded states on the western slope. I am glad that I am 
able to show that Marcus and Narcissa Whitman had a 
share in bringing civilization to our state. It will be seen 
before this chapter is finished that Dr. Whitman's little 
party was the entering wedge that broke savage rule and 
made Wyoming the highway on which was borne a high 
type of civilization. The West has produced many charac- 



2 1 2 History of Wyoming. 

ters who deserve a conspicuous place in history, but none 
of them are more worthy of praise than Dr. Marcus Whit- 
man. His is a character which stands out in bold relief on 
the western horizon. Though nominally only a missionary 
doctor, he developed statesmanship of the first order. He 
makes us feel that there is high honor to be gained in pio- 
neer work. At this time Oregon included all of what is now 
Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and a part of southwestern 
Wyoming; therefore whatever befell the old geographical 
division known as Oregon is of interest in an accurate his- 
tory of our state. The conditions, at that time, of the coun- 
try beyond the mountains, in part, at least, apply to W^yo- 
ming. 

That we may fully understand Dr. Whitman's third 
appearance in Wyoming, I will relate in a brief manner 
what happened after the arrival of these missionaries on 
the Pacific border. Oliver W. Nixon, in his book, "How 
Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon," tells in a charming way 
the story of the new home of the Whitmans. He says: 

"Picture that little missionary band as they stood to- 
gether in Fort Walla Walla in September,1836,and consulted 
about the great problems to solve.. It was all new. There 
were no precedents to guide them. They easily understood 
that the first thing to do was to consult the ruling powers of 
Oregon — the Hudson Bay Company officials at Fort Van- 
couver. This would require another journey of 300 miles, 
but as it could be made in boats and the Indians were capi- 
tal oarsmen, they resolved to take their wives with them, 
and thus complete the wedding journey. The gallant Dr. 
McLoughlin, Chief Factor of the Hudson Bay Company, 
w^as a keen judge of human nature, and read men and wo- 
men as scholars read books, and he was captivated with the 
open, manly ways of Dr. Whitman and the womanly accom- 
plishments of his fair young wife, who had braved the perils 
of an overland journey with wholly unselfish purposes. 
Whitman soon developed to Dr. McLoughlin all his plana 
and his hopes. Perhaps there was a professional freema- 
sonry between the men that brought them closer together, 
but by nature they were both men endowed richly with the 
best manly characters. Dr. McLoughlin resolved to do the 
best thing possible for them, while he still protected the 



Opening of First Highway. 2 1 3 

interests of his great monopoly. Dr. Whitman's idea was 
to build one mission at the Dalles, so as to be convenient to 
shipping; McLoughlin at once saw it would not do. He had 
already pushed the Methodist mission far up the Willam- 
ette, out of the way of the fort and its work, and argued with 
Whitman that it would be best for him to go to the Walla 
Walla country, three hundred miles away, and Spalding 
one hundred and twenty-five miles farther on. 

"He argued that the river Indians were far less hopeful 
subjects to deal with, and that the bunch-grass Indians, the 
Cayuse and Nez Perces, had expressed a great anxiety for 
the teachers. This arrangement had been partially agreed 
to by Mr. Parker the year before. After a full canvass of 
the entire subject. Dr. McLoughlin promised all the aid in 
his power to give them a comfortable start. 

"At his earnest petition, Mrs. Whitman and Mrs. Spal- 
ding remained at Vancouver while their husbands went 
back to erect houses that would shelter them from the com- 
ing winter. To make Mrs. Whitman feel at ease, and that 
she was not taxing the generosity of her new friends, Dr. 
McLoughlin placed his daughter under her instruction, both 
in her class work and music. Every effort was made to in- 
terest and entertain the guests; the afternoons were given 
to excursions on the water or on horseback, or in rambles 
through the great fir forests, still as wild as nature made 
them. 

"There is a grandeur in the great forest beyond the 
stony mountains unequaled elsewhere. In our northern 
latitudes the undergrowth is so thick as to make comforta- 
ble traveling impossible, but in the fir woods, and in the 
pine and redwood forests of Oregon, there are comparatively 
few of such obstructions. The great giants ten or twelve 
feet in diameter, two hundred and seventy feet high, and 
one hundred feet without a limb, hide the sun, and upon a 
summer day make jaunts through the forest delightful to 
a lover of nature. 

"It was a grand rest and a pleasing finale to the hard- 
ships of the wedding journey for these heroic women, and 
Mrs. Whitman, in her diary, never a day neglects to remem- 
ber her kind benefactors. They rested here for about one 
and a half months, when Mr. Spalding came after them and 
reported the houses so far advanced as to give them shel- 
ter." 

I must not linger to tell the whole story of Dr. Whit- 
man's life in far-off Oregon. Suffice it to sav that Mrs. 



214 History of Wyoming. 

Whitman reached her new abode on December 26, 1836. 
They remained there working to better the condition of the 
savages; Mrs. Whitman teaching the Indian school, and the 
doctor looking after the sick, not only among the Indians, 
but among the white people connected with the trading 
posts and missions, and thus matters drifted on. 

In 1838, two years after the Whitman party passed 
through Wyoming, another band of missionaries went over 
the same trail. There were nine persons in all, some of them 
being wives of the missionaries, and these were followed by 
others in 1839, but none had wagons. In 1840 some mission- 
ary ladies, Mrs. Littlejohn, Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Smith, fol- 
lowed the North Platte and Sweetwater west. These 
ladies were accompanied by their husbands, and also by Mr, 
and Mrs. Walker. The latter were not missionaries, but 
settlers intending to locate in Oregon. In, the year 1841 
several more under the direction of General Palmer passed 
over the road on their way to Oregon. These people were 
well outfitted and employed wagons. In 1842, a party made 
up of twenty-one protestant ministers, three Roman Catho- 
lic priests, thirty-four white women, thirty-two white chil- 
dren and thirty-five American settlers, in charge of Elijah 
White, used this highway and reached their destination, 
Oregon, safely. By this time the road up the North Platte, 
the Sweetwater, and across the meadows of the Green River 
Valley had become well marked by wagons, but the past 
was nothing when compared with what was to come. 

Elijah White was a man of considerable ability and 
force of character, all of which he needed to insure the 
safety of so large a party. At Independence Rock, on the 
Sweetwater, he was met by a large number of Sioux Indians 
and ordered back, and the information was given him that 
the Indians would no longer permit their country to be in- 
vaded by white men. Mr. White was a diplomat of the first 
water, and he proceeded to deal with the situation that con- 
fronted him in a manner worthy of a great leader. He drew 
from the painted savages their grievance against white men 
and the reason for thus prohibiting his journey further 



Opening of First Highway. 215 

west. He was informed that the trappers, who were then 
numerous in the country, had killed a number of Indians 
and in consequence of this there had been a meeting of sev- 
eral tribes and the edict had gone forth not only that no 
more white men would be allowed to come into the country, 
but those already there would be pursued, driven out, or 
killed. Mr. White told them that his party were not trap- 
pers or traders, but were farmers on their way to their 
homes on the Columbia, and that they did not propose to 
return. The party, he said, were friendly to the Indians 
and recognized the fact that they had the right to prohibit 
them from passing through their country, but he hoped the 
Indians would allow them to pursue their journey, that they 
might reach the Columbia before winter set in. He then 
distributed among them such merchandise as he could spare, 
after which he was told to go his way in peace but to never 
again invade their country. Fremont says that Fitzpatrick 
saved the party. With White's company was General 
Amos L. Love joy, a man of character and ability. When 
General Lovejoy and Dr. Whitman met, of course it was 
natural that they should talk over the conditions prevailing 
east, and national affairs. Lovejoy showed himself thor- 
oughly posted, and Dr. Whitman learned from him that the 
Ashburton treaty would come before Congress during the 
winter, and in all probability this treaty would receive final 
action before the adjournment of Congress, March 4, 1843. 
Oregon, under the treaty with England in 1818 and again in 
1828, was left open to the free use of either party, the words 
of the treaty being: 

'*It is agreed that any country that may be claimed by 
either party on the northwest coast of America, westward 
of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, 
bays, creeks, and navigation of all rivers within the same, 
be free and open for ten years from the date of the signature 
of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens and sub- 
jects of the two powers; it being well understood that the 
agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any 
claim which either of the two high contracting parties may 
have to any part of said country; the only object of the high 



2i6 History of Wyoming. 

contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes 
and differences among themselves." 

This was simply a joint occupancy to be settled by those 
who should in after years become occupants of the territory. 
As the case stood, the English had the best of it, as the 
Hudson Bay Company assumed the control of Oregon and 
all its affairs. The American fur traders invaded the terri- 
tory, but they were rudely treated by representatives of the 
great British monopoly. Year by year it was understood 
that every Englishman in the country was working to in- 
duce people of his own nationality to come to the terri- 
tory. American missionaries who were on the spot saw 
clearly the trend of affairs and realized that the Hudson 
Bay Company was working in the interest of England. Dr. 
Whitman had talked the matter over with Dr. Eells, Rev. 
Spalding, Jason Lee and General Lovejoy, and all of them 
had agreed that the one practical thing to be done was to 
lead into the country a large number of American settlers. 

Our government had for many years neglected Oregon. 
It was a part of the Louisiana purchase, but as England 
made the claim that the Spanish title had become extinct 
by the Nootka treaty of 1790, the English claim being that 
Captain Vancouver, the commander of a British vessel, 
had discovered the Columbia, and yet notwitstanding this 
fact it was in evidence that Captain Gray had discovered 
the mouth of the river and had given the information of its 
whereabouts to Captain Vancouver. The whole of the mat- 
ter is that the United States cared little about Oregon, as 
it was supposed to be a barren waste. As late as 1842 a 
proposition had been made to trade Oregon for the mackerel 
and cod fisheries of Newfoundland, and this report reaching 
Whitman, he made up his mind to at once cross the Rocky 
Mountains to see President Tyler and Secretary of State 
Webster. Winter had fairly commenced; snow was many 
feet deep in the mountains. It was all that any ordinary 
man could do to cross the wilderness and plains In the sum- 
mer season, but Dr. Whitman was no ordinary man. He 
talked the proposed journey over with Mrs. Whitman and 



Opening of First Highway. 217 

explained to her the necessity of his arriving in Washington 
before the adjournment of Congress. He said that Oregon 
must be saved to the United States, and that he believed it 
was his duty to make this journey, in fact to undergo any 
hardship, that his countrymen might be benefited. Mrs. 
Whitman was not only the wife of a missionary, but a loyal 
American woman. She was not ignorant of the danger of 
crossing the mountains in the winter, but she felt that her 
country required the sacrifice and that God would protect 
her husband on his mission of humanity. Under the rules 
of the missionary board, the members of the local mission 
had to be consulted and their consent obtained before a 
missionary could leave his post. Runners were sent out at 
once to the different stations with a demand for their im- 
mediate presence. They came, and without a dissenting 
voice all agreed that the subject was of great importance, 
but they doubted the wisdom of undertaking such a journey 
across the mountains at that season of the year. Dr. Whit- 
man assured them that it was not only possible to do it, 
but that he was ready and willing to undertake the great 
journey regardless of what might happen him. Just here 
a new difficulty was encountered. Not only must the local 
missionaries approve of the application for leave of absence, 
but the Home Mission in Boston must give its consent. This 
was out of the question, as there was no time for such neces- 
sary delay. Dr. Whitman said his service in the missionary 
cause did not prevent him from serving his country, and 
that he would go even though the missionary board dis- 
missed him for being absent from his post. When it was 
finally settled that he should start, his associates said that 
some one must be found to accompany him. It was impor- 
tant that this person should be a man of great courage and 
endurance. General Lovejoy, who had been taken into the 
conference, was asked if he would go, and he promptly re- 
plied, "I will accompany Dr. Whitman." Two days later 
they were ready for the journey. They reached Fort Hall 
without delay or accident, but there the snows on the route 
were reported twenty feet deep, and so they veered to the 



21 8 History of Wyoming. 

south and added a thousand miles to the journey, passing 
near what is now Salt Lake and finally coming out at Santa 
Fe, New Mexico. From there they took the Santa Fe trail 
and finally reached St. Louis. Such a journey was perhaps 
never before undertaken and successfully accomplished. As 
late as 1876 General Lovejoy told the story of this remark- 
able trip. He says : 

"I was the doctor's traveling companion in that ardu- 
ous and trying journey, but it would take volumes to de- 
scribe the many thrilling scenes and dangerous hair-breadth 
escapes we passed through, traveling, as we did, almost the 
entire route through a hostile Indian country, and enduring 
much suffering from the intense cold and snow we had to 
encounter in passing over the Eocky Mountains in midwin- 
ter. I crossed the plains in company with Dr. White and 
others, arriving at Waiilatpui the last of September, 
1842. My party encamped some two miles below Dr. Whit- 
man's place. The day after our arrival he called at 
our camp and asked me to accompany him to his house, 
as he wished me to draw up a memorial to Congress to pro- 
hibit the sale of ardent spirits in this country. The doctor 
was alive to the interests of this coast, and manifested a 
very warm desire to have it properly represented at Wash- 
ington, and after numerous conversations with the doctor 
touching the future prosperity of Oregon, he asked me one 
day in a very anxious manner if I thought it would be possi- 
ble for him to cross the mountains at that time of the year. 
I told him I thought he could. He next asked, 'Will you ac- 
company me?' After a little reflection I said 1 would. His 
arrangements were rapidly made. Through the kindness 
of Mr. McKinley, then stationed at Walla Walla, Mrs. Whit- 
man was provided with suitable escorts to the Willamette 
Valley, where she was to remain with her missionary friends 
until the doctor's return. We left Waiilatpui October 3, 
1842, traveled rapidly, reached Fort Hall in eleven days, 
remained two days to recruit and make a few purchases. 
The doctor engaged a guide and we left for Fort Uintah. 
We changed the direct route to one more southern, through 
the Spanish country via Salt Lake, Taos and Santa Fe. On 
our way from Fort Hall to Fort Uintah we had terribly 
severe weather. The snows retarded our progress and 
blinded the trail, so we lost much time. After arriving at 
Fort Uintah and making some purchases for our trip, we 



Opening of First Highway. 219 

took a new guide and started for Fort Uncompahgra, sit- 
uated on the waters of Grand River, in the Spanish country. 
(Here our stay was very short. 

''We took a new guide and started for Taos, After be- 
ing out some four or five days we encountered a terrible 
snow storm, which forced us to seek shelter in a deep ravine, 
where we remained snowed in four days, at v/hieh time the 
storm had somewhat abated, and we attemped to make our 
way out upon the high lands, but the snow v- as so deep and 
the winds so piercing and cold we were compelled to return 
to camp and wait a few days for a change of weather. 

"Our next effort to reach the high lands was more suc- 
cessful; but after spending several days wandering around 
in the snow without making much headway, our i,'uide told 
us that the deep snow had so changed the face of the (!0un- 
try that he was completely lost and could take us no farther. 
This was a terrible blow to the doctor, but he was deter- 
mined not to give it up without another effort. We at once 
agreed that he should take the guide and return to 
Fort Uncompahgra and get a new guide, and I remain in 
camp with the animals until he could return; which he did 
in seven days with our new guide, and we were now on our 
route again. Nothing of much importance occurred but 
hard and slow traveling through deep snow until we reached 
Grand River, which w^as frozen on either side about one- 
third across. Although so intensely cold, the current was 
so very rapid, about one-third of the river in the center was 
not frozen. Our guide thought it would be dangerous to 
attempt to cross the river in its present condition, but the 
doctor, nothing daunted, was the first to take the water. 
He mounted his horse and the guide and myself shoved the 
doctor and his animal off the ice into the foaming stream. 
Away he went, completely under water, horse and all, but 
directly came up and after buffeting the rapid, foaming 
current, he reached the ice on the opposite shore, a long way 
down the stream. He leaped from his horse upon the ice and 
soon had his noble animal by his side. The guide and myself 
forced in the pack animals and followed the doctor's exam- 
ple and were soon on the opposite shore drying our frozen 
clothes by a comfortable fire. We reached Taos in about 
thirty days, suffering greatly from cold and scarcity of pro- 
visions. We were compelled to use mule meat, dogs and 
such other animals as came in our reach. We remained at 
Taos a few days only and started for Bent's and Savery's 
Fort on the headwaters of the Arkansas River. When we 



220 History of Wyoming. 

had been out some fifteen or twenty days we met George 
Bent, a brother of Governor Bent, on his way to Taos. He 
told us that a party of mountain men would leave Bent's 
Fort in a few days for St. Louis, but said we would not reach 
the fort with our pack animals in time to join the party. 
The doctor, being very anxious to join the party so he could 
push on as rapidly as possible to Washington, concluded to 
leave myself and guide with the animals, and he himself, 
taking the best animal with some bedding and a small al- 
lowance of provisions, started alone, hoping by rapid travel 
to reach the fort in time to join the St. Louis party, but to do 
so he would have to travel on the Sabbath, something we 
had not done before. Myself and guide traveled on slowly 
and reached the fort in four days, but imagine our astonish- 
ment when on making inquiry about the doctor, we were 
told that he had not arrived, nor had he been heard of. 

"I learned that the party for St. Louis was camped at 
the Big Cottonwood, forty miles from the fort, and at my 
request, Mr. Savery sent an express telling the party not to 
proceed any farther until we learned something of Dr. 
Whitman's whereabouts, as he wished to accompany them 
to St. Louis. Being furnished by the gentlemen of the fort 
with a suitable guide, I started in search of the doctor and 
traveled up the river about one hundred miles. I learned 
from the Indians that a man had been there who was lost 
and was trying to find Bent's Fort. They said they had di- 
rected him to go down the river, and how to find the fort. 
I knew from their description it was the doctor. I returned 
to the fort as rapidly as possible, but the doctor had not 
arrived. We had all become very anxious about him. 

"Late in the afternoon he came in, very much fatigued 
and desponding; said he knew that God had bewiMered 
him to punish him for traveling on the Sabbath. During 
the whole trip he was very regular in his morning and even, 
ing devotions, and that was the only time I ever knew him 
to travel on the Sabbath. The doctor remained all night at 
the fort, starting early on the following morning to join the 
St. Louis party. Here we parted. Dr. Whitman proceeded 
to Washington. I remained at Bent's Fort until spring and 
joined the doctor the following July, near Fort Laramie, 
on his way to Oregon in company with a train of emigrants. 
He often expressed himself to me about the remainder of 
his journey and the manner in which he was received at 
Washington and by the Board of Foreign Missions at Bos- 
ton. He had several interviews with President Tyler, Sec- 



Opening of First Highway. 221 

retary Webster and a good many members of Congress, 
which was in session at that time. He urged the imme- 
diate termination of the treaty with Great Britain rela- 
tive to this country, and begged them to extend the laws 
of the United States over Oregon, and asked for liberal in- 
ducements to emigrants to come to this coast. He was very 
cordially and kindly received by the President and mem- 
bers of Congress, and without doubt all these interviews 
resulted greatly to the benefit of Oregon and to this coast. 
But his reception at the Board of Foreign Missions was not 
so cordial. The board was inclined to censure him for leav- 
ing his post. The doctor came to the frontier settlement, 
urging the citizens to emigrate to the Pacific. He left Inde- 
pendence, Missouri, in the month of May, 1843, with an 
emigrant train of about one thousand souls for Oregon. 
With his energy and knowledge of the country, he rendered 
them great assistance in fording the many dangerous and 
rapid streams they had to cross, and in finding a wagon road 
through many of the narrow, rugged passes of the moun- 
tains. He arrived at Waiilatpui about one year from the 
time he left, to find his home sadly dilapidated, his flouring 
mill burned. The Indians were very hostile to the doctor for 
leaving them, and without doubt, owing to his absence, the 
seeds of assassination were sown by these haughty Cayuse 
Indians which resulted in his and Mrs. W^hitman's death, 
with many others, although it did not take place until four 
years later." 

General Lovejoy leaves little to tell except in regard to 
the journey of Dr. Whitman and one thousand men, women 
and children making their way over the trail which had 
now become familiar to him. This was the first great train 
to wend its way westward and leave behind a broad highway 
over which Oregon, Utah and California were to be popu- 
lated. The Sublettes had penetrated to the mouth of the 
Popo Agie with wagons in 1829, and Captain Bonneville 
reached the Green Eiver with his wagons in 1832, and Fre- 
mont had taken his wagon trains as far as the South Pass 
in 1842, but Dr. Marcus Whitman outstripped them all on 
his wedding journey in 1836, when he carried his bride in a 
wagon across the continent. That historic wagon should 
have been preserved for all time, for its track across the 
mountains marked the road which Elijah White and his one 



222 History of Wyoming. 

hundred and twenty followers took in 1842, and this road 
was made a grand highway in 1843 when Whitman and his 
followers, one thousand strong, went out with the avowed 
purpose of saving Oregon to the Union. The east had been 
unmindful of the wealth that lay beyond the mountains 
and it was not until Dr. Marcus Whitman stood before 
President John Tyler and Secretary of State Daniel Web- 
ster, in his coarse fur garments and his frozen feet, and 
pleaded with them for Oregon and for the privilege of lead- 
ing to his chosen land a band of patriotic Americans who 
should in effect settle the vexed Oregon question. Daniel 
W^ebster said in after years that the ride of Marcus W^hit- 
man through the awful defiles of the Eocky Mountains in 
mid-winter saved Oregon to the United States. Such hero- 
ism, when we consider that there was not a single selfish 
motive, is the grandest in the world's history. I will not 
take space to tell the story in detail, but let me quote what 
Dr. H. H. Spalding says of that memorable journey up the 
Platte Eiver, across Wyoming and down the Columbia 
during the summer of 1843 : "And through that whole sum- 
mer Dr. Whitman was everywhere present; the minister- 
ing angel to the sick, helping the weary, encouraging the 
wavering, cheering the tired mothers, setting broken bones 
and mending wagons. He was in front, in the center, and in 
the rear. He was in the river hunting out fords through 
the quicksand; in the desert places looking for water and 
grass; among the mountains looking for passes never before 
trodden by white men; at noontide and at midnight he was 
on the alert as if the whole line was his own family, and as 
if all the flocks and herds were his own. For all this he 
neither asked nor expected a dollar from any source, and es- 
pecially did he feel repaid at the end, when, standing at his 
mission home, hundreds of his fellow pilgrims took him by 
the hand and thanked him with tears in their eyes for all 
that he had done." 

Dr. Whitman, after leading his colony into Oregon, 
went to his mission and commenced the old routine of build- 
ing, sowing, planting and teaching until on the 29th of No- 



Opening of First Highway. 225 

vember, 1847, when he and his wife were killed by praying 
Indians; that is, the class who had been converted by the 
missionaries. There had been much sickness that season 
among the Indians and the converted savages regarded the 
missionaries as responsible for it. Another cause of com- 
plaint was, Dr. Whitman had been trying to induce the In- 
dians to cultivate the ground and raise crops. The noble 
red man has always been opposed to work, leaving this to be 
done by his squaw. It is a matter of principle with him to 
be above work. No amount of religion will induce him to 
neglect an opportunity to take scalps or steal horses. In Dr. 
Whitman's case, he had fed hundreds of them for years, 
and while pretending the greatest love for him, as well aa 
the Savior, suddenly, without warning, one of the Indians 
drove a tomahawk into his brain, while others shot Mrs. 
Whitman with a rifle and killed twelve more people about 
the mission. Forty women and children were taken captives 
at the same time. Among those captured were three young 
women who were forced to become the wives of the mur- 
derers of their parents. 

Thus died the man who heads the list of western heroes, 
but before closing the story of Dr. W^hitman, I must refer 
to a letter written by him on June 22, 1844, addressed to 
Hon. James M. Porter, Secretary of War. Dr. Whitman 
had, on his visit to Washington during the winter of 1843, 
been asked to make suggestions as to the necessary aid the 
government could give to those going to Oregon. In re- 
sponse to this, he suggested the establishing of posts along 
the route to protect mountain travelers, these posts to be 
supplied with provisions for sale. Among other places, he 
urged that a settlement be made on Horse Shoe Creek, in 
what is now Wyoming, also at Laramie's Fork, another on 
the North Platte west of this point, on the Sweetwater, and 
on Green River. In his letter he says that at these places 
there is good land for cultivation and irrigation. It may 
be said to the credit of the government that it did, in part, a 
few years later, carry out the plans of Dr. Whitman by the 
purchase of the trading posts known as Fort Laramie and 



224 History of Wyoming. 

Fort Bridger. On October 14, 1847, Dr. Whitman wrote an- 
other letter to the Secretary of War. This communication 
is filled with important suggestions, and among others, a 
mail route across the continent. I quote the letter in full, 
as it contains the advanced thought of the time on the sub- 
jects discussed. The letter was written only about a month 
before Dr. Whitman was killed. 

"Waiilatpui, October 16th, 1847. 

"To the Honorable Secretary of War, to the Commit- 
tee on Indian Affairs and Oregon in the Senate and House 
of Eepresentatives of the United States, the following sug- 
gestions are respectfully submitted : 

"1st. That all stations of the United States for troops 
be kept upon the borders of some state or territory, when 
designed for the protection and regulation of Indian ter^ 
ritory. 

"2nd. That a line of posts be established along the 
traveled route to Oregon, at a distance, so far as practicable, 
of not more than fifty miles. That these posts be located so 
as to afford the best opportunity for agriculture and graz- 
ing, to facilitate the production of provisions, and the care 
of horses and cattle, for the use and support of said posts 
and to furnish supplies to all passers through Indian terri- 
tory, especially to mail carriers and troops. These posts 
should be placed wherever a bridge or ferry would be re- 
quired to facilitate the transport of the mail, and travel of 
troops or immigrants through the country. 

"In all fertile places these posts would support them- 
selves and give facilities for the several objects just named 
in transit. The other posts, situated where the soil would 
not admit of cultivation, would still be useful, as they afford 
the means of taking care of horses and other facilities for 
transporting the mails. 

"These posts could be supplied with provisions from 
others in the vicinity. A few large posts in the more fertile 
regions could supply those more in the mountains. 

"On the other hand, military posts can only be well 
supplied when near the settlements. In this way all trans- 
ports for the supply of interior military posts would be su- 
perseded. 

"The number of men at these posts might vary from 
five to twenty-five. 

"In the interior the buildings may be built with adobes, 
that is, large unburnt bricks; and in form and size should 



Opening of First Highway. 225 

much resemble the common Indian trading posts, with outer 
walls and bastions. 

''They would thus afford the same protection in any 
part of the territory as the common trading posts. 

''If provided with a small amount of goods, such goods 
could be bartered with the Indians for necessary supplies, 
as well as, on proper occasions, given to chiefs as a reward 
for punishing those who disturb or ofifend against the peace 
of the territory. 

*'By these means the Indians would become the protect- 
ors of those stations. 

"At the same time, by being under one general super- 
intendent, subject to the inspection of the government, the 
Indians may be concentrated under one general influence. 

"By such a superintendence the Indians would be pre- 
vented from fleeing from one place to another to secrete 
themselves from justice. By this simple arrangement, all 
the need of the troops in the interior would be obviated, 
unless in some instance when the Indians fail to co-operate 
with the superintendent of the post or posts for the promo- 
tion of peace. 

"When the troops shall be called for, to visit the inte- 
rior, the farming posts will be able to furnish them with 
supplies in passing so as to make their movements speedy 
and eflScient. 

"A code of laws for the Indian territory might consti- 
tute as civil magistrates the first or second in command of 
these posts. 

"The same arrangement would be equally well adapted 
for the respective routes to California and New Mexico. 
Many reasons may be urged for the establishment of these 
posts, among which are the following: 

"1st. By means of such posts all acts of the Indians 
would be under a full and complete inspection. All cases 
of murder, theft or other outrage would be brought to light 
and the proper punishment inflicted. 

"2nd. In most cases this may be done by giving the 
chiefs a small fee, that they may either punish the offend- 
ers themselves or deliver them up to the commander of the 
post. In such cases it should be held that their peers have 
adjudged them guilty before punishment is inflicted. 

"3rd. By means of these posts it will become safe and 
easy for the smallest number to pass and repass from Ore- 
gon to the states; and with a civil magistrate at each sta- 
sis) 



226 History of Wyoming. 

tion, all idle wandering white men without passports can be 
sent out of the territory. 

"4th. In this way all banditti for robbing the mails or 
travelers would be prevented, as well as all vagabonds re- 
moved from among the Indians. 

"5th. Immigrants now lose horses and other stock by 
the Indians, commencing from the border of the states to 
the Willamette. It is much to the praise of our countrymen 
that they bear so long with the Indians when our govern- 
ment has done so little to enable them to pass in safety. For 
one man to lose five or six horses is not a rare occurrence, 
which loss is felt heavily, when most of the family are com- 
pelled to walk to favor a reduced and failing team. 

"6th. The Indians along the line take courage from the 
forbearance of the immigrants. The timid Indians on the 
Columbia have this year in open day attacked several par- 
ties of wagons, numbering from two to seven, and robbed 
them, being armed with guns, bows and arrows, knives and 
axes. Mr. Glenday, from St. Charles, Missouri, the bearer 
of this communication to the states, with Mr. Bear, his 
companion, rescued seven wagons from being plundered, 
and the people from gross insults, rescuing one woman 
when the Indians were in the act of taking all the clotlies 
from her person. The men were mostly stripped of their 
shirts and pantaloons at the time. 

"7th. The occasional supplies to passing immigrants, 
as well as the aid which may be afforded to the sick and 
needy, are not the least of the important results to follow 
from these establishments. A profitable exchange to the 
posts and immigrants, as also to others journeying through 
the country, can be made by exchanging worn-out horses 
and cattle for fresh ones. 

"8th. It scarcely need be mentioned what advantage 
the government will derive by a similar exchange for the 
transport of the mail, as also for the use of troops passing 
through. 

"9th. To suppress the use of ardent spirits among the 
Indians, it will be requisite to regard the giving or furnish- 
ing of it in any manner as a breach of the laws and peace 
of the territory. All superintendents of posts, traders and 
responsible persons, should be charged on oath that they 
will not sell, give or furnish in any manner, ardent spirits 
to the Indians. 

"10th. Traders should be regarded, by reason of the 
license they have to trade in the territory, as receiving a 



Opening of First Highway. 227 

privilege, and therefore should be required to ?:ive and 
maintain good credentials of character. For rhis reason 
they may be required to send in the testimony of all their 
clerks and assistants of all ranks, to show under the solem- 
nity of an oath that the laws in this respect have not been 
violated or evaded. If at any time it becomes apparent to 
the superintendent of any post that the laws have been 
violated, he might be required to make full inquiry of all 
in any way connected with or assisting in the trade to as- 
certain whether the laws were broken or their breach con- 
nived at. This will avail for the regular licensed trader. 

"11th. For illicit traders and smugglers, it will suflfice 
to instruct commanders of posts to offer a reward to the In- 
dians for the safe delivery of any and all such persous as 
bring liquors among them, together with the liquors thus 
brought. It is only on the borders of the respective stutes 
and territories that any interruption will be found in the 
operation of these principles. 

"12th. Here also a modification of the same principle 
enacted by the several states and territories might produce 
equally happy results. 

"13th. The mail may, with a change of horses every 
fifty miles, be carried at the rate of one hundred to one 
hundred and fifty miles in twenty-four hours. 

"14th. The leading reason in favor of adopting the 
aforesaid regulations would be, that by this means the In- 
dians would become our faithful allies. In fact, they will 
be the best possible police for such a territory. This police 
can safely be relied upon when under a good supervision. 
Troops will only be required to correct their faults in case 
of extreme misconduct. 

"15th. In closing, I would remark that I have con- 
versed with many of the principal fur traders of the Ameri- 
can and Hudson Bay Companies, all of whom agree that 
the several regulations suggested in this communication 
will accomplish the object proposed, were suitable men 
appointed for its management and execution. 
"Kespectfully yours, 

"MARCUS WHITMAN." 

The story of Dr. Marcus Whitman has been told,, 
but the influence of the man on western civilization can 
never be estimated by the historian. His deeds performed 
and suggestions made had their influence in the formation 
and settlement of these western states. Wherever we be- 



228 History of Wyoming. 

hold him — let it be at South Pass reverently taking posses- 
sion of the country in the name of God and the United 
States; teaching the Indians at the Waiilatpui Mission; 
crossing the Rocky Mountains at the dead of winter; pursu- 
ing his way across Grand River, in spite of ice and deep 
water; pleading before President Tyler and Daniel Web- 
ster; leading his caravan across the mountains and desert, 
or giving advice to the leading statesmen of the land — he is 
the same earnest, patriotic, God-fearing man of deeds, and 
the world is better for his example. Great leaders have 
been the salvation of armies, states and nations, and great 
minds have in all ages benefited their fellow men. Though 
at the time of his death he was only forty-five jears old, 
he had done more for his country than most grejit men ac- 
complish in a life of three-score and ten. 



Father Peter De Smet. 229 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

FATHER PETER DE SMET. 

His Arrival in Wyoming and Passage Up the North Platte and 
Sweetwater — The Flatheads Meet Him at Green River — Won- 
derful Interest Shown by the Indians in this Priest — He 
Tells of His Experiences and Future Labors — Many Visits to 
Wyoming — Incident Among the Crows — Supposed Knowledge of 
Gold in the Big Horn Mountains — His Death at St. Louis — 
What is Thought of Father De Smet in Wyoming. 

In the regular order of progress of the missionaries 
through Wyoming came Father Peter De Smet. He ar- 
rived six years later than Lee and five years later than Par- 
ker and Whitman, but he was no less worthy of the cause 
of religion. I am glad that I have been fortunate enough 
to procure a portrait of this remarkable man. A study of 
the lines of character to be found in his face will to some 
extent reveal his strength and courage. See poi'trait in 
this volume. With the contentions of the Protestants and 
Catholics regarding the call by the Flathead Indians I have 
nothing to do. I will simply tell the story of the arrival of 
Father De Smet and his labors in what is now the State of 
Wyoming. This good priest was born in Termonde, Bel- 
gium, on January 31, 1801. At an early age he entered the 
Society of Jesus and in due time was sent to America to 
work in the missionary field. He served in Missouri and 
Kansas for some time, but his health giving way he returned 
to his native land. In the year 1837 he again came to this 
country and on April 5, 1840, left St. Louis for the west, 
joining at Westport the annual expedition of the American 
Fur Company when it was ready to depart for the Rocky 
Mountains. In this expedition were thirty trappers and an 
Iroquois Indian named Ignace. Father De Smet was m the 
special care of this Indian, who had promised to -conduct 
him to the Flathead tribe. Peter, another Iroquois, had 



230 History of Wyoming. 

departed for the west some months before and had carried 
the news to the Flatheads that the "Black Robe" wouhl be 
at Green River in the spring, accompanied by Ignace. The 
Flatheads were camped that season on Eight Mile Creek, 
Bitter Root Valley. The chief, when the time came for the 
arrival of the train from Westport, detailed ten of his trust- 
ed warriors to meet the man of God and bring him to camp, 
and at the same time announced that he with the whole 
tribe would follow on. 

On June 30th the caravan with which Father De Smet 
was traveling reached Green River, and here the meeting 
between the Flathead warriors and "Black Robe" took 
place. This was on Tuesday, and Father De Smet spent the 
balance of the w^eek visiting among the Indian traders and 
trappers, of which there were great numbers at the ren- 
dezvous that season. 

Here, on the following Sunday, July 5, Father De 
Smet celebrated mass before a motley, yet most respectful, 
crowd of Indians, whites, fur traders, hunters and trappers. 
The altar was erected on a little elevation on the prairie 
and was decorated with boughs and garlands of wild flow- 
ers. The temple was the most magnificent of God's own 
making, having for its vault the azure sky and for space and 
floor the vast, boundless expanse of wilderness. The spot 
was afterward known and pointed out by the Indians as 
"The Prairie of the Mass." 

On the following day Father De Smet bade adieu to 
his traveling companions of the plains, and with his In- 
dian escort started northward towards the headwaters of 
the Snake River. Some eight days' journey through the 
mountain defiles brought them to the main body of the 
Flatheads. They were encamped in the Pierre Hole Valley, 
on the line that separates east Idaho from Wyoming, south 
of Pleasant Valley, having come that far, a distance of 
some 800 miles, to meet the priest. Their number had been 
increased from the start, and on the road by detached bands 
of other tribes — Nez Perces, Pend d'Oreilles and Kalispels, 
numbering, all told, some 1,600 souls. His entrance into 



Father Peter De Smet. 231 

the camp was a real triumph, in which all, men, women and 
children, took part. 

In the volume, "Indians and Whites of the Northwest," 
I find the following items regarding the journey of this re- 
markable missionary: 

" 'Immediately the whole village was in commotion,' 
wrote Father De Smet to his friend. Father Barbelin, 'men, 
women and children all came to meet me and shake hands, 
and I was conducted in triumph to the lodge of the great 
chief, who had the appearance of a patriarch.' 

"Surrounded by the principal men of the two tribes 
and their warriors, the great chief, whose name was The 
Big Face, thus addressed Father De Smet: 

" 'This day the Great Spirit has accomplished our 
wishes and our hearts are swelled with joy. Our desire to 
be instructed was so great that three times had we deputed 
our people to the Great Black Robe in St. Louis to obtain 
priests. Kow, Father, speak, and we will comply with all 
that you will tell us. Show us the way we have to go to 
the home of the Great Spirit,' 'Then,' says Father De Smet, 
^he resigned his authority to me, but I replied that he mis- 
took the object of my coming among them; that I had no 
other object in view but the salvation of their souls and that 
they were to remain as they were until circumstances 
should allow them to settle in a permanent spot.' 

"After arranging on the hours proper for prayers and 
instructions, one of the chiefs brought Father De Smet a 
little bell, with which he might give the sign and call them 
together. 'The same evening,' continues Father De Smet, 
'about 2,000 persons were assembled before my lodge to 
recite night prayers in common. The prayers having been 
said, a solemn canticle of praise, of their own composition, 
was sung by these children of the mountains to the Author 
of their being. It would be impossible for me,' he adds 'to 
describe the emotions I felt at this moment. I wept for 
and admired the wonderful ways of that kind Providence, 
which, in His infinite mercy, had deigned to depute me to 
these poor people, to announce to them the glad tidings of 
salvation.' 

"Soon after the whole camp was on the move up Hen- 
ry's Fork of the Snake River to Henry's Lake, its source. 
Here Father De Smet, July 28rd, ascended one of the peaks 
on top of the main range and engraved on a soft stone the 
following inscription: 'Sanctus Ignatius Patronus Monti- 



232 History of Wyoming. 

um, die 23 Julii, 1840.' And here also, his soul brimful of 
emotion at the inspiring solemnity and grandeur of the 
scene before him, broke forth in the following rhyme, which 
is transcribed from his diary: 

" 'Ye Rockies hail! majestic mounts! 
Of future bliss the favored shrine! 
For you God's Heart of gifts Divine 
Opens this day its precious founts.' 

"Moving thence a short distance, they crossed what is 
now the Idaho line and camped in Montana, first at the 
headwaters of Beaverhead River, not far from Red Rock 
Lake; then along the banks of the same river and in the 
Big Hole Basin; finally on Jefferson Island, at the lower 
end of the Boulder Valley, near the three forks of the Mis- 
souri. Thus, the bank of the Beaverhead-Jefiferson River 
is the spot where Christianity was first preached in Mon- 
tana. 

"Father De Smet's missionary labors began with the 
day of his arrival, and never were there more docile pupils 
than these poor children of the forest. In the compara- 
tively short time he was with them, he prepared several 
hundred of them for baptism and instructed about 1,000 
others. 

"The following is a copy of a letter addressed by Father 
De Smet from his field of missionary labors to the Very 
Rev. F. N. Blanchet, V. G., (afterwards the first Archbishop 
of Portland, Oregon) who had crossed the Rocky Mountains 
two years previous and was at this time evangelizing the 
French Canadians and Indians in Oregon, near the coast: 
" 'Fork of Jefferson River, August 10, 1840. 

" 'Very Reverend Sir: Your Reverence will be glad to 
learn that Mgr. Rosati, Bishop of St. Louis, in concert with 
my provincial superior of the Society of Jesus in Missouri, 
and in compliance with the desires often repeated of the 
Flatheads, Pend d'Oreilles and a great number of Nez Per- 
ces, has sent me to the Rocky Mountains to visit these mis- 
sions. I have found the two first in the most desirable dis- 
position, well resolved to stand by the true children of Jesus 
Christ. The few weeks I had the happiness to pass among 
them have been the happiest of my life and give me the firm 
hope, with the grace of God, to see soon in this country, sO' 
long forsaken, the fervor of the first Christians. Since I am 
among them I have three, four and five instructions daily. 
They cannot be tired; all come to my lodge at the first ring- 
ing of the bell. They are anxious to lose none of my words 



Father Peter De Smet. 233 

relating to these instructions on these heavenly subjects, 
and if I had the strength to speak to them, they would will- 
ingly listen to me whole days and nights. I have baptized 
about 200 of their little children and I expect to baptize in 
a short time 150 adults.' 

"This letter was sent through Indians and Hudson Bay 
Company men to Colville, and thence brought to St. Paul, 
Oregon, and handed to the Very Rev. F. N. Blanchet by his 
missionary companion, Rev. Modest Demers. 

"After two months of constant missionary work, Father 
De Smet bade farewell to his newly converted children of the 
mountains, with the promise to return in the spring with 
other black robes. 

"From the Gallatin Valley, where he parted with the 
main body of the tribe August 27th, he now crossed over to 
the Yellowstone country, being escorted for a considerable 
distance by a number of Flathead warriore. His course lay 
through the land of the Crows, Blackfeet, Gros Ventres, 
Assiniboines and the Sioux, all hostile to the Flatheads and 
their friends. 

"Passing an Assiniboine party in safety, he and his 
companions were surrounded by a fierce war party of Black- 
feet. The long black gown of the missionary, the crucifix 
which glittered on his bosom whenever he traveled through 
the Indian country, arrested the eyes of the Blackfeet 
chief. 'Who art thou?' asked he. 'He is a Black Robe,' said 
Father De Smet's companion, 'the man who speaks to the 
Great Spirit.' In a moment all was changed. Invited to 
eat with the missionary, the chief showed still greater re- 
spect when he saw him address the Great Spirit before the 
frugal meal. This ended, twelve Indians stretched a buffalo 
robe before the Father, with motions indicating their wish 
that he should be seated upon it. Supposing it was in- 
tended for a mat, he did so; but they raised it aloft, and 
so bore him in triumph to their village. There, too, he was 
received and treated with every honor. 'It is the happiest 
day of my life,' said the chief. 'It is the first time that we 
see among us the Black Robe, the man who speaks to the 
Great Spirit. These are the braves of my tribe. I have 
brought thee here that the memory of thy presence may be 
forever engraved on their memories.' 

"Father De Smet arrived in St. Louis on the eve of the 
new year, and his safe return sent a thrill of joy through 
the souls of his brethren. On hearing from him of the good 
dispositions of the Flatheads, of the large and ripe field that 



234 History of Wyoming. 

was waiting for laborers, all burned with a desire to go and 
help him gather in the harvest." 

Father De Smet returned to the mountains again in 
the early spring of 1841, following once more the North 
Platte, the Sweetwater, and was met at the south point 
of the Wind River Range (South Pass) by ten lodges of the 
Flathead Indians. He was conducted through Wyoming by 
a noted trapper and guide named John Gray, who will be 
remembered by many of our pioneers even to this day. His 
interpreter was another well known character, Gabriel 
Prudhomme, a half-breed, also two brothers, Charles and 
Francis Ignace. The priest spent some little time in south- 
western Wyoming and then went on to Fort Hall and finally 
to old Fort Owen in Montana. His services among the Flat- 
heads to all appearances were productive of great good. 
Lieutenant John Mullan of the United States army, who 
accompanied Isaac J. Stephens on an expedition into Mon- 
tana thirteen years afterwards, thus writes of the condi- 
tion of these Indians at that time, a condition brought 
about by the labors of Father De Smet. 

"When I arrived at the camp, with my guide, three or 
four men came to meet me and we were invited to enter thq 
lodge of the great chief. With much eagerness they took 
care of our horses and unsaddled them and led them to 
drink. As soon as all the camp had been informed of the 
arrival of the white man among them, the principal men 
of the tribe collected at the lodge of the chief. All being 
assembled, at a signal given by the chief they prayed aloud. 
I was struck with astonishment, for I had not the least ex- 
pectation of such conduct on their part. The whole assem- 
bly knelt in the most solemn manner and with the greatest 
reverence they adored the Lord. I asked myself, 'Am I 
among Indians? Am I among people whom all the world 
call savages?' I could scarcely believe my eyes. The 
thought that these men were penetrated with religious sen- 
timent so profound and beautiful overwhelmed me with 
amazement." 

Father De Smet was in and out of Wyoming for many 
years. He paid a number of visits to the Crows and passed 
over all that country lying north of Big Wind River on both 
sides of the Big Horn River. He visited the Powder River 



Father Peter De Smet. 235 

country and many times passed over the ground where Buf- 
falo now stands. Ten miles north of Buffalo is a beautiful 
lake which is named after him. The Crows at first received 
him as the other Indians had done, with courtesy and kind- 
ness, but after a time the awe and veneration inspired by 
his black gown and large gold cross, which hung on his 
breast, wore off and they became slightly sceptical in regard 
to his being a direct representative of the Great Spirit. One 
day a prominent chief of the tribe showed his scepticism to 
the good father, in a marked manner, by saying to him that 
if he would go out on the prairie where an old buffalo bull 
was grazing and put his hands on the animal's head, it 
would be proof to the tribe that he was the Great Spirit, 
but if the buffalo should kill him they would know that he 
was not protected by supernatural power. The priest saw 
that he must run the risk of attempting to perform what 
seemed very near a miracle. He boldly advanced toward 
the old bull, who as he approached continued to graze. 
Nearer and nearer to the animal he advanced, and finally 
when only a few yards distant the huge creature raised his 
head and gazed intently at the black gown and flashing 
cross, and finally the priest placed his hand on the bull's 
head, the animal the while seeming to be transfixed to the 
spot. Having accomplished his mission. Father De Smet 
turned and walked back to the group of Indians, who were 
awaiting the test. The savages received him as they would 
one possessing Divine power. They verily believed from 
that moment that he was under the protection of the Great 
Spirit, and quickly the incident spread through the entire 
Crow nation and even to adjoining tribes. Many Indians 
in the northwest, I am told, still relate this story in proof of 
the God-given power of Father De Smet. 

Many old residents of Wyoming today remember this 
good priest and are ever anxious to testify to his worthy 
deeds. During his travels in this state he investigated and 
became acquainted with the geological formation of the 
country. He visited extensively in Montana, Idaho, and 
even to the mouth of the Columbia, but he seemed to find 



236 History of Wyoming. 

much more in Wyoming to interest him than in any other 
place. His name is inseparably connected with the Big 
Horn country. Reverend Father Meaphlie, a chaplain in 
the United States army, is authority for a story which has 
often been related, in which the Father told of the In- 
dians showing him handfuls of nuggets which they pro- 
posed manufacturing into bullets for an old pistol which the 
Father had given to a prominent chief. De Smet was really 
taken to the spot from whence the nuggets were obtained, 
and found it to be immensely rich. But he taught the sav- 
ages the value of it, told them their beautiful country would 
soon be desecrated by white miners if the facts became 
known, and in return was compelled to promise never to 
reveal the secret of its location. To the question once asked 
him by the Bishop of his church at Omaha, "Are those mines 
on the Pacific coast the ones you have told about?" the 
Father answered in the negative, and then sorrowfully 
added, "but I fear it will not be many years until they are 
discovered, and then what will become of my poor Indians?" 
To army officers and others he has often admitted his know- 
ledge of those mines in the northwest, when closely pressed 
to do so, and many persons are now living who have tried in 
various ways to extract more definite knowledge from him. 
Most of these believe that a careful prospecting of the Big 
Horn and Wind River regions will certainly reveal the terra 
incognito, because it is understood that the old Montana 
mines were not meant, and that no spot yet discovered in 
the Black Hills answers to his glowing description. 

Says Strayhorn in his "Handbook of Wyoming" : "On 
Father De Smet's return from one of his long trips, just as 
the discovery of gold in California was made known, he 
heard some acquaintances expressing doubt as to the won- 
derful stories from the west. Turing to them, he said : *I 
do not doubt it. I am sure there is gold in California;' and 
after a moment's pause he quietly added: *I know where 
gold exists in the Rocky Mountains in such abundance that, 
if made known, it would astonish the world. It is even 
richer than California!' Among those who knew him best 



Father Peter De Smet. 237 

his statements were taken for literal truth, and when asked 
to corroborate the assertion quoted he would make no ex- 
planation, merely adhering to it and saying that he had 
promised the Indians never to describe the location of this 
wealth." 

In 1868 Father De Smet visited Cheyenne and remained 
for some days, and while there gave an interesting account 
of northern Wyoming. Said he: "There are many lovely 
valleys in that section, capable of sustaining a large popu- 
lation. The mountain scenery is truly grand, and the vast 
forests of timber wonderful and invaluable. Often have I 
seen evidences of mineral wealth in this wonderful country 
at different places. The whole range of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, from New Mexico to British America, is mineral bear- 
ing. In many places the streams are stocked with trout, 
and game was abundant wherever I went. The climate is 
delightful, often reminding me of the climate of the south 
of France, near the Pyrenees. I have ridden through some 
of these rich valleys where the grass was so rank and tall 
that my head was not visible above its top when seated on 
horseback." 

Father Peter De Smet died at St. Louis, May 23, 1873, 
in which city his remains were interred. This pious priest 
possessed many qualities which go to make up the man, 
and his memory will long be cherished not only in Wyo- 
ming but in the adjoining state of Montana and along the 
full length of the Columbia River. Let no one have the idea 
that Father De Smet was not fond of telling of his experi- 
ences among the Indians and of describing the country 
through which he traveled. He rode on horseback thous- 
ands of miles, and the whole territory of Wyoming,Montana, 
Idaho, Oregon and Washington was clearly mapped out in 
his mind. He wrote many letters which were published in 
Belgium. In 1843 these letters were re-edited and appeared 
in book form under the title of "Letters and Sketches." In 
1847 another volume appeared under the title "Oregon Mis- 
sions." He published at least two volumes in America 
which are said to contain much valuable information. I 



238 History of Wyoming. 

have met many people who were intimately acquainted 
with this remarkable man, and they one and all speak of 
him as possessing generous and genial qualities. Some re- 
gret that he gave himself up to the missionary cause, claim- 
ing that in other walks of life he would have become a giant 
among men. 



CHAPTER XIX. 



FREMONT'S EXPLORATIONS IN WYOMING. 

The First Military Expedition to Visit Our State — The Main De- 
tachment Follows the North Platte to Fort Laramie — Fre- 
mont with a Small Party Visits Fort St. Vrain and Passes North 
TO Fort Laramie — Description of the Fort as it Appeared in 
1842 — Indians Invite Them to Partake of a Dog Feast — Indian 
Chiefs Warn the Party that if They go Further West, will 
BE Killed — Fremont's Speech of Defiance — Expedition Goes 
Forward — Observations Regarding Formations, Soil, Climate, 
Etc. 

The exploring expedition of Lieutenant John C. Fre- 
mont into Wyoming in 1842 was an important event in our 
early history. The commander of the expedition, though 
only twenty-nine years old, was a ripe scholar, a keen ob- 
server, and withal possessed the genius of an explorer. He 
left throughout Wyoming and the Rocky Mountains in- 
delible footprints and gave to the world a comprehensive 
knowledge of things as they were in our country at that 
time. Not only did he bring to his task full and complete 
preparation for the great work which was to make his name 
imperishable and give him a place on the brightest pages 
of the western half of the Republic, but with his superior 
ability charmed the masses by his written reports published 
by the government in 1845. The cloud of mystery which had 
covered mountain and plain in Wyoming was cleared away 
by this intrepid explorer, and the locality was given its 
proper place on the map of the west. 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 239 

John Charles Fremont was born January 21, 1813, at 
Savannah, Georgia, while his mother was on a visit to that 
city, the residence of the family being at Charleston, South 
Carolina. He was a graduate of the Charleston College 
and excelled in Greek, Latin and Mathematics. An act of 
Congress passed April 30, 1824, authorized the President 
of the United States "to employ two or more skillful civil 
engineers, and such officers of the corps of engineers, or who 
may be detailed to do duty with that corps, as he may think 
proper, to cause the necessary surveys, plans and estimates 
to be made of the routes of such roads and canals as he may 
deem of national importance, in a commercial or military 
point of view, or for the transportation of the public mail." 
Under this act, Fremont received his first appointment in 
that branch of the public service. He was selected by 
President Jackson as an associate engineer to serve with 
Captain Williams of the Topographical Corps, and he 
served in this capacity in a survey of the Cherokee country 
in the winter of 1837 and 1838. Under the act passed July 
5, 1838, to increase the military establishment, the fourth 
section of that act required that the corps of topographical 
engineers should be organized and increased, by regular 
promotion in the same, so that the said corps should consist 
of one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, four majors, ten cap- 
tains, ten first lieutenants and ten second lieutenants; and 
the fifth section ordained that the vacancies created by said 
organization, over and above those which could be filled by 
the corps itself, should be taken from the army, and from 
such as it may be deemed advisable of the civil engineers 
employed under the act of April 30th, 1824. 

This latter clause let in Mr. Fremont. It was probably 
designed to do so, as his friend and patron, Mr. Poinsett, 
was then Secretary of War. He was accordingly commis- 
sioned two days afterwards, on the 7th of July, 1838, as a 
second lieutenant of the topographical engineers. About 
this time he had been transferred to the theater of his 
fame, the field where his great work in life was to be done. 
The same year that Fremont was appointed, the work of sur- 



240 History of Wyoming. 

veying the northwest and west was commenced and Lieu- 
tenant Fremont, under Mr. Mcholet, a learned and distin- 
guished astronomer and a man of science, entered the field 
and the whole country was explored up to the British line. 
In the course of these surveys there were seventy thousand 
meteorological observations, and the topography was mi- 
nutely determined by the proper calculations at innumera- 
ble points. The map thus constructed has been the source 
from which all subsequent ones relating to that region have 
been derived. On October 19, 1841, Lieutenant Fremont 
was married to Jessie Benton, the daughter of Thomas H. 
Benton, a United States Senator from the State of Missouri. 
The young lady's parents raised a storm of objections and 
the newspapers of the time were full of the affair, but Miss 
Benton was the daughter of her father and it was not 
strange that she should have a will of her own. It was a 
happy marriage and Senator Benton early was reconciled 
to his daughter's choice, and that distinguished statesman 
in after years became very proud of his son-in-law. 

On May 2, 1842, Lieutenant Fremont left Washington 
with his instructions to explore the country lying between 
the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains and along the 
lines of the Kansas and Platte Rivers. He reached St. 
Louis May 22nd and there outfitted the expedition and pro- 
ceeded by steamboat to the mouth of the Kansas River and 
made his final preparations at the trading post of Cyprian 
Chouteau, which was located twelve miles up the stream 
last mentioned. He brought with him twenty-one men 
recruited at St. Louis. These men were required to enter 
the service of the United States for the purposes of the ex- 
pedition. He also engaged Charles Preuss as assistant to- 
pographical engineer, L. Maxwell as hunter and Christopher 
Carson as guide. The twenty-one men recruited at St. Louis 
were Clement Lambert, J. B. L'Esperance, J. B. Leferve, 
Benjamin Potra, Louis Gouin, J. B. Dumes, Basil Lajeu- 
nesse, Francois Tessier, Benjamin Cadotte, Joseph Clement, 
Daniel Simonds, Leonard Benoit, Michel Morly, Baptiste 
Bernier, Honore Ayot, Francois Latulippe, Francois Ba- 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 241 

deau, Louis Menard, Joseph Ruelle, Moise Chardonnais, 
Auguste Jauisse, Raphael Prone. In addition to those 
named were Henry Brant of St. Louis, aged 19, and Ran- 
dolph, the twelye-year-old son of Senator Benton. The 
party was well mounted and armed with the exception of 
eight men who conducted as many carts containing stores, 
baggage and instruments. The carts were drawn by two 
mules each. There were a few loose horses and four oxen. 
The expedition left Chouteau's trading post on the morning 
of June 10th and proceeded west on the south bank of the 
Kansas River for a distance of 100 miles, where they crossed 
that stream and taking a northwesterly course reached the 
Platte twenty miles below Grand Island on June 26th. Go- 
ing up the river, they arrived at the forks of the North and 
South Platte on July 2nd. A major part of the force in 
charge of Clement Lambert, was sent up the North Fork, 
with instructions to proceed as far as the Laramie Fork 
and there await Fremont, who, accompanied by Mr. Preuss, 
Maxwell, Bernier, Ayot and Basil Lajeunesse, w^ent up the 
South Platte as far as St. Vrain Fort, for the purpose of se- 
curing some extra mules and at the same time informing 
himself as to the feasibility of connecting the South Platte 
country with the settlements by a line of posts from the 
Arkansas River. On the second day out Mr. Preuss was 
sent back to join the main division, his horse being in no 
condition to stand the journey. From St. Vrain they pro- 
ceeded down the South Platte a short distance, then struck 
across the country and made direct for the Black Hills, 
crossing the Cache la Poudre, then continuing north to 
Crow Creek, entering Wyoming about thirty miles south- 
east of Cheyenne, proceeding thence north to Lodge Pole 
Creek, Horse Creek and through Goshen's Hole, reaching 
the North Platte thirteen miles below Fort Laramie, and on 
July 15th they reached that post. An extract from Fre- 
mont's official report will show the condition of things at 
the mouth of the Laramie at that early day. From this on I 
shall use this report freely, as it is a most valuable official 
document and pertains exclusively to the history of Wyo- 
-(16) 



242 History of Wyoming. 

ming. It is fifty-three years since it was published by Con- 
gress and few of the rising generation have ever had an op- 
portunity of seeing it, as it has been out of print for more 
than forty years. During the rush to Oregon, Utah and 
California in 1847-8-9 this report was in great demand and 
thousands of copies were distributed by members of Con- 
gress to their constituents. In those days every party of 
emigrants was supplied with these reports and the book 
was consulted daily by persons crossing Wyoming. The 
report reads as follows, commencing with a description of 
the old Adams fort at the mouth of the Laramie River: 

''Like the post on the South Fork (St. Vrain), it 
was built of earth and still unfinished, being enclosed with 
walls (or rather houses) on three of the sides and open on the 
fourth to the river. A few hundred yards brought us in 
view of the post of the American Fur Company, called Fort 
John, or Laramie. This was a large post, having more the 
air of military construction than the fort at the mouth of the 
river. It is on the left bank, on a rising ground some twen- 
ty-five feet above the water; and its lofty walls, white- 
washed and picketed, with the large bastions at the angles, 
gave it quite an imposing appearance in the uncertain light 
of evening. A cluster of lodges, which the language told us 
belonged to the Sioux Indians, was pitched under the walls, 
and, with the fine background of the Black Hills and the 
prominent peak of Laramie mountain, strongly drawn in 
the clear light of the sky, where the sun had already set, 
the whole formed at the moment a strikingly beautiful pic- 
ture. From the company at St. Louis I had letters for Mr. 
Boudeau, the gentleman in charge of the post, by whom I 
was received with great hospitality and an efficient kind- 
ness which was valuable to me during my stay in the coun- 
try. I found our people encamped on the bank, a short dis- 
tance above the fort. All were well ; and, in the enjoyment 
of a bountiful supper, which coffee and bread made luxuri- 
ous to us, we soon forgot the fatigues of the last ten days. 

"I walked up to visit our friends at the fort, which is a 
quadrangular structure, built of clay, after the fashion of 
the Mexicans, who are generally employed in building them. 
The walls are fifteen feet high, surmounted with a wooden 
palisade, and form a portion of ranges of houses, which 
entirely surround a yard of about one hundred and thirty 
*>eet square. Every apartment has its door and window — 



Frcmonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 243 

all, of course, opening on the inside. There are two en- 
trances, opposite each other, and midway the wall, one of 
which is a large and public entrance; the other smaller and 
more private — a sort of postern gate. Over the great en- 
trance is a square tower, with loop-holes, and, like the rest 
of the work, built of earth. At two of the angles, and diag- 
onally opposite each other, are large square bastions, so 
arranged as to sweep the four faces of the walls. 

''This post belongs to the American Fur Company, and 
at the time of our visit was in charge of Mr. Boudeau. Two 
of the company's clerks, Messrs. Galpin and Kellogg, were 
with him, and he had in the fort about sixteen men. As 
usual, these had found wives among the Indian squaws; a!id 
with the usual accompaniment of children, the place had 
quite a populous appearance. It is hardly necessary to say 
that the object of the establishment is trade with the neigh- 
boring tribes, who, in the course of the year, generally make 
two or three visits to the fort. In addition to this, traders, 
with a small outfit, are constantly kept amongst them. 
The articles of trade consist, on the one side, almost entirely 
of buffalo robes, and on the other of blankets, calicoes, guns, 
powder and lead, with such cheap ornaments as glass beads, 
looking glasses, rings, vermilion for painting, tobacco, and 
principally, and in spite of the prohibition, of spirits, 
brought into the country in the form of alcohol, and diluted 
with water before sold. While mentioning this fact, it is 
but justice to the American Fur Company to state that 
throughout the country I have always found them strenu- 
ously opposed to the introduction of spirituous liquors. 
But, in the present state of things, when the country is sup- 
plied with alcohol, when a keg of it will purchase from an 
Indian everything he possesses — his furs, his lodge, his 
horses, and even his wife and children — and when any vaga- 
bond who has money enough to purchase a mule can go into 
a village and trade against them successfully, without with- 
drawing entirely from the trade, it is impossible for them 
to discontinue its use. In their opposition to this practice 
the country is sustained, not only by their obligation to the 
laws of the country and the welfare of the Indians, but 
clearly, also, on grounds of policy; for with heavy and ex- 
pensive outfits, they contend at manifestly great disadvan- 
tages against the numerous independent and unlicensed 
traders who enter the country from various avenues, from 
the United States and from Mexico, having no other stock 
in trade than some kegs of liquor, which they sell at the 



244 History of Wyoming. 

modest price of thirty-six dollars per gallon. The differ- 
ence between the regular trader and the coureur des hois 
is, that the latter has no permanent interest, and gets what 
he can, from every Indian he meets, even at the risk of dis- 
abling him from doing anything more at hunting. 

'The fort had a very cool and clean appearance. The 
great entrance, in which I found the gentlemen assembled, 
and which was floored, and about fifteen feet long, made a 
pleasant, shaded seat, through which the breeze swept con- 
stantly; for this country is famous for high winds. In the 
course of conversation I learned the following particulars, 
which will explain the condition of the country. For sev- 
eral years the Cheyennes and Sioux had gradually become 
more and more hostile to the whites, and in the latter part 
of August, 1841, had had a severe engagement with a party 
of sixty men under command of Mr. Frapp of St. Louis. The 
Indians lost eight or ten warriors, and the whites had their 
leader and four men killed. This fight took place on the 
waters of Snake River; and it was this party, on their re- 
turn under Mr. Bridger, which had spread so much alarm 
ainong my people. In the course of the spring two other 
small parties had been cut off by the Sioux — one on their 
return from the Crow nation, and the other among the 
Black Hills. The emigrants to Oregon and Mr. Bridger's 
party met here, a few days before our arrival. Division 
and misunderstandings had grown up among them; they 
were already somewhat disheartened by the fatigue of their 
long and wearisome journey, and the feet of their cattle 
had become so much worn as to be scarcely able to travel. 
In this situation they were not likely to find encouragement 
in the hostile attitude of the Indians, and the new and un- 
expected difficulties which sprang up before them. They 
were told that the entire country was entirely swept of 
grass and that few or no buffalo were to be found on their 
line of route; and, with their weakened animals, it would be 
impossible for them to transport their heavy wagons over 
the mountains. Under these circumstances, they disposed 
of their wagons and cattle at the forts, selling them at the 
prices they paid in the states, and taking in exchange coffee 
and sugar at one dollar a pound, and miserable worn-out 
horses, which died before they reached the mountains. Mr. 
Boudeau informed me that he had purchased thirty, and the 
lower fort eighty head of fine cattle, some of them of the 
Durham breed. Mr. Fitzpatrick, whose name and high 
reputation are familiar to all who interest themselves in the 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 245 

history of the country, had reached Laramie in company 
with Mr. Bridger, and the emigrants were fortunate enough 
to obtain his services to guide them as far as the British 
post of Fort Hall, about two hundred and fifty miles beyond 
the South Pass of the mountains. They had started for this 
post on the 4th of July, and immediately after their de- 
parture a war party of three hundred and fifty braves set 
out on their trail. As their principal chief or partisan had 
lost some relations in the recent fight, and had sworn to kill 
the first whites on his path, it was supposed that their in- 
tention was to attack the party, should a favorable oppor- 
tunity offer, or, if they were foiled in their principal object 
by the vigilance of Mr. Fitzpatrick, content themselves with 
stealing horses and cutting off stragglers. These had been 
gone but a few days previous to our arrival. 

"The effect of the engagement with Mr. Frapp had been 
greatly to irritate the hostile spirit of the savages; and im- 
mediately subsequent to that event, the Gros Ventre In- 
dians had united with the Ogalallas and Cheyennes and 
taken the field in great force — so far as I could ascertain 
to the amount of eight hundred lodges. Their object was 
to make an attack on a camp of Snake and Crow Indians, 
and a body of about one hundred whites, who had made 
a rendezvous somewhere in the Green River Valley, or on 
the Sweetwater. After spending some time in buffalo hunt- 
ing in the neighborhood of Medicine Bow Mountain, they 
were to cross over to the Green Kiver waters and return to 
Laramie by way of the South Pass and the Sweetwater 
Valley. According to the calculation of the Indians, Mr. 
Boudeau informed me that they were somewhere near the 
head of the Sweetwater. I subsequently learned that the 
party led by Mr. Fitzpatrick was overtaken by their pursu- 
ers near Rock Independence, in the valley of the Sweet- 
water; but his skill and resolution saved them from sur- 
prise, and, small as his force was, they did not venture to 
attack him openly. Here they lost one of their party by an 
accident, and continuing up the valley, they came suddenly 
upon the large village. From these they met with a doubt- 
ful reception. Long residence and familiar acquaintance 
had given to Mr. Fitzpatrick great personal influence among 
them and a portion of them were disposed to let him pass 
quietly; but by far the greater number were inclined to hos- 
tile measures ; and the chiefs spent the whole of one night, 
during which they kept the little party in the midst of them, 
in council, debating the question of attacking them the next 



246 History of Wyoming. 

day; but the influence of the 'Broken Hand,' as they called 
Mr. Fitzpatrick (one of his hands having been shattered by 
the bursting of a gun), at length prevailed, and obtained for 
them an unmolested passage; but they sternly assured him 
that this path was no longer open, and that any party of 
whites which should hereafter be found upon it would meet 
with certain destruction. From all that I have been able 
to learn, I have no doubt that the emigrants owe their lives 
to Mr. Fitzpatrick. 

"Thus it would appear that the country was swarming 
with scattered war parties; and when I heard during the 
day the various contradictory and exaggerated rumors 
which were incessantly repeated to them, I was not sur- 
prised that so much alarm prevailed among my men, Car- 
son, one of the best and most experienced mountaineers, 
fully supported the opinion given by Bridger, of the dan- 
gerous state of the country, and openly expressed his con- 
viction that we could not escape without some sharp en- 
counters with the Indians. In addition to this, he made 
his will; and among the circumstances which were con- 
stantly occurring to increase their alarm, this was the most 
unfortunate, and I found that a number of my party had 
become so much intimidated that they had requested to be 
discharged at this ylace. I dined today at Fort Platte, 
which has been mentioned as situated at the junction of 
Laramie River with the Nebraska. Here I heard a con- 
firmation of the statements given above. The party of war- 
riors which had started a few days since on the trail of the 
emigrants was expected back in fourteen days, to join their 
village, with which their families and the old men had re- 
mained. The arrival of the latter was hourly expected; and 
some Indians have just come in who had left thenL,on the 
Laramie Fork, about twenty miles above. Mr. Bissonette, 
one of the traders belonging to Fort Platte, urged the pro- 
priety of taking with me an interpreter and two or three 
old men of the village; in which case, he thought, there 
would be little or no hazard in encountering any of the war 
parties. The principal danger was in being attacked before 
they should know who we were. 

"They had confused ideas of the number and power of 
our people, and dreaded to bring upon themselves the mili- 
tary force of the United States. This gentleman, who spoke 
the language fluently, ofl'ered his services to accompany me 
80 far as the Red Buttes. He was desirous to join the large 
party on its return, for purposes of trade, and it would suit 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 247 

his views as well as my own to go with us to the Buttes; 
beyond which point it would be impossible to prevail on a 
Sioux to venture, on account of their fears of the Crows. 
From Fort Laramie to the Red Buttes, by the ordinary road, 
is one hundred and thirty-five miles; and, though only on 
the threshold of danger, it seemed better to secure the ser- 
vices of an interpreter for the partial distance than to have 
none at all. 

"So far as frequent interruption from the Indians 
would allow, we occupied ourselves in making some astro- 
nomical calculations, and bringing up the general map to 
this stage of our journey; but the tent was generally occu- 
pied by a succession of our ceremonious visitors. Some 
came for presents, and others for information of our object 
in coming to the country; now and then one would dart up 
to the tent on horseback, jerk off his trappings and stand 
silently at the door, holding his horse by the halter, signify- 
ing his desire to trade. Occasionally a savage would stalk 
in with an invitation to a feast of honor, a dog feast, and 
deliberately sit down and wait quietly until I was ready to 
accompany him. I went to one; the women and children 
were sitting outside the lodge, and we took our seats on 
buffalo robes spread around. The dog was in a large pot 
over the fire, in the middle of the lodge, and immediately on 
our arrival was dished up in large wooden bowls, one of 
which was handed to each. The flesh appeared very glutin- 
ous, with something of the flavor and appearance of mutton. 
Feeling something move behind me, I looked around and 
found that I had taken my seat among a litter of fat young 
puppies. Had I been nice in such matters, the prejudices of 
civilization might have interfered with my tranquillity; but 
fortunately I am not of delicate nerves and continued qui- 
etly to empty my platter. 

"The morning of the 18th was cloudy and calm and dur- 
ing the day the expected village arrived, consisting princi- 
pally of old men, women and children. They had a consid- 
erable number of horses, and large troops of dogs. Their 
lodges were pitched near the fort, and our camp was con- 
stantly crowded with Indians of all sizes, from morning 
until night, at which time some of the soldiers generally 
came to drive them all off to the village. My tent was the 
only place which they respected. Here only came the chiefs 
and men of distinction, and generally one of them remained 
to drive away the women and children. The numerous 
strange instruments applied to still stranger uses excited 



248 History of Wyoming. 

awe and admiration among them, and those which I used 
in talking with the sun and stars they looked upon with es- 
pecial reverence, as mysterious things of 'great medicine/ 
Of the barometers which I had brought with me thus far 
successfully, I found that two were out of order, and spent 
the greater part of the 19th in repairing them — an operation 
of no small difficulty in the midst of the incessant interrup- 
tion to which I was subjected. We had the misfortune to 
break here a large thermometer, graduated to show fifths 
of a degree, which I used to ascertain the temperature of 
boiling water, and with which I had promised myself some 
interesting experiments in the mountains. We had but one 
remaining, on which the graduation extended sufficiently 
high; and this was too small for exact observations. Dur- 
ing our stay here the men had been engaged in making nu- 
merous repairs, arranging pack saddles, and otherwise pre- 
paring for the chances of a rough road and mountain travel. 
All things of this nature being ready, I gathered them 
around me in the evening and told them that I determined 
to proceed the next day. They were all well armed. I had 
engaged the services of Mr. Bissonette as interpreter, and 
had taken, in the circumstances, every possible means to 
insure our safety. In the rumors we had heard I believed 
there was much exaggeration, and they were men accus- 
tomed to this kind of life and to the country, and that these 
were the dangers of every day occurrence, and to be ex- 
pected in the ordinary course of their service. They had 
heard of the unsettled condition of the country before leav- 
ing St. Louis, and therefore could not make it a reason for 
breaking their engagements. Still, I was unwilling to take 
with me, on a service of some certain danger, men on whom 
I could not rely; and as I had understood that there were 
among them some who were disposed to cowardice, and 
anxious to return, they had but to come forward at once 
and state their desire and they would be discharged with 
the amount due to them for the time they had served. To 
their honor be it said, there was but one among them who 
had the face to come forward and avail himself of the per- 
mission. I asked him some few questions, in order to expose 
him to the ridicule of the men, and let him go. The day 
after our departure he engaged himself to one of the forts, 
and set off with a party for the Upper Missouri. I did not 
think that the situation of the country justified me in taking 
our young companions, Messrs. Brant and Benton, along 
with us. In case of misfortune, it would have been thought, 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 249 

at the least, an act of great imprudence; and therefore, 
though reluctantly, 1 determined to leave them. 

"July 21. — A portion of our baggage, with our field 
notes and observations, and several instruments, were left 
at the fort. One of the gentlemen, Mr. Galpin, took charge 
of a barometer, which he engaged to observe during my 
absence; and I entrusted to Randolph, by way of occupa- 
tion, the regular winding up of two of my chronometers, 
which were among the instruments left. 

"We were ready to depart; the tents were struck, the 
mules geared up and our horses saddled, and we walked up 
to the fort to take the stirrup cup with our friends in an 
excellent home-brewed preparation. While thus pleasantly 
engaged, seated in one of the cool chambers, at the door of 
which a man had been stationed to prevent all intrusion 
from the Indians, a number of chiefs, several of the power- 
ful, fine-looking men, forced their way into the room in 
spite of all opposition. Handing me the following letter, 
they took their seats in silence : 

" Tort Platte, July 1, 1842. 

" 'Mr. Fremont : The chiefs having assembled in coun- 
cil, have just told me to warn you not to set out before the 
party of young men which is now out shall have returned. 
Furthermore, they tell me that they are very sure they will 
fire upon you as soon as they meet you. They are expected 
back in seven or eight days. Excuse me for making these 
observations, but it seems my duty to warn you of danger. 
Moreover, the chiefs who prohibit your setting out before 
the return of the warriors are the bearers of this note. 
" 'I am vour obedient servant, 

" 'JOSEPH BISSONETTE, 

" 'By L. B. Chartrain. 

" 'Names of some of the chiefs. — The Otter Hat, The 
Breaker of Arrows, The Black Night, The Bull's Tail.' 

"After reading this, I mentioned its purport to my 
companions; and seeing that all were fully possessed of its 
contents, one of the Indians rose up, and, having first shaken 
hands with me, spoke as follows: 

" 'You have come among us at a bad time. Some of 
our people have been killed, and our young men, who have 
gone to the mountains, are eager to avenge the blood of 
their relations, which has been shed by the whites. Our 
young men are bad, and, if they meet you, they will believe 
that you are carrying goods and ammunition to their ene- 
mies, and will fire upon you. You have told us that this 



2 50 History of Wyatning. 

will make war. We know that our great father has many 
soldiers and big guns, and we are anxious to have our lives. 
We love the whites, and are desirous of peace. Thinking of 
all these things, we have determined to keep you here until 
our warriors return. We are glad to see you among us. 
Our father is rich, and we expected that you would have 
brought presents to us — horses and guns and blankets. But 
we are glad to see you. We look upon your coming as the 
light which goes before the sun; for you will tell our great 
father that you have seen us, and that we are naked and 
poor and have nothing to eat; and he will send us all these 
things.' He was followed by the others to the same effect. 
"The observations of the savages appeared reasonable; 
but I was aware that they had in view only the present ob- 
ject of detaining me, and were unwilling I should go further 
into the country. In reply, I asked them, through the in- 
terpretation of Mr. Boudeau, to select two or three of their 
number to accompany us until we should meet their people; 
they should spread their robes in my tent and eat at my 
table, and on our return I would give them presents in re- 
ward for their services. They declined, saying that there 
were no young men left in the village; and that they were 
too old to travel so many days on horseback, and preferred 
now to smoke their pipes in the lodge and let the warriors 
go upon the war-path. Besides, they had no power over 
the young men, and were afraid to interfere with them. In 
my turn, I addressed them: 'You say that you love the 
whites. Why have you killed so many already this spring? 
You say you love the whites and are full of many expres- 
sions of friendship to us ; but you are not willing to undergo 
the fatigue of a few days' ride to save our lives. We do not 
believe what you have said and will not listen to you. What- 
ever a chief among us tells his soldiers to do, is done. We 
are the soldiers of the great chief, your father. He has told 
us to come here and see this country and all the Indians, his 
children. Why should we not go? Before we came, we 
heard that you had killed his people, and ceased to be his 
children; but we came among you peaceably, holding out 
our hands. Now we find that the stories we heard are not 
lies, and that you are no longer his friends and children. 
We have thrown away our bodies, and will not turn back. 
When you told us that your young men would kill us, you 
did not know that our hearts were strong, and you did not 
see the rifles which my young men carry in their hands. We 
are few, and you are many, and may kill us all; but there 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 251 

will be much crying in your villages, for many of your 
young men will stay behind, and forget to return with your 
warriors from the mountains. Do you think that our great 
chief will let his soldiers die, and forget to cover their 
graves? Before the snows melt again, his warriors will 
sweep away your villages as the fire does the prairie in the 
autumn. See! I have pulled down my white houses, and 
my people are ready; when the sun is ten paces higher, we 
shall be on the march. If you have anything to tell us, you 
will say it soon.' 

"I broke up the conference as I could do nothing with 
these people, and, being resolved to proceed, nothing was to 
be gained by delay. Accompanied by our hospitable friends, 
we returned to the camp. We had mounted our horses, and 
our parting salutations had been exchanged, when one of 
the chiefs (The Bull's Tail) arrived to tell me that they had 
determined to send a young man with us; and if I would 
point out the place of our evening camp, he should join us 
there. 'The young man is poor,' said he; 'he has no horse 
and expects you to give him one.' I described to him the 
place where I intended to encamp, and shaking hands, in a 
few minutes we were among the hills, and this last habita- 
tion of whites shut out from our view. 

"The road led over an interesting plateau between the 
North Fork of the Platte on the right and the Laramie 
River on the left. At the distance of ten miles from the 
fort, we entered the sandy bed of a creek, a kind of defile, 
shaded by precipitous rocks, down which we wound our 
way for several hundred yards to a place where, on the left 
bank, a very large spring gushes with considerable noise 
and force out of the limestone rock. It is called 'the Warm 
Spring,' and furnishes to the hitherto dry bed of the creek 
a considerable rivulet. On the opposite side, a little below 
the spring, is a lofty limestone escarpment, partially shaded 
by a grove of large trees, whose green foliage, in contrast 
with the whiteness of the rock, renders this a picturesque 
locality. The rock is fossiliferous, and, so far as I was able 
to determine the character of the fossils, belongs to the 
carboniferous limestone of the Missouri River, and is prob- 
ably the western limit of that formation. Beyond this 
point I met with no fossils of any description. 

"I was desirous to visit the Platte near the point where 
it leaves the Black Hills, and therefore followed this stream 
for two or three miles, to the mouth ; where I encamped on 
a spot which afforded good grass for our animals. Our 



252 History of Wyoming. 

tents having been found too thin to i^rotect ourselves and 
the instruments from the rain, which in this elevated coun- 
try is attended with cold and unpleasant weather, I had 
procured from the Indians at Laramie a tolerably large 
lodge, about eighteen feet in diameter and twenty feet in 
height. Such a lodge, when properly pitched, is, from its 
conical form, almost perfectly secure against the violent 
winds which are frequent in this region, and, with a> fire in 
the center, is a dry and warm shelter in bad weather. By 
raising the lower part so as to permit the breeze to pass 
freely, it is converted into a pleasant summer residence, 
with the extraordinary advantage of being entirely free 
from mosquitoes, one of which I have never seen in an In- 
dian lodge. While we were engaged very unskillfully in 
erecting this, the interpreter, Mr. Bissonette, arrived, ac- 
companied by the Indian and his wife. She laughed at our 
awkwardness, and offered her assistance, of which we were 
frequently afterward obliged to avail ourselves, before the 
men acquired sufficient expertness to pitch it without diffi- 
culty. From this place we had a very fine view of the gorge 
where the Platte issues from the Black Hills, changing its 
character abruptly from a mountain stream into a river of 
the plains. Immediately around us the valley of the stream 
was tolerably open, and at the distance of a few miles, 
where the river had cut its way through the hills, was a 
narrow cleft, on one side of which a lofty precipice of bright 
red rose vertically above the low hills which lay between us. 
"July 22. — In the morning, while breakfast was being 
prepared, I visited this place with my favorite man, Basil 
Lajeunesse. Entering so far as there was footing for the 
mules, we dismounted, and, tying our animals, continued 
our way on foot. Like the whole country, the scenery of 
the river had undergone an entire change and was in this 
place the most beautiful I have ever seen. The breadth of 
the stream, generally near that of its valley, was from two 
to three hundred feet, with a swift current, occasionally 
broken by rapids, and the water perfectly clear. On either 
side rose the red precipices, vertical, and sometimes over- 
hanging, two and four hundred feet in height, crowned 
with green summits on which were scattered a few pines. 
At the foot of the rocks was the usual detritus, formed of 
masses fallen from above. Among the pines that grew 
here, and on the occasional banks, were the cherry, currants 
and the grains de boeuf . Viewed in the sunshine of a pleas- 
ant morning, the scenery was of a most striking and roman- 



Fremont- s Explorations in Wyoming. 253 

tic beauty, which arose from the picturesque distribution of 
the objects and the vivid contrast of colors. I thought with 
great pleasure of our approaching descent in the canoe 
through such interesting places; and, in the expectation of 
being able at that time to give to them a full examination, 
did not now dwell so much as might have been desirable 
upon the geological formations along the line of the river, 
where they are developed with great clearness. The upper 
portion of the red sandstone consists of a very compact 
clay, in which are occasionally seen imbedded large pebbles. 
Below was a stratum of compact red sandstone, changing 
a little above the river into a very hard silicious limestone. 
There is a small but handsome prairie immediately below 
this place, on the left bank of the river, which would be a 
good locality for a military post. There are some open 
groves of cottonwood on the Platte. The small stream 
which comes in at this place is well timbered with pine, and 
good building rock is abundant. 

"If it is in contemplation to keep open the communica- 
tions with Oregon territory, a show of military force in this 
country is absolutely necessary; and a combination of ad- 
vantages renders the neighborhood of Fort Laramie the 
most suitable place, on the line of the Platte, for the estab- 
lishment of a military post. It is connected with the mouth 
of the Platte and the Upper Missouri by excellent roads, 
which are in frequent use, and would not in any way inter- 
fere with the range of the buffalo, on which the neighboring 
Indians mainly depend for support. It would render any 
posts on the Lower Platte unnecessary; the ordinary com- 
munication between it and the Missouri being sufficient 
to control the intermediate Indians. It would operate effec- 
tually to prevent any such coalitions as are now formed 
among the Gros Ventres, Sioux, Cheyennes and other Indi- 
ans, and would keep the Oregon road through the valley of 
the Sweetwater and the South Pass of the mountains con- 
stantly open. A glance at the map which accompanies this 
report will show that it lies at the foot of a broken and 
mountainous region, along which, by the establishment of 
small posts in the neighborhood of St. Vrain's fort, on the 
South Fork of the Platte, and Bent's fort, on the Arkansas, 
a line of communication would be formed, by good wagon 
roads, with our southern military posts, which would en- 
tirely command the mountain passes, hold some of the most 
troublesome tribes in check, and protect and facilitate our 
intercourse with the neighboring Spanish settlements. The 



254 History of Wyoming. 

valleys of the rivers on which they would be situated are 
fertile; the country, which supports immense herds of buf- 
falo, is admirably adapted to grazing, and herds of cattle 
might be maintained by the posts, or obtained from the 
Spanish country, which already supplies a portion of their 
provisions to the trading posts mentioned above." 

The party camped that night at the mouth of Horse- 
shoe Creek, and the following night on the Platte a short 
distance south and east of what is now known as Orin Junc- 
tion. On the 25th camp was made on the Platte a few miles 
above where Fort Fetterman was afterwards built. The 
next night they camped in a rocky glen, now known as Glen- 
rock. On the night of the 27th camp was made in the vicin- 
ity of where Caspar now stands. This camp is somewhat in 
dispute among old-timers on account of the language used 
by Fremont in his journal after leaving the encampment of 
the 27th. 

"July 28. — In two miles from our encampment we 
reached the place where the regular road crosses the Platte. 
There was two hundred feet breadth of water at this time in 
the bed, which has a variable width of eight to fifteen hun- 
dred feet. The channels were generally three feet deep, 
and there were large angular rocks on the bottom, which 
made the ford in some places a little difficult. Even at its 
low stage the river cannot be crossed at random, and this 
has always been used as the best ford. The low stage of 
the waters the present year had made it fordable in almost 
any part of its course, where access could be had to its bed." 

It will be observed that Fremont says that he crossed 
where the regular road crosses the Platte. Now, as there 
were three regular crossings — one five miles below Caspar; 
another two miles above that town, and still another five 
miles above, it is somewhat difficult to determine which of 
these three crossings was used by the party. The men who 
went over the Overland Trail in the forties inform me that 
the lower crossing was not a good one, as quicksand was en- 
countered. The one two miles above Caspar was somewhat 
better, but there was no rock in the river. The upper cross- 
ing was a hard, rocky bottom and answers Fremont's de- 
scription, and old-timers have assured me that Fremont 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 255 

must have crossed at this point. What happened the party 
on the 28th of July is reserved for another chapter. 



CHAPTER XX. 

FREMONT'S EXPLORATIONS IN WYOMING— [Continued.] 

Meets a Band of Ogalalla Sioux — Discouraging Reports of the Con- 
dition OF the Country — Severe Drought and a Grasshopper 
Plague — Advised to Give Up the Expedition — Boldly Pushes 
Forward — Journey Up the Sw^eetwater — Crosses South Pass — 
Penetrates the Wind River Range — Climbs Fremont's Peak — 
The Return Journey — Engraves a Cross on Independence Rock — 
More Carefully Explores the. North Platte — Returns to Fort 
Laramie — Follows the Platte to the Missouri — Goes Down the 
Missouri in a Ten-Oared Boat — Arrives at St. Louis. 

In the last chapter the crossing of the North Platte 
was noted. Four miles beyond the ford the party met a 
band of Ogalalla Sioux, who gave a gloomy account of the 
country beyond, reporting a great drought prevailed, and 
also that grasshoppers had swept over the country so that 
there was scarcely a blade of grass to be seen, and there was 
not a buffalo in the whole region. The Indians had been 
brought to the point of starvation and were obliged to eat 
their horses. Hearing these discouraging reports, Mr. Bi- 
sonette urged Fremont to turn back, as it would be danger- 
ous to go forward. Fremont says: 

"In reply, I called up my men and communicated to 
them fully the information I had just received. I then ex- 
pressed to them my fixed determination to proceed to the 
end of the enterprise on which I had been sent; but as the 
situation of the country gave me some reason to apprehend 
that it might be attended with an unfortunate result to 
some of us, I would leave it optional with them to continue 
with me or to return. Among them were some five or six 
who I knew would remain. We had still ten days' provis- 
ions, and should no game be found when this stock was ex- 



2 $6 History of Wyoming. 

hausted, we had our horses and mules, which we could eat 
when other means of subsistence failed. But not a man 
flinched from the undertaking. 'We'll eat the mules/ said 
Basil Lajeunesse, and thereupon we shook hands with our 
interpreter and his Indians, and parted. With them I sent 
back one of my men, Dumes, whom the effects of an old 
wound in the leg rendered incapable of continuing the jour- 
ney on foot, and his horse seemed on the point of giving out. 
Having resolved to disencumber ourselves of everything 
not absolutely necessary to our future operations, I turned 
directly in towards the river and encamped on the left bank, 
a little above the place where our council had been held, 
and where a thick grove of willows offered a suitable spot 
for the object I had in view. 

'*The carts having been discharged, the covers and 
wheels were taken off, and, with the frames, carried into 
some low places among the willows and concealed in the 
dense foliage in such a manner that the glitter of the iron 
work might not attract the observation of some straggling 
Indian. In the sand which had been blown up into waves 
among the willows, a large hole was dug, ten feet square, 
and six deep. In the meantime, all our effects had been 
spread out upon the ground, and whatever was designed to 
be carried along with us separated and laid aside, and the 
remaining part carried to the hole and carefully covered up. 
As much as possible, all traces of our proceedings were ob- 
literated, and it wanted but a rain to render our cache safe 
beyond discovery. All the men were now set to work to 
arrange the pack saddles and make up the packs. The day 
was very warm and calm and the sky entirely clear, except 
where, as usual along the summits of the mountainous 
ridge opposite, the clouds had congregated in masses. Our 
lodge had been planted, and on account of the heat, the 
ground pins had been taken out and the lower part slightly 
raised. Near to it was standing the barometer, which swung 
in a tripod frame, and within the lodge, where a small fire 
had been built, Mr. Preuss was occupied in observing the 
temperature of boiling water. At the instant, and without 
any warning until it was within fifty yards, a violent gust 
of wind dashed down the lodge, burying under it Mr. Preuss 
and a dozen men, who had attempted to keep it from being 
carried away. I succeeded in saving the barometer, which 
the lodge was carrying off with itself, but the thermometer 
was broken. 

"July 29. — All our arrangements having been com- 




FREMONT'S SPEECH TO INDIANS AT FORT LARAMIE. 
{See Page sjo.) 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 257 

pleted, we left the encampment at 7 o'clock this morning. 
In this vicinity the ordinary road leaves the Platte and 
crosses over to the Sweetwater River, which it strikes near 
Rock Independence. Instead of following this road, I had 
determined to keep the immediate valley of the Platte so 
far as the mouth of the Sweetwater, in the expectation of 
finding better grass. To this I was further prompted by the 
nature of my instructions. To Mr. Carson was assigned the 
oflQce of guide, as we had now reached a part of the country 
with which, or a great part of which, long residence had 
made him familiar. In a few miles we reached Red Buttes, 
a famous landmark in this country, whose geological com- 
position is red sandstone, limestone and calcareous sand- 
stone and pudding stone. The river here cuts its way 
through a ridge; on the eastern side of it are lofty escarp- 
ments of red argillaceous sandstone, which are called the 
Red Buttes. In this passage the stream is not much com- 
pressed or pent-up, there being a bank of considerable 
though variable breadth on either side. Immediately on 
entering, we discovered a band of buffalo. The hunters 
failed to kill any of them, the leading hunter being thrown 
into a ravine, which occasioned some delay, and in the 
meantime the herd clambered up the steep face of the ridge. 
It is sometimes wonderful to see these apparently clumsy 
animals make their way up and down the most rugged and 
broken precipices. We halted to noon before we had 
cleared this passage, at a spot twelve miles distant from 
Cache Camp, where we found an abundance of grass. So 
far the account of the Indians was found to be false. On the 
banks were willow and cherry trees. The cherries were not 
ripe, but in the thickets were numerous fresh tracks of the 
grizzly bear, which are very fond of this fruit. The soil 
here is red, the composition being derived from the red 
sandstone. About seven miles brought us through the 
ridge, in which the course of the river is north and south. 
Here the valley opens out broadly and the high walls of the 
red formation present themselves among the hills to the 
east. We crossed here a pretty little creek, an affluent of 
the right bank. It is well timbered with cotton wood in 
this vicinity, and the absinthe has lost its shrub-like char- 
acter and becomes small trees six and eight feet in height 
and sometimes eight inches in diameter. Two or three 
miles above this creek we made our encampment, having 
traveled today twenty-five miles. Our animals fared well 
here, as there is an abundance of grass. The river bed is 
-{17) 



258 History of Wyoming. 

made up of pebbles, and in the bank, at the level of the 
water, is a conglomerate of coarse pebbles about the size 
of ostrich eggs, and which I remarked in the banks of Lara- 
mie Fork. It is overlaid by a soil of mixed clay and sand 
six feet thick. 

"July 30. — After traveling about twelve miles this 
morning we reached a place where the Indian village had 
crossed the river. Here were the poles of discarded lodgea 
and skeletons of horses lying about. Mr. Carson, who had 
never been higher up than this point on the river, which 
has the character of being exceedingly rugged and walled 
in by precipices above, thought it advisable to camp near the 
place, where we were certain of obtaining grass, and tomor- 
row make our crossing among the rugged hills to the Sweet- 
water river. Accordingly we turned back and descended 
the river to an island near by, which was about twenty 
acres in size, covered with a luxuriant growth of grass. The 
formation here I found highly interesting. Immediately at 
this island the river is again shut up in the rugged hills, 
which come down to it from the main ridge in a succession 
of spurs three or four hundred feet high, and alternated 
with green level meadows, bordered on the river banks with 
thickets of willow, and having many plants to interest the 
traveler. The island lies between two of these ridges, three 
or four hundred yards apart, of which that on the right 
bank is composed entirely of red argillaceous sandstone 
with thin layers of fibrous gypsum. On the left bank the 
ridge is composed entirely of silicious pudding stone, the 
pebbles in the numerous strata increasing in size from the 
top to the bottom, where they are as large as a man's head. 
So far as I was able to determine, these strata incline to the 
northeast, with a dip of about 15°. This pudding stone, or 
conglomerate formation, I was enabled to trace through an 
extended range of country, from a few miles east of the 
meridian of Fort Laramie to where I found it superposed 
on the granite of the Rocky Mountains, in longitude 109°. 
From its appearance, the main chain of the Laramie moun- 
tain is composed of this." 

On the morning of the 31st the explorers left the Platte 
and crossed over to the Sweetwater. On August 1st they 
reached Independence Eock, of which Fremont says: 

"The hunters went ahead this morning, as buffalo ap- 
peared tolerably abundant, and I was desirous to secure a 
small stock of provisions; and we moved about seven miles 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 259 

up the valley and encamped one mile below Rock Inde- 
pendence. This is an isolated granite rock, about six hun- 
dred and fifty yards long and forty in height. Except in a 
depression of the summit, where a little soil supports a 
scanty growth of shrubs, with a solitary dwarf pine, it is 
entirely bare. Everywhere within six or eight feet of the 
ground, where the surface is suflBciently smooth, and in 
some places sixty or eighty feet above, the rock is inscribed 
with the names of travelers. Many a name famous in the 
history of this country, and some well known to science, 
are to be found mixed among those of the traders and of 
travelers for pleasure and curiosity, and of missionaries 
among the savages. Some of these have been washed away 
by the rain, but the greater number are still very legible." 

The first mention I can find of this rock is by Rev. Sam- 
uel Parker, who visited it on the 7th of August, 1885. He, 
like Fremont, calls it Rock Independence. He says: "This 
rock takes its name from the circumstance of a company of 
fur traders suspending their journey and here observing, 
in due form, the anniversary of our national freedom." I 
have talked with many old trappers and traders, and none 
of them are able to fix the date of the naming of this rock. 
Jim Baker tells me that Captain Bonneville named it, but 
of this he had no personal knowledge. The numerous names 
which Fremont found on the rock would indicate that it had 
long been known to white men. 

After remaining in camp one night below Indepen- 
dence Rock, Fremont's party pushed on west on the morn- 
ing of the second, passed Devil's Gate and encamped eight 
miles beyond. They continued their course up the Sweet- 
water and on the 6th passed through the canon, the upper 
end of which is ten miles below where Lewiston is now loca- 
ted, and that evening camped on a small stream since called 
the Strawberry. The next morning they again turned to the 
Sweetwater and crossed the ridge where the Burr mine is 
now located. They made one more camp before crossing 
the Continental Divide, and the next day found them on the 
west side of South Pass. 

They camped that night on the first Newforkjuow known 
as Eastfork. Fremont says: "Near our camp were two 



26o History of Wyoming. 

remarkable isolated hills, one of them sufficiently large to 
merit the name of mountain." W. O. Owen, who some years 
ago was engaged in making a government survey in that lo- 
cality, identifies the spot as Section 27, Township 32, Range 
107. From this point on until the party returned from the 
summit of Fremont's Peak, I will copy from the journal : 

"August 10. — The air at sunrise is clear and pure, and 
the morning extremely cold but beautiful. A lofty snow 
peak of the mountain is glittering in the first rays of the 
sun, which has not yet reached us. The long mountain wall 
to the east, rising two thousand feet abruptly from the 
* plain, behind which we see the peaks, is still dark, and cuts 
clear against the glowing sky. A fog, just risen from the 
river, lies along the base of the mountain. A little before 
sunrise the thermometer was at 35°, and at sunrise 33°. 
Water froze last night, and fires are very comfortable. The 
scenery becomes hourly more interesting and grand, and 
the view here is truly magnificent; but, indeed, it needed 
something to repay the long prairie journey of a thousand 
miles. The sun has just shot above the wall and makes a 
magical change. The whole valley is glowing and bright, 
and all the mountain peaks are gleaming like silver. 
Though these snow mountains are not the Alps, they have 
their own character of grandeur and magnificence, and will 
doubtless find pens and pencils to do them justice. In the 
scene before us, we feel how much wood improves a view. 
The pines on the mountain seem to give it much more ad- 
ditional beauty. I was agreeably disappointed in the char- 
acter of the streams on this side of the ridge. Instead of the 
creeks, which description had led me to expect, I find bold, 
broad streams, with three or four feet of water and a rapid 
current. The fork on which we are encamped is upwards 
of a hundred feet wide, with groves or thickets of the low 
willow. We were now approaching the loftiest part of the 
Wind River chain; and I left the valley a few miles from 
our encampment, intending to penetrate the mountains as 
far as possible with the whole party. We were soon in- 
volved in very broken ground, among long ridges covered 
with fragments of granite. Winding our way up a long 
ravine, we came unexpectedly in view of a most beautiful 
lake, set like a gem in the mountains. The sheet of water 
lay transversely across the direction we had been pursuing ; 
and, descending the steep rocky ridge, where it was neces- 
sary to lead our horses, we followed its banks to the south- 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoniing. 261 

ern extremity. Here a view of the utmost magnificence 
and grandeur burst upon our eyes. With nothing between 
us and their feet to lessen the whole height, a grand bed of 
snow capped mountains rose before us, pile upon pile, glow- 
ing in the bright light of an August day. Immediately be- 
low them lay the lake, between two ridges, covered with 
dark pines, which swept down from the main chain to the 
spot where we stood. Here, where the lake glittered in the 
open sunlight, its banks of yellow sand and the light foliage 
of aspen groves contrasted well with the gloomy pines. 
'Never before,' said Mr. Preuss, 'in this country or in Europe, 
have I seen such magnificent, grand rocks.' I was so much 
pleased with the beauty of the place that I determined to 
make the main camp here, where our animals would find 
good pasturage, and explore the mountains with a small 
party of men. Proceeding a little further, we came sud- 
denly upon the outlet of the lake, where it found its way 
through a narrow passage between low hills. Dark pines, 
which overhung the stream, and masses of rock, where the 
water foamed along, gave it much romantic beauty. Where 
we crossed, which was immediately at the outlet, it is two 
hundred and fifty feet wide, and so deep that with difficulty 
we were able to ford it. Its head was an accumulation of 
rocks, boulders and broad slabs, and large angular frag- 
ments, among which the animals fell repeatedly. 

"The current was very swift and the water cold and of 
a crystal purity. In crossing this stream, I met with a great 
misfortune in having my barometer broken. It was the 
only one. A great part of the interest of the journey for 
me was in the exploration of these mountains, of which so 
much has been said that was doubtful and contradictory; 
and now their snowy peaks rose majestically before me, 
and the only means of giving them authentically to science, 
the object of my anxious solicitude by night and day, was 
destroyed. We had brought this barometer in safety a 
thousand miles, and broke it almost among the snow of the 
mountains. The loss was felt by the whole camp — all had 
seen my anxiety and aided me in preserving it. The height 
of these mountains, considered by the hunters and traders 
the highest in the whole range, had been a them*^ of con- 
stant discussion among them; and all had looked forward 
with pleasure to the moment when the instrument, which 
they believed to be as true as the sun, should stand upon 
its summits and decide their disputes. Their grief was only 
inferior to my own. 



262 History of Wyoming. 

"This lake is about three miles long and of very irregu- 
lar width, and of apparently great depth, and is the head- 
water of the third Newfork, and a tributary to Green River, 
the Colorado of the west. On the map and in the narrative 
I have called it Mountain Lake.* I encamped on the north 
side, about three hundred and fifty feet from the outlet. 
This was the most western point at which I obtained astro- 
nomical observations, by which this place, called Bernier'a 
Encampment, is made in 110° 08' 03'' west longitude from 
Greenwich, and latitude 42° 49' 49". The mountain peaks, 
as laid down, were fixed by bearings from this and other 
astronomical points. We had no other compass than the 
small one used in sketching the country; but from an azi- 
muth, in which one of them was used, the variation of the 
compass is 18° east. The correction made in our field work 
by the astronomical observation indicates that this is a very 
correct observation. 

"As soon as the camp was formed, I set about endeavor- 
ing to repair my barometer. As I have already said, this 
w^as a standard cistern-barometer of Troughton's construc- 
tion. The glass cistern had been broken about midway; but 
as the instrument had been kept in a proper position, no air 
had found its way into the tube, the end of which had al- 
ways remained covered. I had with me a number of vials of 
tolerably thick glass, some of which were of the same diam- 
eter as the cistern, and I spent the day in slowly working on 
these, endeavoring to cut them of the requisite length, but 
as my instrument was a very rough file, I invariably broke 
them. A groove was cut in one of the trees, where the bar- 
ometer was placed during the night, to be out of the way of 
any possible danger, and in the morning I commenced 
again. Among the powder horns in the camp, I found one 
w^hich was very transparent, so that its contents could be 
almost as plainly seen as through glass. This I boiled and 
stretched on a piece of wood to the requisite diameter, and 
scraped it very thin, in order to increase to the utmost its 
transparency. I then secured it firmly in its place on the 
instrument, with strong glue made from a buffalo, and 
filled it with mercury, properly heated. A piece of skin 
which had covered one of the vials furnished a good pocket, 
which was well secured with strong thread and glue, and 
then the brass cover was screwed to its place. The instru- 

*This body of water is known on the Wyoming map of today as Boulder Lake. Owen 
locates Bernier's encampment in Section 14, Township 33, Range 108, and says that the 
identity of the camp isbeyond question. 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 263 

ment was left some time to dry; and when I reversed it, a 
few hours after, I had the satisfaction to find it in perfect 
order; its indications being about the same as on the other 
side of the lake before it had been broken. Our success in 
this little incident diffused pleasure throughout the camp, 
and we immediately set about our preparations for ascend- 
ing the mountains. 

''I was desirous to keep strictly within the scope of my 
instructions, and it would have required ten or fifteen addi- 
tional days for the accomplishment of this object; our ani- 
mals had become very much worn out with the length of the 
journey; game was very scarce; and, though it does not 
appear in the course of the narrative (as I have avoided 
dwelling upon trifling incidents not connected with the 
objects of the expedition) the spirits of the men had been 
much exhausted by the hardships and privations to which 
they had been subjected. Our provisions had well nigh all 
disappeared. Bread had been long out of the question ; and 
of all our stock, we had remaining two or three pounds of 
coffee and a small quantity of macaroni, which had been 
husbanded with great care for the mountain expedition we 
were about to undertake. Our daily meal consisted of dry 
buffalo meat, cooked in tallow, and, as we had not dried 
this with Indian skill, part of it was spoiled, and what re- 
mained of good was as hard as wood, having much the taste 
and appearance of so many pieces of bark. Even of this our 
stock was rapidly diminishing in a camp which was capable 
of consuming two buffaloes in every twenty-four hours. 
These animals had entirely disappeared, and it was not prob- 
able that we should fall in with them again until we re- 
turned to the Sweetwater. 

"Our arrangements for the ascent were rapidly com- 
pleted. We were in a hostile country, which rendered the 
greatest vigilance and circumspection necessary. The pass 
at the north end of the mountain was generally infested by 
Blackf eet ; and immediately opposite was one of their forts, 
on the edge of a little thicket, two or three hundred feet 
from our encampment. We were posted in a grove of beech 
on the margin of the lake and a few hundred feet long, with 
a narrow pavilion on the inner side, bordered by the rocky 
ridge. In the upper end of this grove we cleared a circular 
space about forty feet in diameter, and with the felled tim- 
ber and interwoven branches surrounded it with a breast- 
work five feet in height. A gap was left for a gate on the 
inner side, by which the animals were to be driven in and 



264 History of Wyoming. 

secured, while the men slept around the little work. It was 
half hidden by the foliage, and, garrisoned by twelve reso- 
lute men, would have set at defiance any band of savages 
which might chance to discover them in the interval of our 
absence. Fifteen of the best mules, with fourteen men, 
were selected for the mountain party. Our provisions con- 
sisted of dried meat for two days, with our little stock of 
coffee and some macaroni. In addition to the barometer 
and a thermometer, I took with me a sextant and spy-glass, 
and we had, of course, our compasses. In charge of the 
camp I left Bernier, one of my most trustworthy men, who 
possessed the most detennined courage. 

"August 12th. — Early in the morning we left the camp, 
fifteen in number, well armed, of course, and mounted on 
our best mules. A pack animal carried our provisions, with 
a coffee pot and camp kettle, and three or four tin cups. 
Every man had a blanket strapped over his saddle, to serve 
for his bed, and the instruments were carried in turn on 
their backs. We entered directly on rough and rocky 
ground and just after crossing the ridge had the good for- 
tune to shoot an antelope. We heard the roar and had a 
glimpse of a waterfall as we rode along, and, crossing in 
our way two fine streams, tributary to the Colorado, in 
about two hours' ride we reached the top of the first row 
or range of the mountains. Here, again, a view of the most 
romantic beauty met our eyes. It seemed as if, from the 
vast expanse of uninteresting prairie we had passed over, 
nature had collected all her beauties together in one chosen 
place. We were overlooking a deep valley which was en- 
tirely occupied by three lakes, and from the brink the sur- 
rounding ridges rose precipitously five hundred and a thous- 
and feet, covered with a dark green of the balsam pine, re- 
lieved on the border of the lake with the light foliage of the 
aspen. They all communicated with each other; and the 
green of the waters, common to mountain lakes of great 
depth, showed that it would be impossible to cross them. 
The surprise manifested by our guides when these impassa- 
ble obstacles suddenly barred our progress, showed that 
they were among the hidden treasures of the place, un- 
known even to the wandering trappers of the region. De- 
scending the hill, we proceeded to make our way along the 
margin to the southern extremity. A narrow strip of angu- 
lar fragments of rock sometimes afforded a rough pathway 
for our mules, but generally we rode along the shelving side, 
occasionally scrambling up, at a considerable risk of turn- 




THE DEUIL'S GATE. 

{Page 25q ) 




INDEPENDENCE ROGK. 
{Pag-e 2s8.] 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 265 

bling back into the lake. The slope Was frequently 60° ; the 
pines grew densely together, and the ground was covered 
â– with the branches and trunks of trees. The air was fragrant 
with the odor of the pines, and I realized this delightful 
morning the pleasure of breathing that mountain air which 
makes a constant theme of the hunters' praise and which 
now made us feel as if we had all been drinking some ex- 
hilarating gas. The depth of this unexplored forest was 
a place to delight the heart of a botanist. There was a rich 
undergrowth of plants and numerous gay colored dowers 
in brilliant bloom. 

"We had reached a very elevated point, and in the val- 
ley below and among the hills were a number of lakes of 
different levels, some two or three hundred feet above oth- 
ers, with which they communicated by foaming torrents. 
Even to our great height, the roar of the cataracts caii'.e up, 
and we could see them leaping down in lines of snowy foam. 
From this scene of busy waters we turned abruptly into 
the stillness of a forest, where we rode among the open bolls 
of the pines over a lawn of verdant grass, having strikingly 
the air of cultivated grounds. This led us, after a time, 
among masses of rock which had no vegetable earth but in 
hollows and crevices, though still the pine forest continued. 
Toward evening we reached a defile, or rather a hole in the 
mountains, entirely shut in by dark pine-covered rocks. 

"Our table service was rather scant, and we held the 
meat in our hands, and clean rocks made good plates, on 
which we spread our macaroni. Among all the strange 
places in which we had occasion to camp during our long 
journey, none have left so vivid an impression on my mind 
as the camp of this evening. The disorder of the masses 
which surrounded us ; the little hole through which we saw 
the stars overhead; the dark pines when we slept, and the 
rocks lit up with our fires, made a night picture of very wild 
beauty. 

"August 13. — The morning was bright and pleasant, 
just cool enough to make exercise agreeable, and we soon 
entered the defile I had seen the preceding day. It was 
smoothly carpeted with a soft grass and scattered over with 
groups of flowers, of which yellow was the predominant 
color. Sometimes we were forced, by an occasional difficult 
pass, to pick our way on a narrow ledge along the side of the 
defile, and the mules were frequently on their knees; but 
these obstructions were rare, and we journeyed on in the 
sweet morning air, delighted at our good fortune in having 



266 History of Wyoming. - 

found such a beautiful entrance to the mountains. This 
road continued for about three miles when we suddenly 
reached its termination in one of the grand views which, at 
every turn, meet the traveler in this magnificent region. 
Here the defile up which we had traveled opened out into 
a small lawn, where in a little lake the stream had its 
source. 

"It is not by the splendor of far-off views, which have 
lent such a glory to the Alps, that these impress the mind ; 
but by a gigantic disorder of enormous masses and a savage 
sublimity of naked rock, in wonderful contrast with innu- 
merable green spots of a rich floral beauty, shut up in their 
stern recesses. Their wildness seems well suited to the 
character of the people who inhabit the country. 

"I determined to leave our animals here and make the 
rest of our way on foot. The peak appeared so near that 
there was no doubt of our returning before night, and a few 
men were left in charge of the mules, with our provisions 
and blankets. We took with us nothing but our arms and 
instruments, and as the day had become warm, the greater 
part left our coats. Having made an early dinner, we 
started again. We were soon involved in the most ragged 
precipices, nearing the central chain very slowly, and ris- 
ing but little. The first ridge hid a succession of others, 
and when, with great fatigue and difiSculty, we had climbed 
up five hundred feet, it was but to make an equal descent 
on the other side; all these intervening places were filled 
with small, deep lakes, which met the eye in every direc- 
tion, descending from one level to another, sometimes under 
bridges formed by huge fragments of granite, beneath 
which was heard the roar of the water. These constantly 
obstructed our path, forcing us to make long detours; fre- 
quently obliging us to retrace our steps, and frequently fall- 
ing among rocks. Maxwell was precipitated towards the 
face of a precipice and saved himself from going over by 
throwing himself flat on the ground. We clambered on, al- 
ways expecting, with every ridge that we crossed, to reach 
the foot of the peaks, and always disappointed until about 
four o'clock, when, pretty well worn out, we reached the 
shore of a little lake, in which there was a rocky island. 

"By the time we had reached the further side of the 
lake, we found ourselves all exceedingly fatigued, and, much 
to the satisfaction of the whole party, we encamped. The 
spot we had chosen was a broad, flat rock, in some measure 
protected from the winds by the surrounding crags, and the 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 267 

trunks of fallen pines afforded us bright fires . Near by was 
a foaming torrent, which tumbled into the little lake about 
one hundred and fifty feet below us, and which by way of 
distinction we have called Island Lake. We had reached 
the upper limit of the piney region, as above this point no 
tree was to be seen and patches of snow lay everywhere 
around us on the cold sides of the rocks. The flora of the 
region we had traversed since leaving our mules was ex- 
tremely rich, and among the characteristic plants, the scar- 
let flowers of the Dodecatheon dentatum everywhere met the 
eye in great abundance. A small green ravine, on the edge 
of which we were encamped, was filled with a profusion 
of Alpine plants in brilliant bloom. 

"I was taken ill shortly after we had encamped, and con- 
tinued so until late in the night, with violent headache and 
vomiting. This was probably caused by the excessive fa- 
tigue I had undergone, and want of food, and perhaps, also, 
in some measure, by the rarity of the air. The night was 
cold, as a violent gale from the north had sprung up at sun- 
set, which entirely blew away the heat of the fires. The 
cold, and our granite beds, had not been favorable to sleep, 
and we were glad to see the face of the sun in the morning, 
Not being delayed by any preparation for breakfast, we set 
out immediately, 

'*0n every side, as we advanced, was heard the roar of 
waters, and of a torrent, which we followed up a short dis- 
tance until it expanded into a lake about one mile in length. 
On the northern side of the lake was a bank of ice, or rather 
of snow covered with a crust of ice. Carson had been our 
guide into the mountains, and ,agreeably to his advice, we 
left this little valley and took to the ridges again ; which we 
found extremely broken, and where we were again involved 
among precipices. Here were icefields, among which we 
were all dispersed, seeking each the best path to ascend the 
peak. Mr. Preuss attempted to walk along the upper edge 
of one of these fields which sloped away at an angle of about 
twenty degrees, but his feet slipped from under him and 
he went plunging down the plane. A few hundred feet 
below, at the bottom, were some fragments of sharp rock, 
on which he landed, and though he turned a couple of som- 
ersets, fortunately received no injury beyond a few bruises. 
Two of the men, Clement Lambert and Descoteaux, had been 
taken ill and lay down on the rocks a short distance below ; 
and at this point I was attacked with headache and giddi- 
ness, accompanied by vomiting, as on the day before. Find- 



268 History of Wyoming. 

ing myself unable to proceed, I sent the barometer over to 
Mr. Preuss, who was in a gap two or three hundred yards 
distant, desiring him to reach the peak, if possible, and take 
an observation there. He found himself unable to proceed 
farther in that direction, and took an observation, when the 
barometer stood at 19.401; attached thermometer, 50°, in 
the gap. Carson, who had gone over to him, succeeded in 
reaching one of the snowy summits of the main ridge, 
whence he saw the peak towards which all our efforts had 
been directed, towering eight or ten hundred feet into the 
air above him. In the meantime, finding myself grow 
rather worse than better, and doubtful how far my strength 
would carry me, I sent Basil Lajeunesse with four men 
back to the place where the mules had been left. 

"Vv^e were now better acquainted with the topography 
of the country, and T directed him to bring back with him, 
if it were in any way possible, four or five mules, with pro- 
visions and blankets. With me were Maxwell and Ayer, 
and after we had remained nearly an hour on the rock it be- 
came so unpleasantly cold, though the day was bright, that 
we set out on our return to the camp, at which we all ar- 
rived safely, straggling in one after the other. 1 continued 
ill during the afternoon, but became better towards sun- 
down, when my recovery was completed by the appearance 
of Basil and four men, all mounted. The men who had gone 
with him had been too much fatigued to return, and were 
relieved by those in charge of the horses ; but in his powers 
of endurance Basil resembled more a mountain goat than a 
man. They brought blankets and provisions, and we en- 
joyed well our dried meat and a good cup of coffee. We 
rolled ourselves up in our blankets, and with our feet turned 
to a blazing fire slept soundly until morning. 

"August 15. — It had been supposed that we had fin- 
ished with the mountains, and the evening before it had 
been arranged that Carson should set out at daylight and 
return to breakfast at the camp of the mules, taking with 
him all but four or five men, who were to stay with me and 
bring back the mules and instruments. Accordingly, at the 
break of day they set out. With Mr. Preuss and myself re- 
mained Basil Lajeunesse, Clement Lambert, Janisse and 
Descoteaux. When we had secured strength for the day by 
a hearty breakfast, we covered what remained, which was 
enough for one meal, with rocks, in order that it might be 
safe from any marauding bird, and, saddling our mules, 
turned our faces once more towards the peaks. This time 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 269 

we determined to proceed quietly and cautiously, deliber* 
ately resolved to accomplish our object if it were within the 
compass of human means. We were of opinion that a long 
defile which lay to the left of yesterday's route would lead 
us to the foot of the main peak. Our mules had been re- 
freshed by the fine grass in the little ravine at the island 
camp, and we intended to ride up the defile as far as possi- 
ble, in order to husband our strength for the main ascent. 
Though this was a fine passage, still it was a defile of the 
most rugged mountains known, and we had many a rough 
and steep slippery place to cross before reaching the end. 
In this place the sun rarely shone; snow lay along the bor- 
der of the small stream which flowed through it, and occa- 
sional icy passages made the footing of the mules very in. 
secure, and the rocks and ground were moist with the trick- 
ling waters in this spring of mighty rivers. We soon had 
the satisfaction to find ourselves riding along the huge wall 
which forms the central summit of the chain. There at last 
it rose by our sides, a nearly perpendicular wall of granite, 
terminating 2,000 to 3,000 feet above our heads in a serrated 
line of broken, jagged cones. We rode on until we came 
almost immediately below the main peak, which I denomi- 
nated the Snow Peak, as it exhibited more snow to the eye 
than any of the neighboring summits. Here were three 
small lakes of a green color, each of perhaps a thousand 
yards in diameter, and apparently very deep. These lay 
in a kind of chasm; and, according to the barometer, we had 
attained but a few hundred feet above the Island Lake, The 
barometer here stood at 20.450, attached thermometer 70°. 
"We managed to get our mules up to a litte bench about 
a hundred feet above the lakes, where there was a patch of 
good grass, and turned them loose to graze. During our 
rough ride to the place they had exhibited a wonderful sure- 
footedness. Parts of the defile were filled with angular, 
sharp fragments of rock, three or four and eight or ten feet 
cube; and among these they had worked their way, leaping 
from one narrow point to another, rarely making a false 
step, and giving us no occasion to dismount. Having di- 
vested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, we 
commenced the ascent. This time, like experienced trav- 
elers, we did not press ourselves, but climbed leisurely, sit- 
ting down as soon as we found breath beginning to fail. 
At intervals we reached places where a number of springs 
gushed from the rocks, and about 1,800 feet above the lakes 
came to the snow line. From this point our progress was 



270 History of Wyoming. 

uninterrupted climbing. Hitherto I had worn a pair of 
thick moccasins, with the soles of parfleche;* but here I 
put on a light, thin pair, which I had brought for the pur- 
pose, as now the use of our toes became necessary to a fur- 
ther advance. I availed myself of a comb of the mountains 
which stood against the wall like a buttress, and which the 
wind and the solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the 
smooth rock, had kept almost entirely free from snow. Up 
this I made my way rapidly. Our cautious method of ad- 
vancing in the outset had spared my strength, and with the 
exception of a slight disposition to headache, I felt no re- 
mains of yesterday's illness. In a few minutes we reached 
a point where the buttress was overhanging, and there was 
no other way of surmounting the difficulty than by passing 
around one side of it, which was the face of a vertical preci- 
pice of several hundred feet. Putting hands and feet in 
the crevices between the blocks, I succeeded in getting over 
it, and, when I reached the top, found my companions in a 
small valley below. Descending to them, we continued 
climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I sprang 
upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated 
me into an immense snow-field five hundred feet below. To 
the edge of this field was a sheer icy precipice; and then, 
with a gradual fall, the field sloped off for about a mile, until 
it struck the foot of another lower ridge. I stood on a nar- 
row crest, about three feet in width, with an inclination of 
about 20° N., 51° E. As soon as I had gratified the first feel- 
ings of curiosity, I descended, and each man ascended in 
his turn; for I would only allow one at a time to mount the 
unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath 
would hurl into the abyss below. We mounted the barome- 
ter in the snow of the summit, and fixing a ramrod in a 
crevice, unfurled the national flag to wave in the breeze 
where never flag waved before. During our morning's as- 
cent we had met no animal life, except a small bird having 
the appearance of a sparrow. A stillness the most profound 
and a terrible solitude forced themselves constantly on the 
mind as the great features of the place. Here on the sum- 
mit, where the stillness was absolute, unbroken by any 
sound, and the solitude complete, we thought ourselves 

*Parfleche is the name given to buffalo hide. The Indian women prepare it by- 
scraping and drying. It is exceedingly tough and hard and receives its name from the cir- 
cumstance that it cannot be pierced by arrows or spears. The entire dress of Fremont and 
his party, on their ascent to the " top of America," consisted of a blue flannel shirt, free and 
open at the neck, the collar turning down over a black silk handkerchief tied loosely, blue 
cloth pantaloons, a slouched broad-brimmed hat, and moccasins as above described. It was 
well adapted to climbing — quite light, and at the same time warm, and every way com- 
fortable. 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 271 

beyond the region of animal life; but while we were sitting 
on the rock, a solitary bee {hromus, the humble bee) came 
winging his flight from the eastern valley, and lit on the 
knee of one of the men. 

"Around us, the whole scene had one main striking fea- 
ture, which was that of terrible convulsion. Parallel to its 
length, the ridge was split into chasms and fissures, between 
which rose the thin, lofty walls, terminated with slender 
minarets and columns, which is correctly represented in 
the view from the camp on Island Lake. According to the 
barometer, the little crest of the wall on which we stood 
was three thousand five hundred and seventy feet above 
that place, and two thousand seven hundred and eighty feet 
above the little lakes at the bottom, immediately at our 
feet. Our camp at the Two Hills (an astronomical station) 
bore south 3° east, which with a bearing afterward obtained 
from a fixed position, enabled us to locate the peak. The 
bearing of the Trois Tetons was north 50° west, and the di- 
rection of the central range of the Wind River mountains 
south 39° east. The summit rock was gneiss, succeeded 
by sienitic gneiss. Sienite and feldspar succeeded in our 
descent to the snow line, where we found a feldspathic 
granite. I had remarked that the noise produced by the ex- 
plosion of our pistols had the usual degree of loudness, but 
was not in the least prolonged, expiring almost instantane- 
ously. Having now made what observations our means 
afforded, we proceeded to descend. We had accomplished 
an object of laudable ambition, and beyond the strict order 
of our instructions. We had climbed the loftiest peak of the 
Rocky Mountains and looked down upon the snow a thous- 
and feet below, and standing where never human foot had 
stood before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It was 
about two o'clock when we left the summit, and when we 
reached the bottom the sun had already sunk behind the 
wall and the day was drawing to a close. It would have 
been pleasant to have lingered here and on the summit 
longer; but we hurried away as rapidly as the ground would 
permit, for it was an object to regain our party as soon as 
possible, not knowing what accident the next hour might 
bring forth. 

**We reached our deposit of provisions at nightfall. 
Here was not the inn which greets the tired traveler return- 
ing from Mont Blanc, or the orange groves of South America 
with their refreshing juice and soft fragrant air; but we 
found our little cache of dried meat and coffee undisturbed. 



2/2 History of Wyoming. 

Though the moon was bright, the road was full of precipices 
and the fatigue of the day had been great. We therefore 
abandoned the idea of rejoining our friends and lay down on 
the rock, and, in spite of the cold, slept soundly. 

"August 16. — We left our encampment with the day- 
light. We saw on our way large flocks of the mountain 
goat looking down on us from the cliffs. At the crack of a 
rifle they would bound off among the rocks, and in a few 
minutes* make their appearance on some lofty peak, some 
hundred or a thousand feet above. It is needless to attempt 
any further description of the country; the portion over 
which we traveled this morning was rough as imagination 
could picture it, and to us seemed equally beautiful. A con- 
course of lakes and rushing waters, mountains of rocks, 
naked and destitute of vegetable earth, dells and ravines of 
the most exquisite beauty, all kept green and fresh by the 
great moisture in the air and sown with brilliant flowers, 
and everywhere, thrown around all, the glory of most mag- 
nificent scenes; these constitute the features of the place 
and impress themselves vividly on the mind of the traveler. 
It was not until 11 o'clock that we reached the place where 
our animals had been left when we first attempted the 
mountains on foot. Near one of the still burning fires we 
found a juece of meat, which our friends had thrown away, 
and which furnished us a mouthful — a very scanty break- 
fast. We continued directly on and reached our camp on 
the mountain lake at dusk. We found all well. Nothing 
had occurred to interrupt the quiet since our departure, and 
the fine grass and good, cool water had done much to re- 
establish our animals. All heard with great delight the 
order to turn our faces homeward; and towards sundown 
of the 17th we encamped again at Two Buttes." 

Fremont's description of the Wind River Range and the 
climbing of the peak is one of the best literary efforts of any 
explorer. It is a word picture drawn with such accuracy 
as to enable the reader to gain a grand view of this, the most 
beautiful mountain in the whole Rocky range. I reproduce 
in connection with this report two views of the Wind River 
Range made by Mr. Preuss on this trip. They were pub- 
lished in Fremont's report and deserve, because of their 
excellence, a place in this volume. The return of the party 
across South Pass and down the Sweetwater to Indepen- 




FREMONT'S PEAK. 
{From a drawing by Charles Preuss, Fremont's topographical engineer, Az/g. /s, 1842.) 
[The broad peak to the left is Fremont's.] 




WIND RIWER RANGE. 

[By Charles Preuss.) 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 273 

dence Rock was accomplished by the evening of the 22nd. 
On this great rock Fremont placed the emblem of Christi- 
anity. He says: **Here, not unmindful of the custom of 
early travelers and explorers in our country, I engraved on 
this rock of the far west the symbol of the Christian faith. 
Among the thickly inscribed names, I made on the hard 
granite the impression of a large cross, which I covered 
with a black preparation of India rubber, well calculated 
to resist the influence of wind and rain. It stands amidst 
the names of many who have long since found their way to 
the grave, and for whom the huge rock is a giant grave- 
stone." 

I have met quite a number of people who claim to have 
seen this cross, but must confess that I never have been able 
to find it. On July 4, 1847, there was a grand celebration 
at this rock by more than a thousand people who were on 
their way to Oregon and California. During the day the 
enthusiastic American citizens loaded old wagon hubs with 
powder, to which they fastened a fuse, and exploded them in 
the crevices of the rock. By this means a large piece of the 
granite weighing many tons was detached and turned over 
on the ground, and I have been of the opinion that the Fre- 
mont cross is on this detached piece of rock and was thus 
covered from view. 

After leaving Independence Rock the party proceeded 
across to the North Platte and carefully explored that 
stream, returning to Fort Laramie on August 31. The re- 
turn trip was made down the Platte to the Missouri, from 
which point they floated down that stream in a ten-oared 
boat and finally reached St. Louis on October 17. After 
this expedition of Fremont into Wyoming, things were 
never to be as they were before. The dark mountain barri- 
ers, broad valleys and noble rivers took their places upon 
the map of our country and became an open book for all men 
to read. The great Overland Trail, with its memories of 
Robert Stuart, General Ashley, the Sublette brothers, Cap- 
tain Bonneville, Marcus Whitman and others had become 
the broad highway used by those who were soon to build 

-{18) 



274 History of Wyoming. 

commonwealths. But Fremont is not through with Wyo- 
ming yet, for he is to mark out another public thorough- 
fare in our state. Of this I will speak in another chapter. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



FREMONT'S SECOND EXPEDITION THROUGH WYOMING. 

The Start From the Missouri — Follow the Kansas River — Command 
Divided — Explorations in Colorado — Two Divisions Meet at Fort 
St. Vrain — Twenty-Five Men With the Baggage Go by Way of 
Fort Laramie to Fort Hall — Fremont and Thirteen Men Ex- 
plore Laramie Plains and Proceed Westward to Eastern Rim 
OF Red Desert — Proceed North to Sweetwater — Journey to 
Bear River — Explore Great Salt Lake — Join Balance of Com- 
mand at Fort Hall — Explorations in Oregon — Winter Cam- 
paign in the Mountains of California — Third Exploring Expe- 
dition and Experiences in California — Fourth Exploring Expe- 
dition — Great Suffering of the Party and Eleven. Deaths — 
Fremont's Public Services. 

The second expedition of Fremont was undertaken 
early in the spring of 1843. The rendezvous was at the 
little town of Kansas, on the Missouri, now known as Kan- 
sas City. Experience had taught the chief of the expedition 
the necessity of a complete outfit, and consequently every- 
thing necessary was provided, Major Thomas Fitzpatrick be- 
ing selected as guide. Charles Preuss was again chosen as 
assistant topographical engineer. Lucien Maxwell was en- 
gaged as hunter. Theodore Talbot of Washington City was 
a member of the party. Frederick Dwight, of Springfield, 
Massachusetts, who was on his way to the Sandwich Islands, 
accompanied them. William Gilpin of Missouri, who after- 
wards became the first governor of Colorado, journeyed 
with Fremont to Oregon. The men who enlisted in the en- 
terprise were, as will be seen, largely chosen from the mem- 
bers of the first expedition. They were, Alexis Ayot, Fran- 



Fremont- s Explorations in Wyoming. 275 

cois Badeau, Oliver Beanlieu, Baptiste Bernier, John A. 
Campbell, John G. Campbell, Manuel Chapman, Ransom 
Clark, Philibert Courteau, Michel Crelis, William Creuss, 
Clinton Deforest, Baptiste Derosier, Basil Lajeunesse, Fran- 
cois Lajeunesse, Henry Lee, Louis Menard, Louis Montreuil, 
Samuel Neal, Alexis Pera, Francois Pera, James Power, 
Raphael Proue, Oscar Sarphy, Baptiste Tabeau, Charles 
Taplin, Baptiste Tesson, Auguste Vasquez, Joseph Verrot, 
Patrick White, Tiery Wright, Louis Zindel and Jacob Dod- 
son, the latter a young colored man from Washington City. 
The party was armed with Hall's carbines and also a twelve 
pound brass howitzer. The camp equipage, provisions and 
instruments were carried in twelve carts, drawn by two 
mules each. They left Kansas City on the 29th of May and 
proceeded up the south side of the Kansas River. On the 
8th of June they arrived at the mouth of the Smoky Hill 
Fork, where they crossed and proceeded up the Republican 
Fork. Arriving at a place called by the Indians Big Timber, 
the force was divided. Leaving twenty-five men in charge 
of Mr. Fitzpatrick to follow on with the heavy baggage, 
Fremont took fifteen men, the mountain howitzer, the cart 
containing instruments, and pushed forward, reaching the 
South Fork of the Platte on June 30th, and followed up this 
stream to St. Vrain's Fort, which point was reached on the 
4th of July. 

On the 6th the journey up the Platte was continued; 
passing Lupton's trading post, and a day or two later camp 
was made on the ground where Denver now stands. Fre- 
mont finally reached Pueblo, where he encountered Kit 
Carson, who had been with him on his expedition the year 
before. This accomplished frontiersman was added to the 
command, after which explorations were pushed into South 
Park and across into North Park, then down again to St. 
Vrain's fort, reaching there on the 23rd of July, where was 
found the detachment under Fitzpatrick awaiting them. 
On the 26th the party was again divided, Fremont taking 
thirteen men for his own company, and Fitzpatrick the bal- 
ance, with instructions to proceed by way of Fort Laramie, 



276 History of Wyoming. 

North Platte, Sweetwater and South Pass to Fort Hall and 
there to await the detachment under the personal charge of 
the explorer. Before starting out from St. Vrain, Fremont 
makes the following note in regard to the country through 
which he expected to travel, and the object of his explora- 
tions from St. Vrain west. His report reads : 

''I had been able to obtain no certain information in 
regard to the character of the passes in this portion of the 
Rocky Mountain range, which had always been represented 
as impracticable for carriages, but the exploration of which 
was incidentally contemplated by my instructions, with the 
view of finding some convenient point of passage for the 
road of emigration, which would enable it to reach, on a 
more direct line, the usual ford of the Great Colorado — a 
place considered as determined by the nature of the country 
beyond that river. It is singular that, immediately at the 
foot of the mountains, I could find no one sufficiently ac- 
quainted with them to guide us to the plains at their west- 
ern base; but the race of trappers who formerly lived in 
their recesses has almost entirely disappeared — dwindled 
to a few scattered individuals — some one or two of whom 
are regularly killed in the course of each year by the Indians. 
You will remember that in the previous year, I brought with 
me to their village near this post, and hospitably treated 
on the way, several Cheyenne Indians, whom I had met on 
the lower Platte. Shortly after their arrival here, these 
were out with a party of Indians (themselves the principal 
men), which discovered a few trappers in the neighboring 
mountains, whom they immediately murdered, although 
one of them had been nearly thirty years in the country, 
and was perfectly well known, as he had grown gray among 
them. 

''Through this portion of the mountains, also, are the 
customary roads of the war parties going out against the 
Utah and Shoshone Indians, and occasionally parties from 
the Crow nation make their way down to the southward 
along this chain, in the expectation of surprising some 
straggling lodges of their enemies. Shortly before our ar- 
rival, one of their parties had attacked an Arapahoe village 
in the vicinity, which they had found unexpectedly strong, 
and their assault was turned into a rapid flight and a hot 
pursuit, in which they had been compelled to abandon the 
animals they had ridden, and escape on their war horses. 
Into this uncertain and dangerous region, small parties of 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 277 

three or four trappers who now could collect together, 
rarely ventured; and consequently it was seldom visited 
and little known. Having determined to try the passage by 
a pass through a spur of the mountains made by the Cache 
a la Poudre River, which rises in the high bed of moun- 
tains around Long's Peak, I thought it advisable to avoid 
any incumbrance which would occasion detention." 

Fremont now pushed westward across the Laramie 
Plains, and his route lay from Cache la Poudre in Colo- 
rado, up Hale Creek, crossing over the head of Harvey 
Creek near Red Butte to the Big Laramie, when he camped 
four miles southv/est of where Laramie City now stands; 
thence across to Little Laramie; thence to Seven Mile Creek, 
Button Creek and Cooper Creek, thence to a point on Rock 
Creek near where the old stage station was afterwards lo- 
cated. From this point he traveled in a northwesterly direc- 
tion, crossing Wagonhound Creek, Medicine Bow Creek, 
camping at the north foot of Elk Mountain. From that 
point he went in a westerly direction, reaching the North 
Platte River a short distance above where Fort Steele was 
afterwards located. Near the North Platte they made a 
camp, and while there had the following experience: 

'*A successful day's hunt had kept our hunters occupied 
until late, and they slept out, but rejoined us at daybreak, 
when finding ourselves only about a mile from the river, 
we followed the ravine down and camped in a cottonwood 
grove on a beautiful grassy bottom, where our animals in- 
demnified themselves for the scanty fare of the past night. 
It was quite a pretty and pleasant place; a narrow strip of 
prairie about five hundred yards long terminated at the 
ravine where we entered by high precipitous hills closing 
in upon the river, and at the upper end by a ridge of low 
rolling hills. In the precipitous bluffs were displayed a 
succession of strata containing fossil vegetable remains, 
and several beds of coal. In some of the beds the coal did 
not appear to be perfectly mineralized, and in some of the! 
seams it was compact and remarkably lustrous. In these 
latter places there were, also, thin layers of very fine white 
salts, in powder. As we had a large supply of meat in the 
camp, which it was necessary to dry, and the surrounding 
country appeared to be well stocked with buffalo, which it 
was probable, after a day or two, we would not see again 



2/8 History of Wyoming. 

until our return to the Mississippi waters, I determined to 
make here a provision of dried meat, which would be neces- 
sary for our subsistence in the region we were about enter- 
ing, which was said to be nearly destitute of game. Scaf- 
folds were, accordingly, soon erected, fires made, and the 
meat cut up into thin slices to be dried; and all were busily 
occupied when the camp was thrown into a sudden tumult 
by a charge from about seventy mounted Indians, over the 
low hills at the upper end of the little bottom. Fortunately, 
the guard, who was between them and our animals, had 
caught a glimpse of an Indian's head as he raised himself in 
his stirrups to look over the hill, a moment before they made 
the charge, and succeeded in turning the band into the camp 
as the Indians charged into the bottom with the usual yell. 
Before they reached us, the grove on the verge of the little 
bottom was occupied by our people, and the Indians 
brought to a sudden halt, which they made in time to save 
themselves from a howitzer shot, which would, undoubtedly, 
have been very effective in such a compact body; and fur- 
ther proceedings were interrupted by their signs for peace. 
They proved to be a war party of Arapahoe and Cheyenne 
Indians and informed us that they had charged upon the 
camp under the belief that we were hostile Indians, and 
had discovered their mistake only at the moment of attack — 
an excuse which policy required us to receive as true, though 
under the full conviction that the display of our little howit- 
zer, and our favorable position in the grove, certainly 
saved our horses, and probably ourselves, from their ma- 
rauding intentions. They had been on a war party, and 
had been defeated, and were consequently in the state of 
mind which aggravates their innate thirst for plunder and 
blood. Their excuse, however, was taken in good part, and 
the usual evidences of friendship interchanged. The pipe 
went round, provisions were spread, and the tobacco and 
goods furnished the customary presents, which they look 
for even from traders, and much more from government 
authorities. They were returning from an expedition 
against the Shoshone Indians, one of whose villages they 
had surprised, at Bridger's Fort, on Ham's Fork of Green 
River (in the absence of the men, who were engaged in an 
antelope surround) and succeeded in carrying off their 
horses and taking several scalps. News of the attack 
reached the Snakes immediately, who pursued and over- 
took them and recovered their horses, and in the running 
fight which ensued the Arapahoes had lost several men 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 279 

killed and a number wounded, who were coming on more 
slowly with a party in the rear. Nearly all the horses they 
had brought off were the property of the whites at the fort. 
After remaining until nearly sunset they took their de- 
parture; and the excitement which their arrival had afforded 
subsided into our usual quiet, a little enlivened by the vigil- 
ance rendered necessary by the neighborhood of our un- 
certain visitors." 

The coal spoken of was found about six miles from his 
camping place on the Platte. From there he went up Sage 
Creek to Pine Grove, where there was afterwards a stage 
station located. That camp was within a mile of the Con- 
tinental Divide. From that point his route lay northwest, 
approaching the east rim of Red Desert; thence north to the 
Sweetwater, striking that river twenty miles above Devil's 
Gate. 

It will be observed that Fremont's route from Fort St. 
Vrain west over the Laramie Plains was a new exploration. 
A few trappers had been in that country before, it is true. 
Ezekiel Williams and his companions in 1807 had passed 
over these plains, but they were fleeing before hostile In- 
dians. Jacques Laramie had also been in that country ten 
or twelve years later, but he had paid for his daring with his 
life. As Fremont observes, nothing was known of the coun- 
try up to the time of his expedition in 1843. His explora- 
tions proved it to be a practicable route from Fort St. Vrain 
west, and before the end of that decade hundreds of emi- 
grants, who came up the Arkansas, followed that course, 
and later on the Overland stage was established substan- 
tially on the line of Fremont's survey.* 

Their route then led up the Sweetwater to the South 
Pass, going over at a point some miles south of the place 
crossed the preceding year. After leaving South Pass the 
emigrant road to Oregon was followed. Fremont in his re- 
port makes some interesting observations about Green 
River. He says: 

''This is the emigrant road to Oregon, which bears much 

*I am indebted to the well known civil engineer, M. N. Grant, for his assistance in 
tracing Fremont's route from Fort St. Vrain to the Devil's Gate. 



28o History of Wyoming. 

to the southward, to avoid the mountains about the western 
heads of Green River— the Rio Verde of the Spaniards. 
Crossing the river, here about 400 feet wide, by a very good 
ford, we continued to descend for seven or eight miles on a 
pleasant road on the right bank of the stream, of which the 
island and shores are handsomely timbered with cotton- 
wood. The refreshing appearance of the broad river, with 
its timbered shores and green wooded islands, in contrast 
to its dry, sandy plains, probably obtained for it the name 
of Green River, which was bestowed upon it by the Span- 
iards, who first came into this country to trade some twenty- 
five years ago. It was then familiarly known as Seeds-ke- 
dee-agie, or Prairie Hen River, a name which it received 
from the Crows, to whom its upper waters belong, and on 
which this bird is still very abundant. By the Shoshone and 
Utah Indians, to whom belongs, for a considerable distance 
below, the country where we were now traveling, it was 
called the Bitter Root River, from the great abundance in 
its valley of a plant which affords them one of their favorite 
roots. Lower down, from Brown's Hole to the southward, 
the river runs through lofty chasms, walled in by precipices 
of red rock; and even among the wilder tribes who inhabit 
that portion of its course. I have heard it called by Indian 
refugees from the Californian settlements the Rio Colo- 
rado." 

From Green River, the expedition headed for Bear 
River, and followed down the course of that stream to Great 
Salt Lake, which, with the aid of an India-rubber boat 
eighteen feet long, carried for the purpose, the lake was 
partially explored. Fremont visited an island in the lake 
and ascended a peak which upon measurement proved to be 
800 feet above the surface of the water. On this peak he ac- 
cidentally left the brass cover to the object end of his spy- 
glass. I mention this fact to put at rest the prevailing 
opinion among the old-timers in Wyoming that this acci- 
dent happened on Fremont's Peak. 

On September 19th the expedition arrived at Fort Hall,^ 
and on the 22nd left for Oregon and joined the survey to that 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 281 

of Captain Wilkes, thus connecting explorations from the 
Mississippi to the Pacific. The winter was spent in explor- 
ing the mountains of California, and finally in May, Fremont 
passed around the southern rim of the Great Salt Lake, to 
the point visited the previous September, having made a cir- 
cuit of 3,500 miles exploring the streams and mountains of 
Oregon and northern California from the Rocky Mountains 
to the Pacific Ocean. On the return journey from Salt Lake, 
Fremont explored the Colorado River, the headwaters of 
the Arkansas and the great parks of Colorado, returning 
to St. Louis on August 6th, 1844. He had many adventures 
during the trip and in all traveled 7,000 miles. 

Fremont headed another expedition in 1845, going west 
by the northern waters of the Arkansas to Great Salt Lake, 
thence directly across the central basin towards California 
over a route of which he was the first explorer. Arriving in 
California, he instructed the main body to go on to San 
Jose and there remain until he should join them. Wishing 
to avoid all occasion of ill-will or suspicion on the part of 
the Mexican authorities in California, he went alone to 
Monterey, and made himself known to Mr. Larkin, the con- 
sul of the United States in that city, and, accompanied by 
him, waited upon Alvarado, the Alcalde, Manuel Castro, 
the Perfecto, and Carlos Castro, the commanding general, 
who constituted the leading authorities of the country. He 
communicated his object in coming into California, stating 
that he had not a single soldier of the United States army in 
his party, and that his sole purpose was a scientific explora- 
tion of the continent, with a view of ascertaining the best 
mode of establishing a commercial intercourse between the 
Atlantic and Pacific regions. He requested permission to 
winter in the country, recruit his company, and continue 
his explorations. His request was granted. He then re- 
paired to his party at San Jose, where they remained several 
weeks. 

Shortly after this interview with General Castro, or- 
ders were received by that officer to drive Fremont out of 
the country, or send him prisoner to the City of Mexico. 



282 History of Wyoming. 

Of these orders Fremont had no knowledge until a long time 
afterwards. The first intimation he had of any unfriendly 
feeling towards him, was in certain movements, at various 
points, which seemed to have a threatening aspect, as if 
aimed at him. But the interview with Castro and the other 
high officers at headquarters was so recent and had been so 
friendly and cordial that he would hardly believe that the 
appearances that had attracted his attention were meant 
against him. At length, however, on the 3rd of March, when 
within about twenty-five miles of Monterey, he was met by 
an officer who had a detachment of eighty dragoons in his 
rear to enforce his message, with a letter from Castro, order- 
ing him without any explanation, peremptorily, out of the 
country. The communication was in such a tone, so entirely 
in violation of the arrangement made at Monterey on his 
visit to the authorities of the country, in that place, and the 
demonstrations were, all around, of such a belligerent look 
and character, that Captain Fremont felt no disposition to 
pay a hurried obedience to the order. He marched with his 
party directly to a lofty hill, called Hawk's Peak. It com- 
manded a view, to a great extent, all around the country. 
In that pure atmosphere distant objects were clearly seen, 
and brought minutely to view by the aid of spy-glasses. It 
was evident that preparations were going on to attack him. 
The enemy was seen scaling his guns, and gathering Cali- 
fornians and Indians into his ranks. Captain Fremont at 
once proceeded to fortify his position, and erected a staff on 
its highest point, forty feet in length, and unfurled from it 
the flag of his country. His own spirit pervaded his whole 
party. Although few in number, and far away from aid, 
in the heart of a foreign country, thus suddenly assuming a 
hostile attitude towards them, they were determined to 
defend themselves against any assault, by however great 
a force it might be made, and were thoroughly prepared to 
meet the last extremity. 

The Mexicans made every preparation to attack Fre- 
mont in his stronghold, but the reputation of his unerring 
riflemen kept them at a distance. At this time Fremont 



Fremonfs Explorations in Wyoming. 283 

had sixty men under him, a force suflScient, considering 
their character and their fortifications, to defy any number 
of Mexicans. Finding that the Mexicans would not make 
an attack, the American commander moved his force down 
into the San Joaquin Valley and through northern Califor- 
nia toward Oregon, 

The attitude of Fremont in California caused much ex- 
citement when the news reached the states. There was a 
conservative class of people who were disposed to criticise 
this conduct of an Anjerican officer on foreign soil, but Sen- 
ator Benton, when the subject came up in the United States 
Senate, made an eloquent speech explaining Fremont's po- 
sition and giving fully the details which led to the event 
on Hawk's Peak. In closing his speech, he said: "Such 
was the reason for raising the flag. It was raised at the 
approach of danger; it was taken down when danger dis- 
appeared. It was well and nobly done, and worthy of our 
admiration. Sixty of our countrymen, three thousand miles 
from home, in sight of the Pacific Ocean, appealing to the 
flag of their country, unfurling it on the mountain top and 
determined to die under it before they would submit to un- 
just aggression." 

Fremont had with him on this occasion some of the best 
fighters the world ever saw. There was Kit Carson, Max- 
well, Godey, Owens, Stepp, and a dozen more of the same 
stamp, all men who could be depended upon to uphold the 
flag of their country. Proceeding up into Oregon, he was 
met by a special messenger from James Buchanan, then 
Secretary of State, and instructed to watch events in Cali- 
fornia in the interest of the United States, This caused him 
to face about and go back into northern California, but 
before leaving his camp he was attacked by Tlamath Indi- 
ans in the night and five of his men were killed. He pushed 
on to California and found the whole country in a state of 
great alarm. American residents flocked to him for pro- 
tection. To make matters worse, the Indians in the country 
commenced hostilities. Fremont acted promptly, marching 
against the Indians and defeating them in several engage- 



284 History of Wyoming. 

ments. He next organized a movement having for its ob- 
ject a free and independent government for California. 
Commodore Sloat of the American navy being on that coast 
and hearing of Fremont's movements, and supposing him 
to be acting under orders, took possession of Monterey, after 
which Fremont raised the American flag over Sutter's Fort. 
This was July 11, 1846. The prompt action of Fremont re- 
sulted in bringing California into the Union. Previous to 
this he had been promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in the reg- 
ular army. Upon the organization of a state government for 
California, when it was admitted into the Union, September 
9, 1850, Colonel J. C. Fremont was elected one of the United 
States Senators. But before these events took place, he 
had returned home and organized another exploring expe- 
dition. This fourth journey to the wilderness was com- 
menced October 19, 1848. The guide on this occasion was 
Bill Williams, a noted mountaineer. The party left Pueblo 
on the 25th of November and attempted to pass directly 
west over the mountains. Deep snows were encountered 
and the weather proved unusually severe. He lost eleven of 
his men by starvation and cold, but he pushed his way on 
by the southern route to California. In 1856 Colonel Fre- 
mont was nominated for President by the Kepublican party, 
then in its infancy, he being the first candidate of that party. 
He was defeated, of course, and James Buchanan elected. 
On the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion he ten- 
dered his services to the national government and was ap- 
pointed a Major-General and at once took the field. In 
1878 he was appointed Governor of the Territory of Arizona, 
which position he filled for four years. He died in the City 
of New York, July 13, 1890. For some years previous to his 
death he was in extreme poverty, though once a millionaire. 
His fortune was spent in behalf of the west and the country 
at large. 

It may not be out of place for me to say here that I met 
Fremont during the summer of 1856, and from that time 
until his death enjoyed his personal friendship. To me he 
appeared the ideal explorer who would brave every danger, 



Fremont's Explorations in Wyoming. 285 

the patriot who watched over the welfare of his country, 
the soldier who would dare to do and die, the gallant com- 
mander who would never ask men to go where he would not 
lead, the scientific scholar who commanded the respect of 
every learned man of the country, and withal a man inspired 
with virtues beyond most of his fellows. 

General John C. Fremont did more for the west than 
any other explorer, statesman or patriot. His worthy deeds 
and brilliant achievements will make him remembered by 
all coming generations. He it was who pointed out the 
great value of the west and the importance of constructing 
a railroad across the mountains, and he proved by his sur- 
veys that such railroad construction was easy of accom- 
plishment. He laid the foundation for a group of western 
commonwealths and fixed therein a standard of excellence 
of manhood; declaring that he who does the greatest ser- 
vice for the state is the most exalted citizen. Political dem- 
agogues have tried to dim the lustre of his achievements, 
but their puny efforts have been drowned by the whistle of 
the locomotive of the ever advancing train of civilization 
which followed his lead, the hum of human industries which 
cluster on the mountain side, results of his creation, and 
the acclamations of the millions who have made happy 
homes in the Rockies and on the Pacific slope, and whose 
hero ever will be the Pathfinder. 



286 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXII. 

DISCOVERIES IN YELLOWSTONE PARK- 

JosEPH Meek Strays Into the Park in 1829, and Tells What He 
Saw — An Unknown Explorer in 1833 Writes the First Descrip- 
tion OF the Geysers — Jim Bridger in 1850 Takes His Friends to 
See the Curiosities at the PIead of the Yellowstone, Which 
He Had Been Telling About for Twenty-Five Years — Rey- 
nolds Expedition of i860 is Prevented by Deep Snow from En- 
tering the Geyser Country — Numerous Prospectors See the 
Thermal Springs and Geysers — The Folsom Expedition of 1869 
— Organization of the Washburn Expedition in 1870. 

I have already mentioned the first discovery of the Yel- 
lowstone National Park by John Colter in the year 1807. 
I also refer in another part of this work to the visit of Jim 
Bridger and Robert Meldrum to that locality in 1824, and 
now in regular order comes the important explorations of 
Joseph Meek in the year 1829. He was one of Captain 
William Sublette's men and was in company with other 
trappers. They were leaving the Snake River country, pass- 
ing over into Montana, and were attacked by Blackfeet Indi- 
ans. By some means Meek was cut off from the main body, 
and on foot and alone he wandered for several days, and by 
chance his route lay through the most interesting portion of 
the park. His adventures are thus described in "The River 
of the West," a book written in 1869 but not published until 
1871. I will make but a single quotation from this work, 
simply to show that the curiosities in the park were noted 
by that wandering class, the trappers. Meek's biographer 
thus describes what this man, who was lost, saw while try- 
ing to work his way out of the desolate country. He had 
traveled five days without food or shelter, his course had 
been in a southerly direction, and consequently he had 
reached Wyoming. 

"Being desirous to learn something of the progress he 
had made, he ascended a low mountain in the neighborhood 



Discoveries in Yellowstone Park. 287 

of his camp, and behold! the whole country beyond was 
smoking with vapor from boiling springs, and burning with 
gases issuing from small craters, each of which was emit- 
ting a sharp whistling sound. When the first surprise of 
this astonishing scene had passed, Joe began to admire its 
effect from an artistic point of view. The morning being 
clear, with a sharp frost, he thought himself reminded of 
the City of Pittsburg as he had beheld it on a winter morn- 
ing a couple of years before. This, however, related only 
to the rising smoke and vapor; for the extent of the volcanic 
region was immense, reaching far out of sight. The general 
face of the country was smooth and rolling, being a level 
plain, dotted with cone-shaped mounds. On the summit 
of these mounds were small craters from four to eight feet 
in diameter. Interspersed among these on the level plain 
were larger craters, some of them from four to six feet 
across. Out of these craters issued blue flames and molten 
brimstone." 

This man Meek was three years later with Captain Bon- 
neville and remained with him for three years, and was well 
known among trappers in Wyoming, 

The above account by Meek may be considered reliable 
as far as it goes, but he only got a glimpse of a small portion 
of the park. By many persons this trapper is considered an 
exaggerator, but in this instance he could hardly be accused 
of this to any great extent. 

Hon. N. P. Langford has kindly contributed for this 
work a clipping from "The Wasp," a Mormon paper pub- 
lished at Nauvoo, Illinois. The article is taken from the 
issue of August 13, 1842, but the incident referred to took 
place nine years earlier. This is the first written description 
of the park by a man who was on the ground. All that has 
come before are stories told by trappers around the camp 
fire. The name of the writer is unknown and at one time 
Mr. Langford was of the opinion that Captain Bonneville 
was the author, but a letter from him in 1875 to the Mon- 
tana Historical Society proves that he did not write it. Mr. 
Langford has furnished me with a copy of the Bonneville 
letter, which reads as follows : 

"You ask me if I knew of the thermal springs and gey- 
sers. Not personally; but my men knew about them and 



288 History of Wyoming. 

called their location the Fire Hole. I recollect the name 
of Alvarez as a trader. I think he came to the mountains as 
I was leaving them. • * * Half a century is a long time 
to look back, and I do so doubting myself." 

The "Wasp" letter I regard as a valuable contribution 
to the History of Wyoming, and it is with satisfaction that 
I give it a place in these pages. In speaking of the author 
of this letter, Mr. Langford says: 

"The writer's graphic descriptions stamp him as a man 
of culture and ability, and it would be interesting to know 
who he is and what fortune or enterprise brought him into 
that region at that early day. As the narrative was pub- 
lished in a Mormon paper, it is not impossible that the 
W'riter was spying out the country in the interest of the Lat- 
ter Day Saints." 

The communication to "The Wasp" reads as follows : 
"I had heard in the summer of 1833, while at rendez- 
vous, that remarkable boiling springs had been discovered 
on the sources of the Madison, by a party of trappers, in 
their spring hunt; of which the accounts they gave were so 
very astonishing that I determined to examine them myself 
before recording their description, though I had the united 
testimony of more than twenty men on the subject, who all 
declared they saw them, and that they really were as exten- 
sive and remarkable as they had been described. Having 
now an opportunity of paying them a visit, and as another 
or a better might not soon occur, I parted with the company 
after supper, and taking with me two Pen d'Oreilles (who 
were induced to make the excursion with me by the promise 
of an extra present), set out at a round pace, the night being 
clear and comfortable. We proceeded over the plain about 
twenty miles, and halted until daylight on a fine spring 
flowing into Kamas Creek. Kefreshed by a few hours' 
sleep, we started again after a hasty breakfast and entered 
into a very extensive forest known as the Pine Woods (a 
continued succession of low mountains or hills entirely cov- 
ered by a dense growth of this species of timber), which we 
passed through, and reached the vicinity of the springs 
about dark, having seen several small lakes or ponds on the 
sources of the Madison, and rode about forty miles — which 
was a hard day's ride, taking into consideration the rough 
irregularity of the country through which we had traveled. 
"We regaled ourselves with a cup of coffee, the ma- 



Discoveries in Yellowstone Park. 289 

terials for making which we had brought with us, and imme- 
diately after supper lay down to rest, sleepy and much fa- 
tigued. The continual roaring of the springs, however, 
(which was distinctly heard), for some time prevented my 
going to sleep, and excited an impatient curiosity to exam- 
ine them, which I was obliged to defer the gratification of 
until morning, and filled my slumbers with visions of water- 
spouts, cataracts, fountains, jets d'eau of immense dimen- 
sions, etc., etc. 

"When I arose in the morning clouds of vapor seemed 
like a dense fog to overhang the springs, from which fre- 
quent reports or explosions of different loudness constantly 
assailed our ears, I immediately proceeded to inspect them, 
and might have exclaimed with the Queen of Sheba, when 
their full reality of dimensions and novelty burst upon my 
view, 'the half was not told me.' 

"From the surface of a rocky plain or table burst forth 
columns of water of various dimensions, projected high in 
the air, accompanied by loud explosions and sulphurous 
vapors which were highly disagreeable to the smell. The 
rock from which these springs burst forth was calcareous, 
and probably extends some distance from them, beneath 
the soil. The largest of these wonderful fountains projects 
a column of boiling water several feet in diameter to the 
height of more than one hundred and fifty feet, in my opin- 
ion; but the party of Alvarez, who discovered it, persist in 
declaring that it could not be less than four times that dis- 
tance in height — accompanied with a tremendous noise. 
These explosions and discharges occur at intervals of about 
two hours. After having witnessed three of them, I ven- 
tured near enough to put my hand into the water of its ba- 
sin, but withdrew it instantly, for the heat of the water in 
this immense cauldron was altogether too great for my 
comfort; and the agitation of the water, the disagreeable 
effluvium constantly exuding, and the hollow, unearthly 
rumbling under the rock on which I stood, so ill accorded 
with my notions of personal safety that I retreated back 
precipitately to a respectful distance. The Indians who 
were with me were quite appalled and could not by any 
means be induced to approach them. They seemed aston- 
ished at my presumption in advancing up to the large one, 
and when I safely returned, congratulated me on my 'nar- 
row escape.' They believed them to be supernatural, and 
supposed them to be the production of the Evil Spirit. One 
of them remarked that hell, of which he had heard from the 
-{19) 



290 History of Wyoming. 

whites, must be in that vicinity. The diameter of the basin 
into which the waters of the largest jet principally fall, and 
from the center of which, through a hole in the rock of 
about nine or ten feet in diameter, the water spouts up as 
above related, may be about thirty feet. There are many 
other smaller fountains that did not throw their waters up 
so high, but occurred at shorter intervals. In some in- 
stances, the volumes were projected obliquely upwards, and 
fell into the neighboring fountains, or on the rock or prairie. 
But their ascent was generally perpendicular, falling in or 
about their own basins or apertures. These wonderful pro- 
ductions of nature are situated near the center of a small 
valley, surrounded by pine-crowned hills, through which 
a small fork of the Madison flows. 

"From several trappers who had recently returned from 
the Yellowstone, I received an account of boiling springs 
that differ from those seen at Salt River only in magnitude, 
being on a vastly larger scale; some of their cones are from 
twenty to thirty feet high, and forty to fifty paces in cir- 
cumference. Those which have ceased to emit boiling vapor, 
etc., of which there were several, are full of shelving cavi- 
ties, even some fathoms in extent, which give them, inside, 
an appearance of a honey-comb. The ground for several 
acres in extent in the vicinity of the springs is evidently 
hollow and constantly exhales a hot steam or vapor of dis- 
agreeable odor, and a character entirely to prevent vegeta- 
tion. They are situated in the valley at the head of that 
river, near the lake which constitutes its source. 

"A short distance from these springs, near the margin 
of the lake, there is one quite different from any yet de- 
scribed. It is of a circular form, several feet in diameter, 
clear, cold and pure; the bottom appears visible to the eye, 
and seems seven or eight feet below the surface of the earth 
or water, yet it has been sounded with a lodge pole fifteen 
feet in length without meeting any resistance. What is 
most singular with respect to this fountain is the fact that 
at regular intervals of about two minutes, a body or column 
of water bursts up to the height of eight feet, with an explo- 
sion as loud as the report of a musket, and then falls back 
into it; for a few seconds the water is roiled, but it speedily 
settles, and becomes transparent as before the efluxion. 
This spring was believed to be connected with the lake by 
some subterranean passage, but the cause of its periodical 
eruptions or discharges is entirely unknown. I have never 
before heard of a cold spring whose waters exhibit the phe- 



Discoveries in Yellowstone Park. 291 

nomena of periodical explosive propulsion in the form of a 
jet. The geysers of Iceland, and the various other European 
springs, the waters of which are projected upwards with 
violence and uniformity, as well as those seen on the head- 
waters of the Madison, are invariably hot." 

In commenting on this explorer's account of the won- 
ders of the Yellowstone Park, Mr. Langf ord says : 

''The writer of 'The Wasp' letter speaks of one curious 
thing: that of an eruption of a cold spring. I think that I 
can explain what seemed to him such a strange phenomenon. 
He says, 'this spring was believed to be connected with the 
lake by some subterranean passage.' I have no doubt that 
the pipe of some deep geyser opened into the bottom of this 
pond, or spring, as it was termed, and when an eruption of 
the geyser took place the cold surface water was forced 
into the air to a considerable height. After the eruption, 
when the geyser water had receded to the depth of forty or 
fifty feet from the surface, and the pipe had become filled 
with the cold water from the pond or lake, there would be 
nothing to indicate to the eye that it was anything else 
than a spouting cold spring. In support of this belief, I 
will mention that in 1870 I found several small geysers in 
the bed of the Fire Hole River which spouted their waters 
through the cold running water of that stream. 

" 'The Wasp' writer also speaks of the deposits around 
the springs as 'rocks.' Bridger fell into the same error. 
General Reynolds in his report (Ex. Doc. No. 77, Fortieth 
Congress, page 77) says that Bridger told him of a stream 
of cold water that flowed over a smooth surface of rock so 
rapidly that it became hot at the bottom. Bridger told me 
the same story, which I regard as a figment of his imagina- 
tion; but in 1870, while fording, bare-footed, the Fire Hole 
River, I found that what first appeared to be a smooth rock 
in the bed of the stream, was a silicious incrustation, deposi- 
ted by a hot spring underneath; and the heat was so great 
that I could not stand still on the incrustation more than 
fifteen seconds. Without doubt a similar spring caused the 
heat which Bridger attributed to friction produced by the 
rapid flow of water down a smooth, steep declivity. 

"Captain John Mullan, in his report published by the 
War Department in February, 1863 (Ex. Doc. No. 48) says 
that as early as 1853 his attention was called to the wild 
open region lying between Deer Lodge Valley and Fort Lar- 
amie, and that he learned of the existence of an infinite 



292 History of Wyoming. 

number of hot springs at the headwaters of the Yellow- 
stone, Missouri and Columbia Rivers ; and on page 20 of that 
report he again speaks of the mild climate of that region 
as follows: 

" 'This is as true as it is strange, and shows unerringly 
that there exists in this zone an atmospheric river of heat, 
flowing through this region, varying in width from one to 
one hundred miles, according to the physical face of the 
country,' 

"Captain Mullan believed that this aerial river of heat 
had its origin in these hot springs." 

To resume the explorations of the northwest portion 
of Wyoming, I will quote from Gunnison's History of the 
Mormons, where is found a graphic description of the won- 
ders of this part of our state. This author, in speaking of 
Jim Bridger's account of the country, says, under date of 
1850, that "Bridger gives a picture most romantic and en- 
ticing of the headwaters of the Yellowstone. A lake sixty 
miles long, cold and pellucid, lies embosomed among high 
precipitous mountains. On the west side is a sloping plain, 
several miles wide, with clumps of trees and groves of 
pines. The ground resounds with the tread of horses. Gey- 
sers spout up seventy feet high, with a terrific hissing noise, 
at regular intervals. Waterfalls are sparkling, leaping and 
thundering down the precipices, and collect in the pool be- 
low. The river issues from this lake, and for fifteen miles 
roars through the perpendicular canon at the outlet. In 
this section are the Great Springs, so hot that meat is rapid- 
ly cooked in them, and as they descend on the successive 
terraces, afford at length delight ul baths. On the other side 
is an acid spring, which gushes out in a river torrent, and 
below is a cave which supplies vermilion for the savages in 
abundance." 

In confirmation of the above, I will state that Topping 
gives an account of a prospecting trip into that country in 
the spring of 1850. The party was composed of Jim Bridger, 
Kit Carson, Wiggins, Krusse, Anderson and about twenty 
others. Late in the fall of 1849 they arrived at the camp 
of the Bannocks on Green River, where they fixed up winter 



Discoveries in Yellowstone Park. 293 

quarters and remained with the Indians till spring*. As 
soon as the snow would permit, they went up Green River 
to its headwaters, crossed the mountains to the Yellow- 
stone and down it to the lake and falls; then they crossed 
the divide and thus reached Madison River. They saw the 
geysers of the lower river and named the stream that drains 
them **The Fire Hole River." Vague reports of this wonder- 
ful country had been heard before. They had not been cred- 
ited, but had been considered as trappers' tales — more im- 
agination than fact. The report of this party made quite a 
stir in St. Louis and a company was organized there the 
next winter to explore this country, but from some un- 
known cause did not start, and not until 1863 were the gey- 
sers again visited. This time a party went down on the 
Madison until out of the mountains and then across the 
country to the Yellowstone, and they lay in camp on Shields 
River for two months. They were not troubled by Indians 
until the last of November, when a band of Blackfeet tried 
to run off their horses. These Indians succeeded in captur- 
ing eight head, but two of their warriors were killed. Not 
wishing to be cleaned out entirely, the party packed up and 
went to the Platte via Wind River. At this point they dis- 
banded. 

It is not a little surprising that our government was so 
slow in sending an expedition into this wonderland, the 
existence of which had become well known to the people 
of the whole country. Stories told by Colter, Bridger, Mel- 
drum, Meek, Carson, Wiggins, Krusse and Anderson had 
after a time become household tales throughout the land 
and yet the official heads of the great Republic refused to 
see the importance of making explorations, but finally in 
1859, fifty-two years after John Colter had explored the 
sources of the Yellowstone, the government fitted out an 
expedition, in charge of Captain W. F. Reynolds, of the 
Corps of Topographical Engineers. Captain Reynolds was 
ordered to explore 'Hhe region of country through which 
flows the principal tributaries of the Yellowstone River, 
and the mountains in which they, and the Gallatin and Mad- 



294 History of Wyoming. 

ison Forks of the Missouri, have their source." The expe- 
dition was overloaded with instructions and had entirely too 
much work assigned it to accomplish the important end in 
view, namely, to explore the sources of the Yellowstone. 
Captain Reynolds made a winter camp on Deer Creek, in 
Wyoming, the fall of 1859, and in May, 1860, started for the 
Wind River Valley with Jim Bridger as guide. It should be 
here remarked that Dr. F. V. Hayden accompanied the 
expedition as geologist. At the mouth of the Popo Agie 
River the party was divided. Reynolds with one division 
went up the Wind River. The other division under Lieuten- 
ant Maynardier went north with the understanding that 
the two parties should meet at the Three Forks of the Mis- 
souri. The division under Reynolds followed up the Big 
Wind River to its source, and there discovering a low pass, 
entered it and crossed over to the west side of the moun- 
tains. Reynolds' party was not the first by any means to 
discover this low pass. Hunt and Bonneville were before 
him, but to him belongs the honor of naming it Union Pass 
for the reason that it united two great valleys. 

After crossing the mountain he turned north, hoping 
to find a passage to the headwaters of the Yellowstone, but 
the snow lay deep in the mountains and he was unable to 
force a passage; therefore the party headed west and finally 
missed the park entirely. The division under Lieutenant 
Maynardier kept away from the mountains and at last 
reached the Three Forks, where was found the commander 
awaiting them. This government expedition resulted in 
nothing as far as the upper Yellowstone was concerned. 
Less than a year after its return, the War of the Rebellion 
broke out and the army officers found employment on the 
battlefields of the south. During the war a number of pros- 
pecting parties from Montana entered the upper Yellow- 
stone country and some of them saw the wonders of the 
park, but the gold excitement was too intense to allow nat- 
ural wonders to attract public attention at that time. In 
1863 a prospecting party left Virginia City, Montana, going 
into Idaho and finally reached the Snake River. They 



Discoveries in Yellowstone Park. 295 

passed up that stream through Jackson's Hole and finally 
discovered what is now known as Shoshone Lake; then 
passed directly through the park, noted many hot springs 
and some geysers; but the leader of the party, Walter W. 
DeLacy, was in search of gold, and therefore paid little at- 
tention to anything else. Following DeLacy's party were 
others, all in search of the precious metal. The first expedi- 
tion entitled to the name of explorers were three gentlemen, 
David E. Folsom, C. W. Cook and William Peterson. They 
had expected an escort of United States troops, but being 
disappointed, they resolved to go forward alone. They 
started from Diamond City, on the Missouri, September 6, 
1869. The party was well armed and equipped and success- 
fully penetrated the park, saw many of the wonders, and 
after thirty-six days returned with a story which led to the 
organization of the Yellowstone expedition of 1870. This 
party was headed by the Surveyor-General of Montana, 
Henry D. Washburn, accompanied by the Hon. N. P. Lang- 
ford, Cornelius Hedges, Walter Trumbull, Samuel T. Hau- 
ser, T. C. Everts, Benj. Stickney, Warren C. Gillette and 
Jacob Smith, all leading citizens of Montana. As this ex- 
pedition takes me beyond the date covered by the first vol- 
ume of this history, the report will be given in Volume II 
of this series. It will be observed that the United States 
had not up to the last date spoken of succeeded in sending 
an expedition into the park. The gentlemen above referred 
to, like those who went to the park in 1869, were unable to 
procure an escort of United States troops, and yet sixty- 
three years had elapsed since John Colter had penetrated 
and made known the Wonderland of America. 



296 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

HISTORY OF FORT LARAMIE. 

A Noted Post in the Wilderness — Story of Jacques Laramie — Nam- 
ing Laramie River — Robert Campbell Builds Fort William 
— Name Changed to Fort Laramie — Purchased by Milton Sub- 
lette, Jim Bridger and Others — Sold to American Fur Com- 
pany — Becomes the Capital of the Wilderness — Palmy Days at 
the Old Trading Post — Important Station on the Overland 
Trail — Closing Days of the Fur Traders at Fort Laramie. 

Fort Laramie, the first garrisoned post located in Wyo- 
ming, has clustered about it more historic incidents than 
any other military spot in the west. From first to last, the 
reminiscences of this fortified camp are full of tragedy, and 
these stories, if all told, would fill numerous volumes. For 
the purposes of this history, however, I must confine myself 
to the events which bear upon the conditions which sur- 
rounded the trader, trapper, hunter, emigrant, and the way- 
farer who sought shelter behind the ramparts of this gar- 
rison or needed succor from the strong arms of those who 
were placed at this fort to aid and assist all who passed 
through the country. To commence at the beginning, it is 
necessary to tell the story of Jacques Laramie, a French 
Canadian who came into the country in the employ of the 
Northwest Company, when that organization first extended 
its operations to the waters of the upper Missouri. A short 
time after Laramie came to the Rocky Mountains, the 
Northwest Company and the Hudson Bay Company com- 
menced a ruinous rivalry in trade which greatly reduced the 
profits of each. The trappers of the rival organizations 
tried to outwit, out-trap and outdo each other in general. 
Frequently they became embroiled and blood was shed. 
Jacques Laramie was a lover of peace and held himself 
aloof from quarreling with his fellow-men, and above all, 
he was opposed to the shedding of blood. He went on the 



History of Fort Laramie. 297 

theory that the world was wide and there was room enough 
for all; he therefore gathered about him a number of relia- 
ble trappers, who shared his views, and led them to a new 
and undisputed territory. This country was the headwaters 
and tributaries of the North Platte. Here they trapped un- 
disturbed. Laramie and his trappers soon made the ac- 
quaintance of many Indian tribes who either inhabited or 
made annual visits to the North Platte. These natives from 
the very first held Laramie in high esteem. He was of a 
resolute character, manly in conduct and kindly in disposi- 
tion. His associates regarded him as absolutely honest, 
and his courage was never questioned. His conduct toward 
the Indians was such as to command their respect and good 
will. Every act of his life commended him as worthy of the 
friendship of both the white men and the natives. The 
free trappers regarded him as a partisan worthy of their 
confidence. Annually they brought their peltries to the 
rendezvous at the mouth of the Laramie River, and these 
were disposed of in St. Louis and goods were brought back 
to be distributed among the trappers at a price amounting 
to cost and carriage. This method of association was not a 
new idea; it had been practiced by trappers on the Missouri, 
Mississippi and other rivers for many years, and it was con- 
sidered more profitable than dealing with the large traders 
in the country. There was one thing absolutely necessary 
in such co-operation; that was, an honest factor, and in this 
instance, as I have said, Jacques Laramie possessed their 
entire confidence. The furs were packed on horses or mules 
to a navigable point on the Platte River some distance be- 
low Grand Island, where bull boats were constructed and 
the peltries consigned to these, and without difiiculty they 
floated down the Platte and the Missouri and finally reached 
St. Louis. The trappers in a body convoyed the furs to the 
embarking point and brought back the horses and mules, 
which were again sent to meet the goods at a specified time, 
and thus it was that the free trappers under the partisan 
Laramie received their annual supplies. The business grew 
rapidly, from the fact that many Indians sold their peltries 



298 History of Wyoming. 

to the association, receiving in pay the merchandise brought 
in annually; but all this was soon to terminate in a disaster 
which caused great loss to the trappers and their Indian 
allies. About the year 1820, Laramie announced his inten- 
tion to trap on the Laramie Kiver and its tributaries, not- 
withstanding the fact that it was well known among trap- 
pers as a dangerous country, for the reason that it was the 
battle ground of the northern and southern tribes. Here 
they had met in fierce combat for many years. The southern 
tribes in their passage north often encountered armed bands 
of northern tribes, who disputed their right to occupy the 
hunting grounds north of the Laramie Plains. Laramie's 
friends urged upon him the danger of penetrating the dis- 
puted country, but he calmed their fears by saying that he 
would go alone and throw himself upon the protection of 
the Indians who were known to be friendly to him. His 
companions were silenced but not convinced, and they 
parted with him with many misgivings as to the wisdom of 
his course, but they knew it would be useless to attempt to 
dissuade him from his purpose. At the next rendezvous, 
Laramie, the heretofore central figure in the camp, was 
absent. The free trappers, with forebodings of evil, organ- 
ized a strong party and went up the Laramie River in search 
of a cabin which he had informed them he would build. In 
two or three days they found the cabin and the lifeless re- 
mains of their beloved partisan. There was every indication 
that he had met his death at the hands of savages. They 
had rewarded his friendship by basely murdering him, and 
thus brought on the war of extermination which was after- 
wards waged by Laramie's trappers and all others who pur- 
sued trapping in Wyoming. The friends of Laramie re- 
turned to the rendezvous on North Platte, but they were 
changed men and resolved never more to trust the friend- 
ship of a race of murderers. From that time on they spoke 
of the river on the banks of which Laramie had been mur- 
dered as Laramie's River, and later trappers in the country 
called it Laramie River. I have talked with some old trap- 
pers who are of the opinion that Laramie's cabin was lo- 



History of Fort Laramie. 299 

cated at the mouth of the Little Laramie. Be that as it may, 
this is the origin of the name Laramie River, from which 
comes Laramie Plains, Laramie Range, Laramie Peak, Fort 
Laramie, Laramie County, Laramie City and Little Laramie 
River, 

The story of Jacques Laramie has been hard to trace. 
I have talked of this renowned trapper with many of the 
older class of pioneers, such as Baker, Majors, Wiggins, 
Perri, Chapman, Lowe, Street and many others. All knew 
something about him from tradition, but none could speak 
positively as to the time when Laramie was killed or as to 
the date of the Laramie trappers occupying the North 
Platte country. The murder was charged at the time to the 
Arapahoes, but this tribe strenuously denied the charge, 
and, Indian like, claimed that other Indians had committed 
the murder, and ingeniously argued that they would not 
have killed Laramie because he had given them in exchange 
for their furs more and better goods than they had ever 
received from the large fur companies. The fact of the 
murder of Laramie is given by many writers. Col. A. G. 
Brackett says that Laramie was killed on the headwaters 
of the stream which bears his name. Bancroft says that 
Laramie was a French trapper, who in the earliest hunting 
times was killed by the Arapahoes on this stream, and 
credits the statement to Schell. Other writers give the 
same fact, but none enter into particulars. I fix the date 
of the murder as about 1820, but it might have been three 
or four years earlier. 

In the summer of 1834 Robert Campbell accompanied 
Captain William Sublette on his return trip to St. Louis 
as far as Laramie's Fork, where it was agreed should be 
erected a trading post. Campbell brought with him from 
the west a number of French Canadians, also a few half- 
breeds from St. Louis, and with the aid of these he con- 
structed the post. The first structure was erected on the 
left bank of the Laramie, a half mile above its junction with 
the North Platte. Timber was cut in the hills and the fort 
erected was of logs, one end of which were set in the ground. 



300 History of Wyoming. 

projecting out about eighteen feet, forming what is known 
as a picket fort. The fort was 130 feet square and around 
the inside were small buildings for the use of the trader and 
his trappers. During the period of its construction Mr. 
Campbell was in his natural element, as he was by nature 
calculated to push without ceasing every undertaking in 
which he engaged. The force was completely organized, a 
detachment was sent to the woods for the timber, and a 
band of hunters supplied buffalo, elk, deer and mountain 
sheep. By the time winter approached there was an abun- 
dant larder and plenty of fuel had been gathered to keep 
up cheerful fires during the long winter months. Mr. Camp- 
bell had with him a stock of merchandise which he traded 
for furs with independent trappers who came along, and 
also with the Indians. There was at the fort that winter 
a motley collection of American trappers, hunters, French 
Canadians, half-breeds, Mexicans and Indians. Robert 
Campbell presided over the multifarious assembly with that 
true dignity which was a part of his nature. He was at this 
time still a young man, scarcely in his prime. He is spoken 
of as being tall, with a fair complexion and rather light 
colored hair. His figure was erect and his bearing that of a 
man of much reserved power. He settled disputes and bick- 
erings with a word, and so that neither side could feel ag- 
grieved. This was the first commander as well as the build- 
er of the great military post which during the next fifty 
years was to be first an important trading center and then 
the theater of military events in the far west. When the 
establishment had been fully completed, Campbell sought 
for a proper name for this, the first permanent settlement 
in what was thirty-four years later the Territory of Wyo- 
ming, and he finally determined to call it Fort William, 
in honor of his friend. Captain William Sublette, and thus 
it was known among trappers. How long Robert Campbell 
remained in command of Fort William, tradition does not 
say. We next find him at the head of a large mercantile es- 
tablishment at St. Louis, and his place became the popular 
outfitting resort of fur traders and trappers. He took in 



History of Fort Laramie. 301 

exchange for his goods the peltries of his customers. He 
necessarily employed large capital in the business, as he 
supplied goods all over the Rocky Mountain country. An- 
nually Fort William drew its supplies from Campbell's es- 
tablishment. Somehow the name Fort John became at- 
tached to this post. I find quite a number of writers who 
mention it by this name. 

John Hunton, who has lived for many years at Fort 
Laramie, told me the past winter the origin of the name 
Fort John. He said when he went to Fort Laramie in 1867, 
there was an old half-breed Pawnee trapper around the 
place, Antoine Ladeau, who spoke English well. This trap- 
per knew the history of the country and often told stories 
relating to Robert Campbell, William Sublette, Jim Bridg- 
er. General Harney, General Connor and others. He was a 
perfect encyclopedia of all events that had happened on the 
Platte during the early days. He claimed that Fort Lara- 
mie never bore the name of Fort John, but that there was 
a Fort John at the mouth of Laramie River occupied at one 
time by Adams and Sybylle. This I think offers a clear ex- 
planation of the name Fort John. It is simply a mistake of 
trappers, who mixed the names of the two forts. Ladeau 
was born on the Platte River and came to the fort at the 
forks of the river when he was a boy. His father was a 
Frenchman and his mother a Pawnee. When but a small 
boy he was captured by the Sioux and brought up by them. 
He was an interpreter for General Connor in his Powder 
River campaign, and died in 1881. 

The name Fort William was changed in a rather singu- 
lar manner. The subject was often discussed at Campbell's 
store in St. Louis, and this discussion was brought on by 
an eccentric shipping clerk whose duty it was to do the 
marking on all bales and boxes of goods which were sent 
out. His instructions were that all goods intended for this 
post were to be marked "Fort William, on Laramie River," 
as there were other Fort Williams in the Rocky Mountain 
country, but this artist of the marking-pot was troubled 
with forgetfulness, and he never could remember whether 



302 History of Wyoming. 

it was Fort William or Fort John, and finally one day there 
was no one at hand to give him the desired information, so 
he marked the long row of bales and boxes "Fort Laramie," 
instead of "Fort William, on Laramie River." Some one 
called Campbell's attention to the mistake, and that prac- 
tical business man saw that his clerk had for once blun- 
dered correctly and given the fort on Laramie River its 
proper name, and ever afterward it was known as Fort 
Laramie. 

At the opening of the season of 1835, Robert Campbell 
and William Sublette sold Fort Laramie to a syndicate of 
trappers at the head of which was Milton Sublette and Jim 
Bridger, Milton Sublette, like his brother William, was a 
bold, determined partisan, and Bridger was worthy to be 
classed as one of the bravest of leaders in the fur trapping 
business. These two men had for associates, Fitzpatrick^ 
who had already won his spurs as a great leader, Basil 
Lajeunesse, who afterwards became one of Fremont's men, 
was a member of the syndicate; also W. M. Anderson and 
old Jack Robinson. The new company was composed of 
young men, but all possessed experience in trapping and 
trading and Indian fighting. They promptly sent out their 
trappers into all parts of Wyoming, and the outlook for the 
new organization was certainly very bright. There was 
only one thing in the way, and that was Fontenelle of the 
American Fur Company, who had gathered about him a 
large number of the best trappers in the Rocky Mountains, 
and many of these were associates and friends of Jim Bridg- 
er, Milton Sublette and other partners in the association. 
Fontenelle made a proposition to Milton Sublette that he 
and the members of his company become partners in the 
American Fur Company and thus put a stop to an unprofita- 
ble competition. This deal was accomplished early in the 
summer of the same year, and thus Fort Laramie passed 
into the hands of the American Fur Company and remained 
their property for fourteen years. In 1836 the logs of the 
fort were discovered to be badly rotted, and so the company 
rebuilt it at an expense of f 10,000. It chanced that quite a 



History of Fort Laramie. 303 

number of Mexicans wintered at Laramie in 1835-6, and 
they made the proposition to build the new fort after the 
plan of such buildings in their own country, and thus it 
was that adobes were used. When completed, it was a 
substantial structure and served every purpose for which it 
was intended. Fremont, who visited the fort in 1842, gives 
a full description of it as it appeared at that time. This 
will be found in the first chapter of Fremont's explorations 
in Wyoming in this volume. 

Fort Laramie from this on controlled the fur business 
of Wyoming. Everything being in readiness to conduct 
business on a large scale, two trappers, Kiplin and Sybylle, 
were sent out over the Black Hills to the north to invite 
the Sioux Indians to come to the fort and trade, and to live 
and hunt in that vicinity. Much to everybody's surprise, 
the two ambassadors returned bringing with them over one 
hundred lodges of Ogalalla Sioux under their chief, Bull- 
Bear. The Sioux nation at this time numbered many thou- 
sands, consisting of numerous bands, each bearing a prefix 
to distinguish them from the others. In spite of the best 
efforts of the American Fur Company, the Sioux succeeded 
in driving away the Cheyennes, Pawnees and other tribes 
who had heretofore made the country adjacent to the North 
Platte their annual hunting grounds. The Sioux at this 
time were warlike and disposed to rule the whole country. 
Buffalo, deer, elk and mountain sheep were plentiful in the 
mountains and on the plains around the fort, and conse- 
quently the natives had no difficulty in procuring food. 
Those were happy days for the Indians. They sold their furs 
and robes at the fort and received in exchange bright blan- 
kets, beads, knives, powder and lead, and occasionally pro- 
cured a gun. During the next two or three years Fort 
Laramie became the resort of thousands of Indians; also of 
free trappers, who camped under its walls in large numbers. 
They found fault with the prices charged for goods, but as 
they sold their beaver skins at a fair price they put up with 
over-charge. The Sinclair brothers, who were popular lead- 
ers of free trapper bands, were among the number who sold 



304 History of Wyoming. 

their furs at the fort. Dick Wootton, Jim Beckwourth, 
Bissonette, Kit Carson, August Claymore, "Old Charlefou," 
L. B. Maxwell, "Black Harris," F. X. Matthieu and many 
others were occasional visitors at the fort. Those were 
days of enterprise, adventure and hair-breadth escapes. 
The stories that these men recounted as they met at the 
rendezvous or winter encampment were never excelled by 
like adventures in any land. The language spoken at Fort 
Laramie at that time was French for the most part, bad 
English, and a dozen Indian dialects. Every white trapper 
had his squaw and the traders and clerks in this respect 
were equally well provided. At the time of Fremont's visit, 
July 15, 1842, the fort was in charge of Mr. Boudeau ; Galpin 
and Kellogg were his clerks. Frances Parkman, the author 
of "The California and Oregon Trail," who visited Fort Lar- 
amie in 1846, has left a very carefully written description 
of the noted trading post and its surroundings. Mr. Park- 
man was accompanied by Quincy A. Shaw of Boston, who 
afterwards became a prominent merchant in his native city 
and who still resides there, being at this date a very aged 
man. Henry Chatillon, a well known hunter in the Rocky 
Mountains, was the guide of this party. Describing the 
scenes in and around Fort Laramie, Mr. Parkman says in 
his chatty style: 

"We tried to ford Laramie Creek at a point nearly op- 
posite the fort, but the stream, swollen with the rains in 
the mountains, was too rapid. We passed up along its bank 
to find a better crossing place. Men gathered on the wall 
to look at us. 'There's Bordeaux!' called Henry, his face 
brightening as he recognized his acquaintance; 'him there 
with the spy-glass; and there's old Vaskiss and Tucker and 
May; and, by George, there's Cimoneau!' This Cimoneau 
was Henry's fast friend and the only man in the country 
who could rival him in hunting. We soon found a ford. 
Henry led the way, the pony approaching the bank with a 
countenance of cool indifference, bracing his feet and slid- 
ing into the stream with the most unmoved composure. We 
followed; the water boiled against our saddles, but our 
horses bore us easily through. The unfortunate little mules 
came near going down with the current, cart and all, and 




{Page 303.) 




FORT LARAMIE IN 1871. 

[From an old photograpli.) 



History of Fort Laramie. 305 

we watched them with some solicitude scrambling over the 
loose round stones at the bottom and bracing stoutly against 
the stream. All landed safely at last; we crossed a little 
plain, descended a hollow, and riding up a steep bank found 
ourselves before the gateway of Fort Laramie, under the 
impending blockhouse erected above it to defend the en- 
trance. 

"We were met at the gate, but by no means cordially 
welcomed. Indeed, we seemed objects of distrust and sus- 
picion until Henry Chatillon explained that we were not 
traders, and we in confirmation handed to the bourgeois 
a letter of introduction from his principals. He took it, 
turned it upside down and tried hard to read it; but his lit- 
erary attainments not being adequate to the task, he ap- 
plied for relief to the clerk, a sleek, smiling Frenchman 
named Montalon. The letter read, Bordeaux (the bourgeois) 
seemed gradually to awaken to a sense of what was ex- 
pected of him. Though not deficient in hospitable inten- 
tions, he was wholly unaccustomed to act as master of cere- 
monies. Discarding all formalities of reception, he did not 
honor us with a single word, but walked swiftly across the 
area, while we followed in some admiration, to a railing and 
a flight of steps opposite the entrace. He signed to us that 
we had better fasten our horses to the railing; then he 
walked up the steps, tramped along a rude balcony, and 
kicking open a door displayed a large room, rather more 
elaborately finished than a barn. For furniture it had a 
rough bedstead, but no bed; two chairs, a chest of drawers, 
a tin pail to hold water, and a board to cut tobacco upon. 
A brass crucifix hung on the wall and close at hand a recent 
scalp, with hair full a yard long, was suspended from a nail. 
This apartment, the best in Fort Laramie, was usually occu- 
pied by the legitimate bourgeois, Papin, in whose absence 
the command devolved upon Bordeaux. The latter, stout, 
bluff little fellow, much inflated by a sense of his new au- 
thority, began to roar for buffalo robes. These being 
brought and spread upon the floor formed our beds; much 
better ones than we had of late been accustomed to. Our 
arrangements made, we stepped out to the balcony to take 
a more leisurely survey of the long-looked-for haven at 
which we had arrived at last. Beneath us was the square 
area surrounded by little rooms, or rather cells, which 
opened upon it. These were devoted to various purposes, 
but chiefly to the accommodation of the men employed at 
the fort, or of the equally numerous squaws whom they 
-(20) 



3o6 History of Wyoming. 

were allowed to maintain in it. Opposite to us rose the 
blockhouse above the gateway ; it was adorned with a figure 
which even now haunts my memory; a horse at full speed, 
daubed upon the boards with red paint, and exhibiting a 
degree of skill which might rival that displayed by the 
Indians in executing similar designs upon their robes and 
lodges. A busy scene was enacting in the area. The wag- 
ons of Vaskiss were about to set out for a remote post in the 
mountains, and the Canadians were going through with 
their preparations with all possible bustle, while here and 
there an Indian stood looking on with imperturbable- 
gravity. 

"Fort Laramie is one of the posts established by the 
American Fur Company, who well-nigh monopolize the 
trade of this whole region. Here their officials rule with 
absolute sway; the arm of the United States has little 
force, for when we were there, the extreme outposts of her 
troops were about seven hundred miles to the eastward.'^ 

Messrs. Parkman and Shaw remained in Wyoming sev- 
eral months, making Fort Laramie their headquarters off 
and on as it suited their convenience. They hunted buffalo 
and other game with the Indians and secured all they were 
in search of, health, experience and adventure. They met 
many traders and trappers, and among others three grand- 
sons of Daniel Boone. Among the items of interest Park- 
man mentions in connection with Fort Laramie, is the price 
of horseshoeing, which he says was |3 per shoe. At the 
time of Parkman's visit to Laramie, the road was lined the 
entire season with emigrants bound for Oregon, and some 
few for California. 

There were two notable parties that passed through 
Fort Laramie that year. One was headed by J. Quinn 
Thorton, a lawyer of ability from Quincy, Illinois, bound 
for Oregon. The other party was in charge of George and 
Jacob Donner, enroute for California. The Donners were 
from Springfield, Illinois. The two trains traveled together 
up the North Platte, along the Sweetwater, across South 
Pass, and followed the now fairly worn highway over Green 
Kiver, just beyond which those going to California passed to 
the left, going by way of the Fort Bridger route. The Ore- 



History of Fort Laramie. 307 

gon party suffered great hardship and did not reach their 
destination until the 29th of November, Mr. Thornton was 
the following year appointed a judge of the Supreme Court 
of Oregon, and from the time of his arrival in that coun« 
try had much to do with public affairs. The train that went 
to California had the saddest experience of any like number 
of individuals who have ever crossed the mountains. Noth- 
ing unusual occurred until they reached the vicinity of Salt 
Lake. They entered the valley and passed around the 
southern end of the lake. Here one of their number died. 
In crossing the Salt Lake Desert thirty-six of their cattle 
perished and four of their wagons had to be abandoned. 
The Indians stole and killed much of their stock that sur- 
vived the desert, and their dangers and hardships kept in- 
creasing as they advanced. And as their trials and suf- 
ferings increased they grew despondent and irritable and 
desperate. Quarrels frequently broke out and one man 
was killed. Although the killing was done in self-defense, 
frieds of the dead man threatened to hang the slayer, 
and he had to leave the company and alone and on foot 
make his way through the deserts. One man became sick 
and exhausted and the owner of the wagon in which he 
rode put him out and left him by the roadside to die, where 
the wolves fought over and devoured his body. Another 
was shot accidentally and died from the wound, and one 
man and his wife were reduced to the extremity of going on 
foot and carrying their two small children. 

On the 31st of October they reached an elevation of 
near 10,000 feet in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and en- 
camped in snow almost ten feet deep. Here their cattle 
soon all perished, and their bodies became lost in the deep 
bed of snow. For their protection they built log cabins 
and the heavy snowfalls soon piled up around these habita- 
tions to such a depth that they had to enter them through 
the roofs. Their provisions ran out and they fed upon the 
dead bodies of such of the cattle as they could find in the 
snow, and later on upon the hides of those they had killed. 
On the 16th of December a party of ten men and five women 



3o8 History of Wyoming. 

set out upon snow shoes to make their way into the Sacra- 
mento valley settlements to carry the news that a party of 
immigrants was starving in the mountains. Of this party 
only two men and the five women reached the settlements. 
Three of the men lost their reason, two of whom died, and 
the third, and for the express purpose of eating their flesh, 
shot two Indians who were with the party. The survivors 
ate their moccasins, crisped their boots and shoes at their 
camp fires and ate of them, and — horrible to relate — ate also 
of the flesh of several of the white men who had died. At 
last one of the men, while traveling ahead and alone, came 
upon some Indians, with whose assistance the party reached 
a settlement, and soon the news was sent to every settle- 
ment in the valley. Expeditions of relief were sent out im- 
mediately, but when the camp in the mountains was reached 
many were dead, the living were skeletons, barely able to 
move, and some were supporting life by feeding upon the 
dead. Their sufferings had made them childish, had driven 
them into insanity, and they indulged in the most revolting 
forms of cannibalism without compunction. Out of eighty 
persons who here went into camp on the 31st of October, 
only forty-four reached California alive, the last ones not 
until on the 25th of April. General Kearney, on his way 
east in the following June, passed the scene of this grew- 
some mountain camp and had the mummied remains of 
the dead buried and the cabins burned. 

Such were the sufferings of some of those who passed 
through Wyoming in early years. Hardships were the lot 
of all, and dangers of every sort beset the traveler who 
started out on that long journey across the continent. In 
those days the trading post known as Fort Laramie was the 
one bright spot to be encountered in the mountain country. 
Notwithstanding the tales of starvation which were con- 
stantly being carried back to the states, the course of em- 
pire continued to take its way westward. Men, women and 
children in trains; first numbering hundreds, then thou- 
sands, followed the dusty, sandy road up the Platte River 
and passed the noted trading post and then on to the west, 



History of Fort Laramie. 309 

crossing the mountains at South Pass and disappearing on 
the western borders of Wyoming. When this travel began 
to assume large proportions, trading posts were established 
at convenient points along the route, and soon the old order 
of things passed away. The fur-bearing animals had nearly 
all been destroyed, and had it not been for the demand in 
the east for buffalo robes, the Indian would have lacked the 
wherewith to purchase his beads, vermilion and scarlet 
blankets. The trader could not live on this business alone, 
and fortunate it was for him that the exodus set in across 
the mountains and furnished him with customers for his 
merchandise. 

I have now carried the history of Fort Laramie down 
to the year 1846, and this noted post has become the capital 
of a large extent of territory. People going to Oregon, Cali- 
fornia or Utah sojourned for a day or a week at this famous 
trading post. The events which happen at Fort Laramie 
are made known months afterwards on the Atlantic and the 
Pacific coasts, but it is destined to a great change. Fremont 
has recommended that a line of military posts be erected 
through the wilderness for the protection of emigrant 
travel, and Fort Laramie is soon to be selected as one of the 
government posts. 



3IO History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTEK XXIV. 

HISTORY OF FORT LARAMIE— [Continued.] 

Purchase of Fort Laramie by United States Government — The 
Price Paid — The First Garrison — Reinforcements — Rebuilding 
OF the Fort — Scurvy Attacks the Soldiers — Cholera at Scott's 
Bluffs — Captain Ketchum Relieves Major Sanderson as Com- 
mander — American Fur Company Retires Down the River to 
Scott's Bluffs — Emigrant Trains — Indians for the Most Part 
Peaceable — Valuable Services of American Fur Company to 
Emigrants — Treaty of 1851. 

In accordance with Fremont's recommendation as men- 
tioned in the last chapter, Congress passed an act on May 
19, 1846, making an appropriation of |3,000 for each post es- 
tablished on the Oregon road, and added $2,000 to pay the 
Indians for the land on which each of these posts might be 
located. Before anything could be done in regard to estab- 
lishing such posts, the Mexican war broke out and the army 
having other business to attend to, the matter remained in 
abeyance for nearly three years. The first oflScial order 
from the War Department relating to Fort Laramie is dated 
at Washington, March 30, 1819. From General Order No. 
19, I make the following extract: 

"To carry out the provisions of the 6th section of the 
Act of May 19, 1846, relative to establishing military posts 
on the Oregon route, and to afford protection to the nu- 
merous emigrants to that country and California, the first 
station has already been established, under instructions 
of the Secretary of War of June 1, 1847, on the Platte River, 
near Grand Island, and is known as Fort Kearney. The 
garrison of this post will be one company First Dragoons 
and two companies Sixth Infantry, to be designated by the 
commander of the Department. 

"Under the same instructions of the Secretary of War, 
it now becomes necessary to establish the second station at 
or near Fort Laramie, a trading station belonging to the 
American Fur Company. The garrison of this post will be 



History of Fort Laramie. 311 

two companies of the Regiment of Mounted Riflemen to be 
halted on the route, and one company Sixth Infantry. 

''In the further fulfillment of the requirements of the 
Act of May 19, 1846, the march of the Rifle Regiment to 
Oregon during the ensuing season is deemed the proper oc- 
casion for establishing a third post on the route to and 
through the territory. From the best information on the 
subject, it is supposed the most eligible point for this third 
station in the northwest chain of posts may be found some- 
where on Bear River or its tributaries, near enough to the 
settlements in the vicinity of Salt Lake to obtain with facil- 
ity such supplies of subsistence and forage as they may af- 
ford. The trading establishment at Fort Hall, on the upper 
waters of the Columbia River, has also been considered an 
advantageous position. The instructions to Brevet Major 
General Twiggs, commanding the Sixth Military Depart- 
ment, charge that officer with giving the necessary direc- 
tions upon the subject. By order: 

"R. JONES, Adjt. Genl." 

In connection with the above, I find the following from 
the commander of the Sixth Military Department at St. 
Louis, dated April 6, 1849: 

"Recent instructions from the War Department make 
it necessary that supplies for one year shall be forwarded 
for two military posts to be established on the route to Ore- 
gon — one at or near Fort Laramie, and the other in the vi- 
cinity of Fort Hall. The garrison at Fort Laramie will con- 
sist of two companies of Mounted Riflemen and one com- 
pany of Infantry. It will be supplied with provisions for 
one year, and the full ration of forage (grain) for six months. 
The post near Fort Hall will be garrisoned by two compa- 
nies of Mounted Riflemen and will, also, be supplied with 
provisions for one year and forage for six months. Besides 
the above, each post will be furnished with such quarter- 
master's stores as may be expected to be necessary in the 
establishment of the posts. The supplies for the post near 
Fort Hall must be ready to move from Fort Leavenworth 
with the Rifle Regiment on the 15th of May; the departure 
of those for Fort Laramie may be delayed until the 1st of 
June. The chiefs of the quartermaster's and commissary's 
departments at these headquarters will take the necessary 
steps for the fulfillment of this order. It is to be understood 
that these supplies are exclusive of those that the troops 
will require during the march. They may, at the discre- 



312 History of Wyoming. 

tion of the Chief of the Quartermaster's Department, be 
forwarded either by contract or by government transporta- 
tion; and in the latter case the teamsters will be hired by 
the Department. The train will have orders to return with- 
out delay. By order of Brevet Major General Twiggs. 
'^D. C. DUELL, Asst. Adjt. Gen." 

Following this was a second order, more specific, as it 
not only named the companies which were to be stationed at 
the different posts, but also named the commanders and the 
date upon which the troops would march. This supple- 
mental order was dated April 9th. It is herewith appended. 

"In connection with the movement of the Rifle Regi- 
ment, the further duty of directing the establishment of 
certain military posts on the route to Oregon, having, by 
late instructions from the Adjutant General's office, been 
devolved on the Commanding General of the Department^ 
the following orders are published in relation thereto. In 
whatever they may conflict with these, all previous orders 
relative to the march of the Rifle Regiment are annulled. 

"I. There will be a post established at or near Fort 
Laramie. Its garrison will consist of Companies A and E, 
Mounted Riflemen, and Company G, Sixth Infantry, under 
the command of Major W. F. Sanderson, Mounted Riflemen. 
"A post will, also, be established either in the vicinity of 
Fort Hall, or Bear River, to be garrisoned by Companies G 
and B, Mounted Riflemen, under the command of the senior 
Captain, Brevet Major J. S. Simonson. 

"The officers named above to command these posts, 
will immediately take the necessary measures for moving to 
and establishing their commands at their respective sta- 
tions, in conformity with these orders and the special in- 
structions that will be given them. 

"II. The troops to garrison the post near Fort Hall will 
start from Fort Leavenworth on the 1st of May (Company 
B, starting from Fort Leavenworth, will be joined by Com- 
pany G at Fort Kearney) taking with them provisions for 
three months, such quartermaster's stores( tools and build- 
ing materials) as will be required in the construction of 
their post, and, if necessary, forage for their animals until 
the grass will sustain them. 

"All empty wagons will be left at Fort Kearney in pass- 
ing, and in order that the command may have time to put 
itself under shelter at its station before winter, its march 



History of Fort Laramie. 313 

will be hastened as much as may be consistent with the 
preservation of the efficiency of the troops and train. It will 
halt at Bear River, and from there a careful reconnoissance 
will be made of the locations which will be made in special 
instructions to the commanding officer, and from which a 
site for the post will be selected. The position being deter- 
mined upon, the command will be immediately and actively 
employed in the construction of the post; the first object be- 
ing to shelter the troops against the coming winter. The 
permanent arrangement of the post, whether as it regards 
quarters or defensive works, must depend upon the instruc- 
tions of the proper departments to the officers charged with 
the construction. 

*'The year's supply of provisions and forage already 
ordered for this post will leave Fort Leavenworth with the 
remaining portion of the Rifle Regiment between the 1st 
and 20th of May; and within those limits. Colonel Loring 
may use his discretion as to the time and order of starting 
his train, and those companies of his regiment not detailed 
for the two new posts. 

"III. Major Sanderson will leave Fort Leavenworth 
by the 10th of May with Company E, Mounted Riflemen, 
(rationed for two months) and such quartermaster's stores 
(tools, etc.) as may be necessary until the arrival of the re- 
mainder of his command, and will proceed to locate a post in 
the vicinity of Fort Laramie, agreeably to the special in- 
structions that will be given him. The remainder of the 
garrison for this post (Companies A, Mounted Riflemen, 
and G, Sixth Infantry) will follow on the 1st of June, with 
the year's supplies already ordered for their post. The 
trains carrying supplies to the post near Fort Hall, and that 
in the vicinity of Fort Laramie, will immediately return to 
Fort Leavenworth. 

"IV. Assistant Surgeon C. H. Smith is assigned to 
duty with the troops for Fort Laramie, and Assistant Sur- 
geon William F. Edgar with those of Fort Hall. They will 
immediately join those troops and report to their command- 
ing officers, respectively," 

The above are of value in the history of Wyoming; 
therefore I have given them in full. To make the early offi- 
cial record of Fort Laramie complete, I copy the first report 
sent to the Secretary of War from the newly established 
post. It is dated at Fort Laramie, June 27, 1849, and signed 
W. F. Sanderson, Major commanding post. 



314 History of Wyoming. 

"I have the honor to inform you that I arrived at this 
fort on the morning of the 16th instant, nothing having oc- 
curred on our way to interrupt our march; since that time 
I have, accompanied by Lieutenant Woodbury of the Engi- 
neers' Department, made a thorough reconnoissance of the 
country in the neighborhood of this place, having passed 
up the ridge or mountain road as far as the Boisie (or Big 
Timber Creek) and returning by the river road. 

"This was found to be the most eligible for a military 
post, and was purchased at my request on the 26th inst., by 
Lieutenant Woodbury, at a cost of four thousand dollars, 
from Mr. Bruce Husband, agent of the American Fur Com- 
pany, who was duly authorized to dispose of the same for 
that amount. 

"Pine timber, suitable for all building purposes, is 
found in abundance within twelve miles, on the north side 
of the Platte. 

"The best of limestone is also found at about the same 
distance, on the south side of the same river. 

"The Laramie is a rapid and beautiful stream, and will 
furnish abundance of good water for the command. 

"Good, dry wood is found in abundance and easily to 
be obtained. 

"There is plenty of grass for making hay within con- 
venient distance of the post. 

"The entire command (excepting eight men for stable 
police) are already employed in cutting and hauling timber, 
burning lime and coal, cutting and making hay; the saw mill 
will soon be in active operation ; everything is being pushed 
forward as rapidly as circumstances will permit." 

In connection with this report appears another com- 
munication from Major Sanderson, dated Fort Laramie, 
December 1, 1849. It is addressed to the Adjutant General 
of the army and reads as follows: 

"In compliance with your letter of instructions of the 
11th of September, 1849, requiring more definite informa- 
tion concerning the purchase of this fort, I have the honor to 
report that the sum of four thousand dollars was paid to 
the agent of the American Fur Company for the buildings 
and improvements. There was no ground included in this 
purchase. The four thousand dollars was paid by Lieuten- 
ant Woodbury of the Engineers Department, Vho is 
charged with the construction of this post,' out of the 
amount appropriated by the Act of Congress, August 14th, 



History of Fort Laramie. 315 

1848. This section of country from Horse Slioe Creek, forty- 
three miles above this post, to the Forks of the Platte, is 
claimed by the Sioux, the Arapahoes and the Cheyenne 
Indians. Each of these tribes is divided into several bands 
and are scattered over the country from the Kansas to the 
Missouri. The chiefs of the several bands are to assemble at 
this post in the spring, at which time it is proposed to pur- 
chase the ground." 

The command which constituted the first garrison of 
Laramie was composed of fifty-eight men and five officers. 
The names of the latter were as follows: Major W. F. San- 
derson, Mounted Rifles, commanding post; Major S. P. 
Moore, Surgeon; Captain Thomas Duncan, Mounted Rifles, 
commanding company; First Lieutenant Daniel P. Wood- 
bury, Engineer Corps; First Lieutenant Thomas G. Rhett, 
Mounted Rifles, Post Adjutant and Quartermaster. 

Company C of the Regiment of Mounted Rifles joined 
the post on the 26th of July, 1849, under the command of 
Captain Benjamin S. Roberts, two officers and sixty men. 
Company G of the Sixth Infantry joined the post on the 12th 
of August, 1849, under the command of Second Lieutenant 
Levi C. Bootes, two officers and fifty-three men. 

In the summer of the same year, the cholera was on the 
plains, but came no nearer to the post than Scott's Bluffs, 
fifty miles below, on the Platte River. The emigrants were 
the persons chiefly attacked by it, and more particularly the 
men. Many trains passed through the post conducted only 
by women and children, the men being dead. In the winter 
of this year, the scurvy was prevalent among the troops at 
the post. About one-fifth of all the men were on crutches. 
Wild onions and water cresses were issued in large quanti- 
ties by the commanding officer, Indians having been em- 
ployed to gather them; and in the following spring many of 
the diseased soldiers were transferred to the general hospi- 
tal at Leavenworth, Kansas. 

During the fall of 1849 a bridge was constructed across 
the Laramie River not far from the fort. The enterprise 
was by private parties, a sort of stock company which col- 
lected toll from emigrants. The bridge went out in the June 



3i6 History of Wyoming. 

rise in the summer of 1853. A ferry boat was at once built 
to take the place of the bridge, and this was managed by a 
rope. The commander at the fort detailed men to operate 
this ferry, who collected toll from all except those in the em- 
ploy of the government, but as high water did not last more 
than sixty or ninety days each season, it was only those who 
passed west during that time who were obliged to pay toll. 
It has been suggested that army officers of that early date 
were silent partners in the bridge and ferry, but if so there 
is no record to prove it. 

Major Sanderson was relieved in October, 1850, by Cap- 
tain William S. Ketchum, Sixth Infantry, who retained 
the command until the 19th of July, 1852, when he was suc- 
ceeded by First Lieutenant Richard B. Garnett, Sixth In- 
fantry; the Mounted Rifles having left the post in the sum- 
mer of 1850, the duties of the garrison were performed by 
Company G of the Sixth Infantry for the following year. 
Major Sanderson died in 1853. 

Captain Ketchum is spoken of by old timers in Wyo- 
ming as a man who did not regard the position of com- 
mander at Fort Laramie as at all exalted or desirable. He 
longed to get back to civilization. Some say he had a quar- 
relsome disposition and was always in hot water. He did 
his duty, but was not disposed to make things pleasant for 
his associates or chance visitors at the fort. He was happy 
when relieved, and the employes at the post were not sorry. 

The Rev. Richard Vaux was chaplain and schoolmaster 
at the fort from 1850 to 1861. This good man left pleasant 
memories at Fort Laramie and will never be forgotten by 
the boys and girls who were under his instruction. He was 
the associate of the officers, the friend of the enlisted men, 
and exerted an influence for good on all occasions. He 
nursed the sick, buried the dead and cheered the emigrants 
who passed through the country. 

At the time of the purchase of Fort Laramie by the 
government, it was expected that the American Fur Com- 
pany would retire from the country; in fact, Bruce Husband 
gave that as the reason of the company's desire to sell. It 



History of Fort Laramie. 317 

was quite a surprise, therefore, when this representative 
of the fur monopoly announced that he would build another 
trading post farther down the river and that already the 
locality was selected. This was at Scott's Bluffs. The 
buildings were at once constructed, and the stores, peltries 
and robes of the company at Laramie were moved to that 
point. Bruce Husband was an able trader and had man- 
aged the affairs of his company in a manner that reflected 
credit on himself. He was popular with the Indian tribes 
and pursued a policy with them that insured peace and pros- 
perity. It turned out to be a fortunate thing for emigrants 
that this company continued to do business in the country, 
as its representative used his influence to prevent the Indi- 
ans from stealing the stock of those going to Utah, Oregon 
and California, and in a number of instances it came to the 
knowledge of the commanders at Fort Laramie that the 
American Fur Company had saved many white men from 
being killed. When Bruce Husband retired from the post at 
Scott's Bluffs, Fontenelle took his place, and his adminis- 
tration proved equally as satisfactory. The Indians were 
well acquainted with this famous partisan, he having been 
a familiar figure in the mountains for more than twenty 
years, and the red men had great respect for him because 
he would fight if driven, to it, and this gave him great influ- 
ence over the tribes. Fontenelle enjoyed the confidence of 
army officers and was well thought of by all who came in 
contact with him. It seemed proper that this distinguished 
leader, who had for so many years lived a life of adventure 
in the mountains, should be chosen by his company to fill 
a position in which he was no longer called upon to suffer 
the hardships by which he had won a name for himself and 
wealth for those whom he served. He was the last repre- 
sentative of the American Fur Company in this section of 
country. 

In 1851 the government entered into a treaty with the 
Arapahoes, Cheyennes and the Ogalalla Brule Sioux, which 
combined tribes numbered about 6,000, in which the Indians 
were to have annuities to the value of |50,000, to be paid in 



3i8 History of Wyoming. 

goods. They were also to have a reservation between the 
100th and 107th meridians of longitude and the 39th and 
44th parallels of latitude. This reservation embraced more 
than one-third of what is now Wyoming, in the eastern part, 
nearly half of the western part of Nebraska, a portion of 
South Dakota, a considerable part of western Kansas and 
nearly one-half of Colorado. The Indians on their part 
agreed, in consideration of the annuities and the setting 
apart of nearly 123,000 square miles of territory as a reser- 
vation, to refrain from killing emigrants or fighting troops 
stationed along the Overland trail. This treaty was the 
commencement of a series of misunderstandings on both 
sides. For a time the annuities were paid, but when the 
government reduced the garrison at Fort Laramie the Indi- 
ans became insolent. The first trouble occurred in the 
spring of 1852, at the ferry near the fort. An Indian shot at 
the sergeant in charge of the ferry-boat. The commander 
detailed twenty-three men under command of Lieutenant 
Fleming to arrest the would-be murderer. The soldiers 
went to the village and demanded the guilty Indian. Un- 
fortunately the chief of the band was absent. The interpre- 
ter who accompanied the soldiers talked to the warriors, 
and when he informed them that they must give up the bad 
Indian they declared that rather than do this they would 
fight. Lieutenant Fleming with five men now advanced, 
when the savages opened fire. The soldiers quickly returned 
it with telling effect, killing four of the red men. Two In- 
dians were captured and taken as prisoners to the fort, 
where they were held for some months. None of the soldiers 
were injured. This punishment had the desired effect, as 
it made the Indians respect the small garrison at the fort, 
and from this on peace reigned for more than a year around 
Fort Laramie, but not so beyond its influence. Stock was 
stolen and white people occasionally scalped along the emi- 
grant road. White hunters were also killed by the Indians 
when opportunity offered. There were emissaries who went 
from one tribe to another stirring up bad feelings, pointing 
out to the more peaceably disposed that the Indian had been 



History of Fort Laramie. 319 

wronged by the government and that there was a disposi- 
tion on the part of white men to take their hunting grounds. 
They also complained that they were not allowed to pass in 
and out of the garrison after "retreat" was sounded. In 
short, nothing pleased these lords of the soil, unless it was 
to rob trains and to kill and scalp white men, and they were 
constantly trying to find justification for these acts. The 
half-breeds and squaw men* were constantly telling the 
Indians that the government would treat them fairly and 
even generously, but the white traders stole all the presents 
sent by the Great Father to his Indian children, and thus 
the bad blood increased. 



*Men who married squaws and who lived with the tribes were called squaw men. 
Their children were known as half-breeds. 



320 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

HISTORY OF FORT LARAMIE— [Continued.] 

Unpleasant Side of the Service at Fort Laramie — Shut Up in the 
Wilderness — Gloom and Despondency — Insolent Savages — In- 
dians Severely Punished — Lieutenant Grattan and Thirty Sol- 
diers Massacred — Sioux Tribes on the Warpath — Fort Laramie 
Reinforced — Major Hoffman Takes Command — The Sioux Make 
War on Emigrant Trains — Sir George Gore's Hunting Expedi- 
tion — Bridger Becomes Guide — Terrible Conditions Along the 
Overland Trail — Government Urged to Protect Emigrants — 
War Department Aroused at Last. 

A post in the wilderness was hardly a place suited to 
the tastes of either officers or men connected with the 
United States army during the fifties. The stirring events 
of the previous decade, which included the Mexican War 
period, were quite in contrast with the service at Fort Lara- 
mie. It was simply the process of adding one day to an- 
other and doing routine duty. At the best it was banish- 
ment from civilization, and it is no wonder that these men 
complained of a service that doomed them to loneliness and 
despair. They longed for a more active life, something that 
would keep them employed in mind as well as body. The 
summer came only to remind them how pleasant would be 
a change of location, and the winters settled down upon 
them with the awful stillness of the mountain and desert. 
To these men the service they were doing seemed for the 
most part useless, and like all human beings, they despised 
a useless task. We are told that drinking and gambling 
were the great evils that prevailed at Fort Laramie at that 
time, and it seems not at all strange that this kind of de- 
Xjravity should exist. It certainly was to a certain extent 
excusable in such a place. They were shut up in this wilder- 
ness without being able to get a letter or a newspaper for six 
or seven months, and no shipwrecked mariners cast on a des- 





{Page SQ4-) 



History of Fort Laramie. 321 

olate island ever looked more longingly for a sail than these 
soldiers for the white canvas tops expected in early spring. 

For a year or two, no events of any importance hap- 
pened at Fort Laramie. During the summer months emi- 
grant trains were very numerous, but they passed through 
without having any great diflSculty with Indians. Occa- 
sionally escorts were furnished to outgoing trains, but only 
when a commander possessed information that Indians west 
were troublesome. Sometimes small trains were held until 
others came up, so as to provide protection for each other. 
In the main, the Indians were fairly peaceable on account of 
the presence of troops. In those days there were some mot- 
ley collections around the old fort. Numerous hunting par- 
ties composed of men in search of adventure and big game 
passed through. In the spring of 1852 a surveying expedi- 
tion for Oregon visited the post. Among the members of 
this party was W. N. Byers, who later, April 22, 1859, found- 
ed the Rocky Mountain News, the first newspaper issued in 
Colorado. Mr. Byers is still living and is an honored citizen 
of the commonwealth of Colorado. 

That year an expedition composed of three hundred peo- 
ple arrived at Fort Laramie in charge of Captain Douglas of 
Michigan. They remained some days at the fort and then 
pushed on to their destination, California. Before leaving 
Laramie, thirty of the members decided to go on an explor- 
ing and prospecting trip to the north, agreeing to join the 
company at a point farther west. A month later eight of 
these men rejoined the party, but twenty-two were never 
heard from, though diligent inquiries were made for years. 
It was supposed that they were all killed by Indians. 

During the winter of 1853-4 the usual dull routine of 
garrison duty took place at Fort Laramie, and the spring 
season opened with promise of equally uneventful times. 
The War Department having need elsewhere of the services 
of Commander Garnett of Fort Laramie, that officer retired 
from the post on May 18, which left Second Lieutenant 
Hugh B. Fleming of the Sixth Infantry in command. Com- 
pany G of Fleming's regiment w^as at the post, but how 
-(21) 



322 History of Wyoming. 

many men and oflflcers is not clear. The command suffered 
principally with having nothing to do except consume com- 
missary whisky. It was truly distressingly peaceable 
around the fort during the spring and early summer, and 
nothing occurred until the 19th of August, when the leader 
of a Mormon train which was camped ten miles below on the 
Platte reported to the fort early in the morning of that day 
that a large number of Indians were camped below on the 
river, and they had a day or two before killed a cow or ox 
belonging to the Mormons. The Indians were under a chief 
named Mat-to-i-o-way, who had himself made known at the 
fort this occurrence, saying that an unsuccessful hunter of 
his band returning to the village had killed the animal be- 
longing to the Mormons, and that he had reprimanded him 
for the act. He further stated that he had permitted his 
band to eat the animal, inasmuch as it had been killed. The 
commander at Fort Laramie, making a mountain out of a 
molehill, sent Lieutenant Grattan with thirty men and two 
howitzers to bring in the guilty Indian and also such others 
as had taken the carcass. Eight miles below the fort the 
Indians were met by this detail, and Lieutenant Grattan 
made known to a sub-chief named Bear his errand. The 
chief told the officers that he did not regard the offense as 
of any great importance, and that the head chief of the band 
had reported the affair to the commanding officer at the 
fort. He said nearly the entire village had eaten of the 
slaughtered animal and were therefore all included under 
the orders of the officer. He refused to submit his people to 
arrest. When told that the soldiers would fire upon his 
tribe, he reiterated his explanation and said he could do 
nothing more. The lieutenant now advanced with his men 
to make the arrest, but the whole party were at once sur- 
rounded by the savages, when the soldiers were ordered to 
fire upon them, killing one Indian and mortally wounding 
the chief. The lieutenant now ordered that the howitzers 
be discharged, but the guns not being well sighted, the 
grape and canister went over the heads of the now infuri- 
ated warriors, who quickly closed in on the soldiers and 



History of Fort Laramie. 323 

â– with tomahawks and war-clubs killed the officer and all of 
his command except one, who though badly wounded es- 
caped by the aid of a friendly Indian to the fort. This af- 
fair resulted in the almost total annihilation of the garrison 
at Fort Laramie. Lieutenant Grattan was a young officer 
recently from West Point, and this was his first and last 
experience as an Indian fighter. Commander Fleming has 
always been severely condemned for this affair. It was 
commonly stated at the time that there had been a too free 
use of whisky on that fatal morning before the detachment 
left the fort. Fleming's explanation was that the whole 
business was mismanaged by Lieutenant Grattan, but in the 
judgment of those around the fort at the time, the com- 
mander did an unwise thing when he placed so delicate a 
mission in the hands of an inexperienced young officer. 

The Grattan affair was the starting point of a bloody, 
long and costly war with the Sioux tribes. Commencing in 
the very hour of their victory over the soldiers, they at- 
tacked the trading post of Chouteau & Company and also 
that of James Bordeaux. These posts were both robbed of 
all their goods and the people connected with them barely 
escaped massacre. Commander Fleming marshalled the 
balance of his garrison, including stable men and employes, 
and made every preparation for defense, feeling certain 
that the Indians would attack the post. Fortunately, the 
hostiles went to the hills and then hurried on east to confer 
with other tribes belonging to the Sioux nation, and soon 
several thousand were on the war-path with the avowed de- 
termination that they would kill not only every white man 
in the country, but every emigrant passing through on the 
Overland trail. A detailed account of the disaster was 
hurried off to Fort Kearney and reinforcements asked for 
from that garrison. A part of a company was at once sent 
up the river to help hold the unfortunate post which came 
so near destruction. 

Two days after the Grattan disaster a burial party was 
sent from Fort Laramie to inter the remains of the ill-fated 
lieutenant and his men. A large hole was dug and the muti- 



324 History of Wyoming. 

lated bodies hastily thrown in, covered with dirt, and on 
top of all was placed a pile of stones, and thus reposed the 
victims of the first military tragedy in Wyoming. This was 
a small blunder when compared with others which followed 
in later years. The War Department seemed awakened out 
of a sound sleep by this horrible affair; but little came of it 
for a year and a half except the sending of Companies B 
and D of the Sixth Infantry, numbering 111 men, under the 
command of Major and Brevet Lieutenant Colonel William 
Hoffman. These reinforcements arrived on November 12, 
1854, and Lieutenant-Colonel Hoffman assumed command 
of the fort on that date. Hoffman was a good soldier, experi- 
enced in handling troops, and afterwards was conspicuous 
in the military affairs of the west. From the time of the 
Grattan massacre up to the arrival of the two companies 
of the Sixth Infantry, the inmates of Fort Laramie were 
kept upon a nervous strain, and the little garrison lived 
from day to day expecting the return of the Sioux in over- 
whelming force. Every man in the garrison, citizens as well 
as soldiers, did duty. Sentries walked their beat, and every- 
thing was kept ready so as to prevent a surprise or to repel 
an attack, and thus remained the military situation that 
year. 

In June, 1854, Fort Laramie was enlivened by the ar- 
rival of Sir George Gore with a hunting outfit which sur- 
passed anything that had ever before been seen in the 
Eocky Mountains. This gentleman was from Sligo, Ireland, 
and belonged to the Peerage, and with a rent roll which ena- 
bled him to spend $200,000 annually for his personal pleas- 
ures. He came to Fort Laramie with an outfit of six wag- 
ons, twenty-one carts, twelve yoke of cattle, one hundred 
and twelve horses, fourteen dogs and forty servants. In St. 
Louis he had secured the services of Henry Chatillon and 
his brother as guides. Gore created a sensation at Fort 
Laramie and made it his base of supplies for some months. 
Trappers and hunters of that day were astonished at the 
improved firearms with which he was provided. These 
embraced everything then known of a new pattern in Eng- 



History of Fort Laramie. 325 

land or America. His first expedition was through the 
Black Hills south, crossing the Laramie Plains into North 
Park and penetrating the mountains and valleys of Colo- 
rado. At a point described as seventy-five miles southwest 
of Fort Laramie, one of his men washed out quite a quantity 
of placer gold, and not knowing for certain what it was took 
it to Sir George Gore and asked if it was not gold. The no- 
bleman examined it with great care and then replied, ''Yes, 
this is gold ; but under no circumstances mention the finding 
of it to anyone else." He then sent for his guide and di- 
rected him to take the expedition out of that place, saying 
that he did not care in what direction, as long as they got 
away, and made the further explanation that one of his men 
had found a quantity of gold and that he had forbidden him 
to speak of it to anyone. He said if his people knew there 
was gold in the country they would all leave him; that he 
was not there to get gold, as he had plenty of it. The guide 
then led the way into North Park. The place where the 
gold was found must have been in what is now Albany 
County. The expedition wintered at Fort Laramie and Sir 
George made a study of the motley collection of trappers, 
hunters and guides who gathered around the fort during 
that time. He also became acquainted with a number of 
noted Indian chiefs, who told him of their hunting grounds 
to the north and of the magnificent game in that region. 
Jim Bridger chanced to be at Fort Laramie that winter and 
Gore made his acquaintance. Both men were a revelation 
to each other. The like of Jim Bridger had never been en- 
countered by the lordly Englishman. Here was a man of 
the forest who had no reverence for royalty and could not 
be obsequious if he tried. His answers were direct and to 
the point and he called things by their right names as far as 
his limited knowledge of the English language would per- 
mit. The nobleman admired Bridger's honesty and sim- 
plicity and resolved to make use of his knowledge of the 
country and his experience as a hunter. He wanted big 
game, and here was the man who could lead him to the best 
hunting grounds. Then commenced diplomacy on the part 



326 History of Wyoming. 

of Gore. He wanted to hire Bridger for the following sum- 
mer and winter and attempted to secure his services at a 
good round figure, salary to commence from the time the 
expedition should leave Fort Laramie in the spring. Bridg- 
er cut the diplomacy short by accepting the proposition, 
providing he was placed on the payroll from the moment of 
that conversation, explaining that he had a number of op- 
portunities for employment, one of which he should accept 
unless his services were engaged by the English lord. He 
did not care to continue negotiations further, and the result 
was that he was placed on the payroll at once, and he be- 
came the guide of the Gore expedition from that time until 
it left the country in 1856. In the spring, hunting was re- 
sumed, the route being up the North Platte through what is 
now Natrona County, and north into Johnson County to the 
headwaters of Powder River, to the old Portugese fort. 
From there Gore made hunting trips in various directions, 
the main route being down Powder River. Arriving at the 
mouth of that stream, he turned up the Yellowstone to 
Tongue River, in the vicinity of which he made a winter 
camp, building a fort on the Tongue eight miles above its 
confluence with the Yellowstone, on what afterwards be- 
came the Fort Keogh military reservation. This aristocrat 
did not have happy times among the free and easy Ameri- 
cans who were in the country at that time and his last win- 
ter was a stormy one in more than one particular, and by 
the time spring opened he was ready to leave the Rocky 
Mountains and return to civilization. The only man he 
met in this country whom he cared for as a companion was 
Jim Bridger. All others were distasteful to him. 

In his "Old Santa Fe Trail," Colonel Inman describes 
the companionship of the tw^o men — one, a rich, educated, 
whole-souled Irish nobleman; the other, a man who from 
boyhood had lived on the plains, depending on his tact and 
rifle for food and life. 

Sir George would lie in bed until ten o'clock in the 
morning, then he took a bath, ate his breakfast, and set out 
generally alone for the day's hunt. It was not unusual for 



History of Fort Laramie. 327 

him to remain out until ten at night, and he seldom returned 
without "meat." His dinner was then served, to which 
he extended an invitation to Bridger. 

After the meal was over, Sir George was in the habit of 
reading some book, and drawing out from Bridger his ideas 
about the author. 

The Irishman usually read from Shakespeare, which 
Bridger "reckin'd was too highfalutin" for him. ''That thar 
big Dutchman, Mr. Full-stuff," he commented, "was a leetle 
too fond of lager beer." 

Sir George read the "Adventures of Baron Munchau- 
sen" to Bridger, who remarked that "he be dog-goned ef he 
swallowed everything that thar baron said." He thought 
he was "a liar," yet acknowledged that some of his own 
adventures among the Blackfeet would be equally wonder- 
ful "if writ down in a book." 

Bridger thought Sir George a successful hunter; an 
opinion justified by the records of the two years' hunt; forty 
grizzly bears, twenty-five hundred buffalo, numerous ante- 
lope and other small game. 

When Sir George Gore came to Wyoming, he was ac- 
companied by a distinguished astronomer and scientist. 
Lord Fitz Williams of England, who visited the Rocky 
Mountain country for the purpose of making some impor- 
tant astronomical observations. His work was carefully 
done during the summer, from chosen points in the Black 
Hills. He was a warm personal friend of Sir George and 
the two spent the few months together pleasantly. Their 
friendship was not disturbed by the fact that their objects 
and aims in life were so different. The one was of the earth 
and gained amusement in the pursuit of the wild beasts of 
the forest, while the other sought pleasure in the study of 
the heavenly bodies. Lord Fitz Williams remained in Wyo- 
ming during the summer and in the fall went with the party 
to Fort Laramie, and from that point back to the states, and 
finally to England. 

The year 1855 was rather uneventful at Fort Laramie. 
The garrison suffered greatly for the want of vegetables. 



328 History of Wyoming. 

Arrangements had been made as early as 1851 to cultivate a 
garden. It was planted and cared for until the dry weather 
came on, which produced a total failure of crop. This gar- 
dening experiment was undertaken regularly each year, 
but the result was only a partial success. In 1855 irrigation 
to a limited extent was introduced by Mexicans who were 
in the habit of hanging around the fort. This success in 
growing vegetables reduced the number of cases of scurvy. 
During this year, the guarding of government trains and 
the regular monthly mail was about the only act of service 
performed by the troops at the fort. A number of mail car- 
riers had been killed between Fort Kearney ;ind Fort Lara- 
mie during the summer, and the road between the posts be- 
came dangerous for small parties to travel. The Sioux had 
things pretty much their own way along the Platte River 
that season and were making good their declaration of the 
year before that they would kill every white man who came 
into the country. Emigrants on the North Platte were 
robbed regularly both east and west of the fort. The con- 
ditions were simply disgraceful to the government. Before 
the troops came there were murders and robberies every 
few days, but since the troops had come into the country 
things were worse. For every Indian killed by the troops, 
a dozen white men would be killed by the Indians. Officers 
at Fort Laramie that season complained bitterly of the dis- 
comforts. They did not like to be cooped up in the fort, and 
to go out on expeditions along the North Platte and up to 
Independence Rock was a disagreeable duty to perform, 
and great danger attended this sort of service. Finally it 
was recommended that a post be established at the crossing 
on the Platte about two miles above where Caspar now 
stands, but for a time nothing came of the recommenda- 
tion. The year closed at Fort Laramie in a manner that 
was very discouraging to the officers and soldiers at that 
post, and there were loud complaints sent to Washington 
regarding the defenseless condition of the country. The 
consolidated Sioux tribes were well satisfied with their sea- 
son's work. They had robbed emigrant trains and secured 



History of Fort Laramie. 329 

a large number of the white men's scalps. The War De- 
partment at Washington was severely criticised by the 
newspapers at the time for bringing on a war with the Sioux 
tribes, which was resulting in the death of many emigrants 
along the Overland trail. It was urged that the government 
was directly responsible for the deaths caused by Indians, 
and the pillage that was going on, of the emigrant trains. 
Under public pressure the War Department sent a force 
west in the spring of 1856, and some few troops were sent 
to Fort Laramie, but the force at that place was practically 
helpless, as it consisted entirely of infantry. These were 
thrown out at two or three points on the trail, yet little good 
was accomplished. In the early summer of that year the 
Sioux sent a force into the Black Hills and succeeded in 
capturing all the mules and horses at the fort belonging to 
the quartermaster's department. A force was promptly 
sent out to recapture the stock, but the Indians only laughed 
at these foot soldiers and not one of the stolen animals was 
recovered. The murdering of emigrants and the robbing of 
trains continued during the summer. The government at 
last became aroused and resolved to punish the combined 
Sioux tribes, and Fort Laramie is destined to become soon 
a military depot of importance and the center of warlike 
operations of great magnitude; but from this on the history 
of Fort Laramie will be included in the history of the Indian 
wars of Wyoming, which come in their proper place and 
under their appropriate headings. 



330 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE OREGON EMIGRATION. 

Dr. Elijah White's Train of 1842 — Trials and Tribulations by the 
Way — Fitzpatrick the Guide — Emigrants of 1844 — Extravagant 
Prices at Fort Laramie That Year — 1475 People Go to Oregon 
in 1844 — Senator Benton's Prophecy — The Business of the Trail 
in 1845 — The Rush in 1846 — Indians Say White Men Are as 
Numerous as the Leaves of the Forest — Scenes at Fort Lara- 
mie — Increasing Emigration of 1847-8 — The "Days of Forty- 
nine." 

Dr. Elijah White, who went to Oregon by sea in 1837, 
as a missionary doctor, returned east in the summer of 1840, 
having had a misunderstanding with Rev. Jason Lee, who 
was at the head of the Methodist missionary work in Ore- 
gon. On White's return, he was appointed Indian agent for 
Oregon and in 1842 we find him at the head of a colony, 
which is to proceed overland to Oregon. There were 112 
persons in the company, fifty-two being over 18 years of age. 
The start was made from Independence, Missouri, on May 
16. Before reaching the Wyoming country. Dr. White had 
made himself unpopular and the colonists deposed him and 
elected in his place Lansford W. Hastings. On the 23rd of 
June the company reached Fort Laramie, where they re- 
mained a week, repairing and refitting. At this point they 
were joined by F. X. Matthieu and half a dozen Canadians. 
They were informed by Mr. Bissonette, who was in charge 
of the fort, that it would be impossible for them to take 
their oxen and wagons through to Oregon, so they sold part 
of them to him. The price received was to be what they 
paid in the east, and they were to take in exchange coffee 
and sugar at a dollar a pound. It had been arranged that 
this company should be escorted through Wyoming by Fre- 
mont, but the explorer did not reach Fort Laramie until 
the 15th of July and the emigrants resolved not to wait. 



The Orcfjon Emigration. 331 

A guide named Coats had brought the party to Fort Lara- 
mie, which ended his contract. They started on without a 
guide, but fortunately met Jim Bridger and Thomas Fitz- 
patrick, and the latter was induced by Indian Agent White 
to go with them to Fort Hall. It was very fortunate that 
this experienced mountain man consented to go, for when 
they arrived at Independence Eock they had trouble with 
the Sioux, which tribe disputed their passage. While a halt 
was made, many of the emigrants cut their names upon the 
great rock. Hastings and Colonel Lovejoy, who had fallen 
behind the caravan, were attacked by the Indians and bare- 
ly escaped. The savages followed them into camp and Fitz- 
patrick had his hands full for several hours, negotiating 
with the Sioux warriors for the peaceable passage for the 
emigrants through the country. This difficulty I have al- 
ready explained in my account of Whitman's journey 
through Wyoming. On the 13th of July the train reached 
the Sweetwater and here an accident occurred which cast 
gloom over the party. Adam Horn, one of the emigrants, 
accidentally shot and killed a young man named Bailey. 
On the morning of the 14th the funeral of the man killed 
occurred, after which the train moved on. In spite of the 
presents given to the Sioux, they kept up hostilities and 
greatly annoyed the hunting parties sent out, frequently 
robbing them of their horses, game and rifles. This com- 
pany was unfortunate in many particulars, there being dis- 
sensions, bickerings and much bad feeling shown among 
the emigrants. They broke up into factions, traveling sep- 
arately as soon as they got away from the Sioux. At the 
crossing of Snake River, Adam Horn was drowned. These 
emigrants reached Oregon after having experienced severe 
trials. I find many conflicting accounts of the number of 
the company under the charge of Dr. White. Captain Sub- 
lette met these emigrants at Independence and gave them 
advice as to their conduct on the road. He told Dr. White 
that he was liable to experience difficulties in conducting so 
large a train. I give the figures on what I consider reliable 
authority. The Colonel Lovejoy mentioned is the same 



332 History of Wyoming, 

man who made the journey from Oregon with Dr. Whitman 
during the winter of 1842-3. 

I have already told the story of Marcus Whitman and 
his passage west to Oregon with his great train containing 
two hundred wagons and a thousand people in the summer 
of 1843. In that same year Fremont went to Oregon, and 
his report confirmed the story of Dr. Whitman regarding 
the value of the country. 

The Oregon emigration in 1844 was quite large. They 
collected at different points on the Missouri River and 
amounted in all to 1,4'75 persons. Cornelius Gilliam led one 
company of 323 persons. Captain Nathaniel Ford led an- 
other company. These two organizations joined forces on 
the plains and employed Moses Harris, the veteran trapper, 
as guide. They were two months getting to Fort' Laramie 
from the Missouri River, owing to the bad weather, which 
produced rheumatism and dysentery. By the time they 
reached Fort Laramie many families were entirely out of 
flour and sugar. They procured these articles from the 
trader, paying |1.50 a pint for sugar and |40 per barrel for 
flour. They reached Fort Hall on the 10th of September, 
suffering greatly after that point, being reduced to almost 
starvation, and fully a dozen died on the road. In the party 
was a Mr. Sager, his wife and seven children. Mr. Sager 
died at Green River and was buried on the east bank of that 
stream. Mrs. Sager died two weeks later. When the unfor- 
tunate children arrived in Oregon they were adopted by 
the large-hearted Dr. Whitman and his wife. 

The year 1845 was a memorable one in Oregon emigra- 
tion. No less than 3,000 people passed Fort Laramie on 
their way to the rich valleys beyond the mountains. There 
were two points on the Missouri River from which these 
emigrants started westward across the plains. St. Joseph 
was one prominent point and Independence the other. Sen- 
ator Benton was to some extent responsible for this emigra- 
tion; there being a quiet determination on the part of lead- 
ing American statesmen to fill up Oregon with people from 
the United States and thus secure the territory to this gov- 



The Oregon Emigration. 333 

ernment. The country seemed all at once to have awakened 
to the importance of securing the territory. In a speech 
made in St. Louis in October, 1844, Senator Benton uttered 
what the Oregon Spectator of September 17, 1846, called a 
prophecy. 

*'I say the man is alive, and is listening to what I say 
(without believing it, perhaps) who will yet see the Asiatic 
commerce traversing the North Pacific Ocean — entering the 
Oregon River — climbing the western slope of the Rocky 
Mountains — issuing from its gorges — and spreading its fer- 
tilizing streams over our wide-extended Union! The steam- 
boat and the steam-car have not exhausted all their won- 
ders. They have not yet even found their amplest and most 
appropriate theaters — the tranquil surface of the North 
Pacific Ocean and the vast inclined plains which spread 
east and west from the base of the Rocky Mountains. The 
magic boat and the flying car are not yet seen upon this 
ocean and this plain, but they will be seen there; and St. 
Louis is yet to find herself as near to Canton as she now is 
to London, with a better and safer route, by land and sea, 
to China and Japan, than she now has to France and Great 
Britain." 

The North Platte and Sweetwater witnessed almost 
continuous trains from the middle of June to the middle of 
September. Among the many trains to pass Fort Laramie 
was one of twenty-five wagons, under the leadership of Pres- 
ley Welch; another of forty wagons, directed by Samuel 
Hancock; another of fifty-two wagons, of which a Mr. Hack- 
leman was leader; there was another company made up of 
sixty wagons and three hundred persons under the leader- 
ship of W. G. T' Vault; Samuel Tetherow commanded an- 
other outfit consisting of sixty wagons and over three hun- 
dred people. Many of these emigrants suffered greatly, and 
not a few deaths occurred on the way. I cannot pretend to 
give an account of all the expeditions that passed through 
that year; the object is simply to show that the Overland 
trail had become a popular highway, over which human 
hopes and human ambitions passed to make new homes and 
build a new state on the Pacific slope. One company which 
passed Fort Laramie that year had lost over a hundred 



334 History of Wyoming. 

oxen (stolen by Indians) and they had been obliged to yoke 
their cows to the wagons. Added to the Oregon travel were 
many trains going to California. The Indians, who had 
objected to the passage of emigrants in 1842, had continu- 
ously protested, but found themselves powerless to stem the 
rising tide of civilization sweeping westward year after 
year. The Sioux, the worst barbarians of the mountains, 
had secured the North Platte country by conquest, driving 
out the Crows, who had for many generations occupied the 
hunting grounds to the north and west. They had attempt- 
ed to make the law of might, right, but the emigrants had 
little respect for these freebooters, who possessed only bru- 
tal instincts, savage cunning, and pursued the methods of 
the highwayman. They killed, robbed or tortured, as best 
suited their mood; gathering in bands along the route, mak- 
ing insolent and extortionate demands on all travelers. Ev- 
ery band had to be provided with presents, the demand be- 
ing for whisky, tobacco, lead, powder, guns, beads, blankets 
or any other articles which they could see. They lorded 
it over the country they had stolen from the Crows, denying 
the right of emigrants to kill game, and demanding fees 
of the white men amounting to confiscation of their goods. 
It is not in the nature of the average emigrant to submit 
tamely to unjust demands, and it was little wonder that the 
savages finally encountered a class of men who refused to 
be robbed by these highwaymen. The impending conflict 
resulted in the location of fortified posts along the Platte, 
North Platte and points farther west. The Indian is about 
to enter into a contest, which, though it be long, will result 
in his destruction. Things are to be no longer as they were. 
Men going with their families to Utah, Oregon and Cali- 
fornia demanded free passage through the mountains, and 
when this could not be peaceably secured, they met force 
by force. From time to time emigrants were attacked by 
the savages, but the superior arms of the white man, and 
above all his unconquerable determination, swept the red 
man from his path. The government hastened to afford 



The Oregon Emigration. 335 

protection to a class of men who were going out to found 
new commonwealths on the Pacific slope. 

In the year 1846 many trains passed over the trail. The 
trappers and traders were astonished at the exodus from 
the east and the Indians became convinced that the white 
men were as numerous as the leaves of the forest. 

The people going out felt little interest in the discus- 
sion that had been going on in Congress for nearly twenty 
years as to who owned Oregon. They knew that it was held 
by joint occupation on the part of the United States and 
England, and they understood Dr. Whitman's theory of 
settling the question by having Americans occupy it, and 
fully subscribing to this view, they were going out to make 
homes and establish civil institutions in far-off Oregon. 
The aristocratic Francis Parkman amuses himself in his 
"Oregon Trail" at the expense of these emigrants whom he 
met on the road in 1846, but it can be said that some remark- 
ably able men went over the trail that year — embryo states- 
men who were heard of afterwards in the organization of a 
government for the new territory. All were brave, or they 
would not have undertaken the long journey across the 
plains and mountains and encountered the dangers which 
were well known to them before starting on their pilgrim- 
age. On the 17th of July, 1846, while the emigration of that 
year was at its height, the treaty in regard to Oregon having 
previously been ratified by both governments, was ex- 
changed in London between the representatives of Great 
Britain and the United States, and thus ended the discus- 
sion of the Oregon question, which had been before the peo- 
ple fifty-four years, two months and six days. That treaty 
comes in to the history of Wyoming, as a small part of Ore- 
gon has since become a part of this state. The eastern line 
of Oregon extended to the crest of the Rocky Mountains; 
hence all that portion of our state lying west of the moun- 
tains bordering on Idaho was included in the treaty of 1846. 

The promulgation of this treaty between Great Britain 
and the United States served to bring Oregon again to the 
front, and the newspapers of the day were filled with letters 



336 History of Wyoming. 

written by men and women who had made their homes in 
the new land of promise beyond the mountains, and this re- 
sulted in increased emigration, which in 1847 became a 
grand rush. As an illustration of the number of emigrants 
that season, I will mention that Hon. H. B. Kelly, one of 
the oldest settlers in Wyoming, went to California that year 
and reaching Independence Rock on July 3, his party re- 
mained over to celebrate the 4th of July. They were joined 
by Oregon emigrants to the number of a thousand, and the 
day was celebrated in a manner worthy of American citi- 
zens. A vast amount of powder was exploded and the wil- 
derness echoed the shouts of these loyal citizens of the re- 
public. 

Fremont, in his explorations of Oregon in 1843, foresaw 
that there would be a large emigration into the country 
and recommended that the government establish a line of 
military posts across the country occupied by the wild 
tribes, but the people bound for Oregon could not and 
would not wait for government protection. They went west 
by the Platte and Arkansas Rivers, the two columns con- 
verging at the already famous trading post known as Fort 
Laramie, at which they concentrated and passed west on 
what had then become known as the Oregon Trail. It was 
the same trail which Whitman had marked out with his 
two hundred wagons. 

The decline of the fur trade in Wyoming had left many 
trappers and traders in the mountains ready to take up a 
new occupation. The majority of these located along the 
emigrant trail. Some became guides to trains going across 
the country, others furnished supplies of various kinds to 
the pilgrims, including horses and cattle, which they traded 
to the emigrants for their broken-down stock. This latter 
traffic was carried on to a considerable extent. Horses and 
oxen became foot-sore and consequently useless to the trav- 
elers. The traders took these animals and for a considera- 
tion furnished fresh ones, and thus those enroute to Oregon 
were enabled to continue their journey. The broken-down 
cattle and horses were turned out to feed and rest and were 



[. 'ITiW I 




The Oregon Emigration. 33f 

soon in prime condition to exchange for other broken-down 
stock. This business was a source of great profit to many 
traders located in Wyoming. 

That year the last cavalcade passed over the trail in 
September and was hurrying forward to find a location in 
Oregon before the winter set in, when an event occurred 
which horrified the civilized world. It was known as the 
Whitman massacre. This occurred at Waiilatpui, Oregon, 
where Dr. Whitman had built a school for the Indian chil- 
dren. The conditions which led up to this wholesale butch- 
ery have never been satisfactorily settled. The announce- 
ment of the treaty of 1846 was a death-blow to the Hudson 
Bay Company. That monopoly, which was chartered in 
1670, had occupied the Columbia and its tributaries since 
its consolidation with the Northwest Company in 1821, and 
the last-named company succeeded the Astorians in 1813. 
It had protected the fur interest by keeping white people 
out, and had raised half-breeds to catch the fur-bearing 
animals. The insolence of this monopoly was manifested 
when John Jacob Astor founded Astoria. He was driven 
out of the country by the connivance of British fur traders, 
and all other American traders following him met the same 
fate, including Nathaniel J. Wyeth. When American set- 
tlers went to Oregon, the servants of the Hudson Bay Com- 
pany pointed out to the Indians that these people had come 
to take away their lands, destroy the beaver, and eventually 
to drive them from their homes. The consequences were 
that the natives looked with suspicion on Americans and 
were ready and ripe at all times to do them injury. Added 
to the prejudice for which the English were directly respon- 
sible, was the superstitious belief of the savages that the 
new people who came into the country were the cause of 
diseases in epidemic form which afflicted the tribes. On the 
29th of November, 1847, the massacre occurred. Fifteen 
were killed, including Dr. Whitman and wife. Fifty white 
persons were captured, many of them women who suffered 
worse than death. Let the English residents of Oregon at 
that time explain the massacre as they will, the facts are 

-(22) 



338 History of Wyoming. 

that the treaty of 1846, which conceded Oregon to the United 
States, had much to do with the butchery of Dr. Whitman 
and his associates. The news of the treaty had a depressing 
effect on all Englishmen in that country, and while it is 
barely possible that they did not directly plan the murders, 
they stood aloof and allowed the devilish work to go on. 
The news of the murder of Dr. Whitman and his associates 
aroused deep feeling throughout the states, and during the 
spring of 1848, Oregon was the cry. That year large num- 
bers of emigrants passed through Wyoming with the 
avowed purpose of taking possession of the country in spite 
of Indians, Englishmen or any other opposing force, and 
from early in the spring until late in the summer the road 
to Oregon was lined with trains which were so numerous 
as scarcely to be out of sight of each other. Those were 
great days for the traders along the Overland trail. They 
made their own prices on everything they had to sell, and 
the emigrants were glad to buy regardless of extortion. 

At the time of which I write, the Oregon and California 
roads were one and the same across Wyoming. Occasion- 
ally a party would cross the Laramie Plains and go west 
through Bridger Pass and join the regular road on Green 
River, but this route was not yet a popular one. The main 
emigrant trail for both California and Oregon was up the 
Platte, through the South Pass, and thence on to Fort Hall. 
The Oregon road turned to the right, and the California 
route bore off to the left. Fremont made a map of the coun- 
try which was published by the government in 1845, and 
this was much sought after by both those going to Oregon 
and to California. This route through the South Pass over 
to Fort Hall was first located by Captain Bonneville in 
1832. It is true that other trappers and traders made the 
trip before Captain Bonneville, but over a trail of great 
length, winding in and out. Bonneville laid out a direct 
road, which was followed by other trappers and traders, 
and finally by Rev. Samuel Parker in 1835 and by Dr. \Miit- 
man, Rev. H. H. Spalding and their wives in 1836, and it be- 
came the road to Oregon. 



The, Oregon Emigration. 339 

In 1848 emigration to California was greatly increased 
over the preceding year, and Oregon drew its full share 
from the great trail. The trading post at Fort Laramie 
that season was a picturesque western settlement, emi- 
grants coming and going almost every hour in the day and 
every day in the week. Wagons from each of the arriving 
trains had to be mended, horses and ox teams which had 
given out were being traded off for better animals, and 
stores replenished. The emigrants were not backward in 
denouncing the traders for overcharging them for almost 
every article they were compelled to purchase. The picture 
presented was rather a wild one, for on every side were blan- 
keted Indians who watched the going and coming of the 
palefaces with as much interest as the noble red man is 
capable of showing. The brisk days of 1848, which excited 
so much attention in Wyoming, were nothing as compared 
with the year that is to follow. The slow-going ox teams 
of the past are largely to give way to powerful horse and 
mule teams, and the slow, easy-going emigrant on his way 
west in search of land must stand aside and give the gold 
prospector a chance. 

Now we come to the most important year in the history 
of the Overland trail, which was 1849. The discovery of 
gold in California created throughout the east intense ex- 
citement, and as a result every road leading to the golden 
state was filled with hurrying crowds. Many took ships and 
went around Cape Horn. Others went by the way of the 
Isthmus of Panama, and still others came by the way of the 
Overland trail and consequently passed through Wyoming. 
This class of emigrants were better outfitted than any who 
had previously crossed the mountains. Large wagons 
drawn by fine horse and mule teams were the rule. There 
was no plodding by the way. Each outfit was hurried for- 
ward, and there seemed to be a grand struggle as to who 
should get to the gold fields first. Between May and Octo- 
ber, some say 30,000, others 100,000, of these gold seekers 
passed through Wyoming. These were the "forty-niners," 
and they composed the grand army that rushed to Califor- 



340 History of Wyoming. 

nia in that eventful year. Nearly fifty years have passed, 
and still we are listening to song and story of the "Days of 
Forty-nine." Some of these gold seekers, after the excite- 
ment was over, returned and prospected in Colorado, Utah, 
Wyoming and Montana. In the history of Fort Laramie, I 
have already told of the transfer of the trading post to the 
United States government and of its occupation by troops. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

MORMON EMIGRATION. 

Brigham Young's Pioneer Train — An Incident on the Eastern Bor- 
der OP Wyoming — Arrival at Fort Laramie — Crossing the 
Platte Above Caspar With Boats and Rafts — The Train Cross- 
es South Pass — Reaches the Big Sandy and Green River — Jim 
Bridger Meets Brigham Young — The Stop at Fort Bridger — 
Train Passes Out of Wyoming — Arrival in Salt Lake Valley — 
. Incidents Connected With the Mormon Settlement — Character 
OF Brigham Young. 

The passage of the Mormon emigrants through Wyo- 
ming in 1847 was nearer related to the settlement of the 
country than was the emigration to Oregon or to California, 
from the fact that quite a number of these people settled 
within what are now the confines of our state. The Mor- 
mons were a religious sect, but held some peculiar ideas in 
regard to morals as well as religion. That is, they believed 
that the church and the state should be one; that the laws 
of God should be the laws of the land. They claimed that 
their prophet, Joseph Smith, had received a revelation from 
God, telling him where he would find the golden plates of a 
book, which he afterwards found buried in a hillside of the 
state of New York. From these plates, it was claimed, a 
book was printed which was called the Mormon Bible. The 
â– church as organized by the prophet Smith was governed by 



Mormon Emigration. 34 r 

twelve elders. They claimed spiritual gifts such as were 
enjoyed by the apostles of Christ, and advocated and prac- 
ticed polygamy. This latter resulted in a storm of objec- 
tions when it was put in practice. The teachings of these 
people made them unpopular in the eastern states and they 
finally located at Nauvoo, Illinois, from which place they 
fled before their enemies into Missouri, where the people 
made them even less welcome. During the winter of 1846-T 
they made what they called winter quarters in Nebraska. 
This place was a few miles northwest of Council Bluffs. To 
this spot all the Mormons wended their way, preparatory to- 
locating in the far west. At the winter camp were about 
700 houses, rudely constructed, and in these about 4,000 
had gathered in readiness to make the journey across the 
plains and mountains in the spring. It has been claimed by 
some writers that these people started west without previ- 
ously exploring the country, but this is not correct, as Oli- 
ver P. Gleason of New York, George Chatelaine of St. Louis, 
Miles Bragg of Jackson County, Missouri, J. P. Johnson of 
Nauvoo, Illinois, Solomon Silver of the same place, and 
William Hall of Piatt County, Missouri, appeared at Fort 
Laramie in the spring of 1846 on their way to find a location 
for the Mormon colony. Gleason had a brother named John, 
who was a Mormon elder and a preacher. These men all 
went to Salt Lake and spent a month there examining the 
country. Gleason made a map of Salt Lake and the valley. 
In the fall of that year the party returned to Fort Laramie. 
O. P. Wiggins, now of Denver, and the famous Jim Beck- 
wourth, acted as guides for the party. The first division 
of the Mormon train left the Missouri on Monday, April 5, 
1847, in charge of Heber C. Kimball. On the day follow- 
ing, Brigham Young, who was then at the head of the 
church, called a conference of the elders and people and 
explained that the objective point was Salt Lake. At the 
conference, most of the prominent leaders of the church 
were present. 

On the 7th, the second division moved to the west, and 
then the other divisions quickly followed, making a train of 



342 History of Wyoming. 

seventy-two wagons, with 149 men, women and children. 
It was certainly the best organized outfit that had ever at- 
tempted the western journey. In the party were wagon- 
makers, carpenters, bricklayers, blacksmiths, and in short 
mechanics of all kinds, including farmers, engineers, mer- 
chants and schoolmasters. At the head of the expedition 
was Brigham Young. He led the way on to the mountains 
and reached the eastern border of Wyoming on May 28, 
when an event occurred which clearly stamped Young as a 
born leader. They had been a long time on the road, consid- 
ering the distance they had traveled, and the men had 
grown careless and many indifferent. The novelty had 
worn off and a spirit of fault-finding and criticism had 
grown up which promised to result in the demoralization of 
the company. The morning of May 29th was cold and it 
was decided that the train should not move until the weath- 
er grew better. At 10:30 the leader caused a bugle to be 
sounded for the teams to be harnessed. After all was in 
readiness for starting, the company was called together in a 
circle around Mr. Young and the clerk was ordered to call 
the roll. Two of the brethren were out hunting and two 
more were sick in their wagons; all the others were in the 
circle and answered to their names. By this time everyone 
realized that something was going to happen. Seriousness 
and expectancy was on every countenance. They had not 
long to wait. Standing on a wagon, Mr. Young told his 
people that he had noticed the spirit which prevailed in the 
company and that he had been watching its influence and 
effect and that unless there was a change for the better he 
was ready to revolt. He was not willing to bow down to 
insubordination and the ill-feelings which existed among 
them toward each other. He then described the evil ten- 
dency of quarrels in camp, playing cards, using profane 
language and dancing for recreation. There were some in 
the camp, he said, who did not belong to the church, and 
these he would protect in all their rights, but they should 
not trample on his rights. He told them that they should 
reverence God and the priesthood and not seek to introduce 



Mormon Emigration. 343 

iniquity into the camp. He said that if any man would 
rather go back than abide by the law, he had the privilege 
of doing so at once. He then turned to his brethren and 
said : 

*'I am one of the last to ask my brethren to enter into 
solemn covenants, but if they will not enter into a covenant 
to put away their iniquity and turn to the Lord and serve 
him, acknowledge and honor his name, then they shall take 
their wagons and retreat, for I will go no further under 
such conditions. I want the brethren to be ready for meet- 
ing tomorrow at the time appointed, instead of rambling off 
and hiding in their wagons to play cards. I think it will 
be good for us to have a fast meeting and a prayer meeting 
also, humble ourselves and turn to the Lord, and he will 
forgive us." 

After this speech he called upon the apostles, bishops, 
high priests and other officers of the church to stand before 
him, when each was asked separately if he were willing to 
covenant and turn to the Lord with all his heart, to repent 
of his follies, to cease from his evil ways and serve God 
according to his laws. Without a dissenting voice, every 
man, with uplifted hand, entered into the covenant. Wil- 
furd Woodruff, the present head of the church, Heber G. 
Kimball and Orson Pratt each spoke a few words, asking 
that their leader's advice be carefully followed. Others 
acknowledged their errors and pledged strict obedience for 
the future. This was the first crisis in the life of Brigham 
Young and it had been met in a manner that proved his 
worthiness to become a great leader. This event spoken of 
occurred twenty-five miles east of Fort Laramie and it had 
a marked efifect on every person composing the train. On 
June 1st the pioneers reached Fort Laramie, where they 
were kindly received by James Bordeau of the American 
Fur Company. At that point Brigham Young found wait- 
ing for him a small company from Pueblo, Colorado, under 
the leadership of Robert Crow. Quite a number of Mor- 
mons had wintered at Pueblo and all of them were expect- 
ing to go to Salt Lake. Mr. Crow's party came on in ad- 
vance with the understanding that the balance were to fol- 



344 History of Wyoming. 

low when they received word from him that the main cara- 
van under Brigham Young had reached Fort Laramie. 

At this fort the Mormons met a party of traders who 
had come from Fort Bridger, and from these they learned 
that the snow was two feet deep along the road up the 
Sweetwater and that they had been obliged to abandon 
their wagons and complete their journey to Fort Laramie 
on horseback. This was not a pleasant outlook for the 
Mormons, and so they remained over until the 4th, when 
they again pushed on up the Platte and on June 12th 
reached the crossing two miles above where now stands 
the city of Caspar. The river was full to its banks and there 
was great diflficulty in crossing the stream with the wagons 
and teams. Boats and rafts were constructed, and it was 
not until the 19th that the party was ready to push onward. 
Brigham Young ordered ten men of the party to remain 
to ferry over trains that were to follow from Pueblo, and 
others from the Missouri River. Thomas Grover had charge 
of the party and his instructions were to allow all Oregon 
emigrants to use the ferry who would pay for the privilege, 
and it was his opinion that they would do business enough 
to cover the price of their subsistence. The 20th was Sun- 
day, and in spite of the sacred day and the strict observance 
of it on all other occasions, the train went forward to escape 
bad water, mosquitoes and other discomforts. On the 21st 
Independence Rock was reached and that night camp was 
made at the Devil's Gate. Two days after leaving this 
place, they found on the side of the road a lonely grave, over 
which was an inscription which read: "Matilda Crowley j 
born July 16, 1830; died July 7, 1846." The train passed on 
up the Sweetwater and on the 26th crossed the South Pass. 
This was the sixty-first day after leaving their winter en- 
campment on the Missouri River. Here they met a return 
party from Oregon with Moses Harris, the trapper, as guide. 
Of this man Harris the Mormons asked many question* 
and drew from him a considerable amount of useful in- 
formation regarding the road over which they had to pass, 
and of Salt Lake Valley, where they expected to settle. On 




MORMON PIONEERS. 
I. W. Woodruff. 2. John Taylor. 3- Mayor Daniel H. Wells. 

4. W. H. Hooper. 5. President Brigham Young. 
7. John Sharp. 8. George Q. Cannon. 



6. Orson Pratt. 

9. Orson Hyde. 



Mormon Emigration. 345 

the 28th they met Jim Bridger and two companions, who 
were on their way from Fort Bridger to Fort Laramie. 
Bridger was told that it was Brigham Young's intention 
to call on him at his fort for the purpose of securing a know- 
ledge of the road. He informed them that if they would go 
into camp he would tell them all he knew of the road to Salt 
Lake and of the country which surrounded it. Brigham 
Young thought it was important to get information from a 
man who had the reputation at that time of being the best 
informed guide in the Rocky Mountains, and he therefore 
ordered a halt and they went into camp on the spot. This 
was the first meeting between Jim Bridger and Brigham 
Young, but it was by no means their last. The information 
imparted to the Mormon leader by this noted character 
was not encouraging; he did not think much of the region 
around Salt Lake and had nothing good to say about it. 
The next day, June 29th, the train reached Big Sandy and 
encamped. Here a number of the emigrants were taken 
sick with a violent fever, and some were delirious. It was 
supposed the sickness was caused by saleratus, picked up 
on the alkali lands, as this article had been freely used by 
the company in cooking. The sickness was not of long 
duration. On the 30th they reached Green River, to cross 
which they were obliged to construct a ferry. At this camp 
they were met by Elder Brennan of California, and his ob- 
ject in meeting them was to induce Brigham Young to lo- 
cate his party at Yerba Buena, later known as San Fran- 
cisco. Neither Young nor his elders were inclined to change 
their purpose of making their homes in Salt Lake Valley. 
Green River proved to be difficult to cross, and it was noon 
of July 3 before the last wagon was landed on the opposite 
side of the river. Three miles beyond, the train went into 
camp, where it remained until Monday, July 4. At this 
point five men were sent back as guides to other Mormon 
trains soon to leave the Missouri River. Their next camp 
was very near what is now known as Granger, the eastern 
terminus of the Oregon Short Line. On July 7th the train 
reached Fort Bridger, which is described by these pioneer 



346 History of Wyoming. 

Mormons as two adjoining log houses with sod roofs, sur- 
rounded by a log fence eight feet high. The Mormons say 
that the fort was inhabited at that time by about fifty 
whites, Indians and half-breeds and was owned by Bridger 
and Vasquez. The Mormon train remained over one day at 
Bridger to give the blacksmiths and wagon-repairers time 
to shoe horses and repair wagons. On Monday, July 12th, 
they passed out of what is now Wyoming and entered Utah, 
but there was great discouragement prevalent. These pio- 
neers realized that they were in a country destined to bring 
them many hardships. Brigham Young never faltered, nor 
did his courage fail once on the trip. He had a theory that 
in the Salt Lake Valley abundance could be produced for 
the use of his colony, by the aid of irrigation, and nothing 
would satisfy him except to make the trial. 

The first section of the Mormon train, under Orson 
Pratt, reached Salt Lake on July 21st, and on the following 
day the main body arrived, but Brigham Young was behind 
in the mountains and did not come up until the 24th. He 
had been sick and was obliged to lay over. On the arrival of 
these people in Salt Lake Valley, they were not favorably 
impressed with the location. Brigham Young spoke en- 
couragingly of the promised land. He understood the appli- 
cation of water to the soil and assured his followers that 
if crops were planted they would grow. The colonists had 
brought agricultural implements, seeds and cattle with 
them. Plows were brought out, and notwithstanding the 
lateness of the season, crops were put in the ground. 
Homes were built and the settlement commenced. That 
same week the ground was selected for the great Mormon 
temple. Trains continued to arrive all that summer and 
fall, and by the time winter set in there was a population 
of 2,095. On August 16th, Brigham Young started on his 
return journey to the Missouri, and the following year 
there were large additions made to the colony, and by Sep- 
tember the population numbered between 4,000 and 5,000. 
During the summer of 1848 a considerable amount of land 
was ploughed and potatoes and other crops planted. Every 



Mormon Emigration. 347 

effort was made to produce enough to feed the people during 
the following winter. Just at the time when the crops were 
the most promising, millions of crickets appeared and com- 
menced to devour everything, and settlers saw starvation 
staring them in the face. Fortunately, gulls from the lake 
came and devoured the crickets, which was regarded as an 
act of Providence for the protection of the chosen people 
who had come to occupy the promised land. 

The years following brought large additions to the 
Mormon colony in Utah, and a number of counties were or- 
ganized. The tireless head of the church kept agents not 
only in the east but in Europe, asking people to join the 
Mormon settlement and the church. Some of these people 
located around Fort Bridger, others along the North Platte, 
and at one time it was thought that the southwestern por- 
tion of this state would become Mormon territory. Had 
not Brigham Young refused to acknowledge federal au- 
thority and forced the government to send Albert Sidney 
Johnston with five regiments out to subdue the Mormons, a 
portion of our state would undoubtedly have remained a 
part of Utah. This trouble with the Mormons induced the 
general government to reduce the size of their territory and 
accordingly Nevada was taken ofif the west, a considerable 
strip lying west of the mountains was put into Colorado, 
and a smaller portion makes up the southwest corner of 
Wyoming. 

The Mormon settlers exercised great influence over 
this portion of the Rocky Mountains. It was Brigham 
Young who introduced, in a practical way, irrigation into 
the United States. He taught his followers how to become 
self-supporting and consequently how to overcome the tri- 
als incident to making homes in the arid region. He under- 
stood the art of attracting people to the country which he 
had selected for his operations. Aside from his peculiar 
views in regard to polygamy, no fault was found by broad- 
minded people with his church, or the men who flocked to 
his standard. History will give him the first place in all that 
pertains to the founding and building up of a great com- 



348 History of Wyoming. 

monwealth. Brigham Young and William Gilpin are the 
two great characters who early located in the Rocky Moun- 
tain country. Gilpin was an explorer, a soldier, a pioneer, 
a statesman and a founder of empire. He was broad-mind- 
ed, possessed clear sight — seeing far into the future — was a 
loyal American citizen, and has left a name untarnished. 
He died loved and honored by all. Young was a man of 
another sort — leading men to do things through religious 
zeal, compelling obedience because of his commanding na- 
ture, reaching success through well chosen methods and 
building up his people and church by making the corner- 
stone of success, industry. Love of country was not in his 
nature. 



History of Fort Bridger. 349 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

HISTORY OF FORT BRIDGER. 

First a Trappers' and Traders' Rendezvous — Bridger Builds a 
Blockhouse — The Bridger and Vasquez Partnership — The Mor- 
mons Settle Around the Fort in 1853 — Rebuilt in 1855 — Occu- 
pied BY Government Troops, Winter of 1857-8— Troops on Short 
Rations— Captain Marcy's Winter Journey — Fort Rebuilt by 
the Government — Practically Abandoned in 1861 — Judge Car- 
ter Organizes a Company of Mountaineers to Garrison the 
Fort — California and Nevada Volunteers Occupy the Post 
FROM 1862 TO 1866 — Arrival of United States Troops to Replace 
Volunteers — Troops Protect Overland Stages and Engineers of 
Union Pacific Railway — Abandoned in 1890. 

Fort Bridger is one of the well known trading posts 
in the Rocky Mountains. As early as Bonneville's time the 
locality was a rendezvous for fur traders and trappers. 
Even as early as 1834 a number of trappers made perma- 
nent locations in the vicinity. They married squaws of the 
Snake or Shoshone tribes and tried to induce the Indians 
to stay in the country. This was against the nature of these 
marauders, and the trappers who had been adopted into the 
tribe found that for safety they must, a part of the year, fol- 
low the Indians. One of the trappers who had fallen in 
love with the country along the Black Fork was Jack Rob- 
inson, a man who thoroughly enjoyed a home and had great 
influence among several Indian tribes. For many years 
he was the personal friend of Jim Bridger and a great ad- 
mirer of that renowned trapper, trader, Indian fighter and 
guide. He it was who called Bridger's attention to the 
many advantages possessed by the little valley of Black's 
Fork. There was beaver in all the streams of that country, 
buffalo, deer and elk in the vicintiy, and besides, it was be- 
ginning to be a highway used by those going to and from 
the Columbia River. These talks between Uncle Jack Rob- 
inson and Jim Bridger finally resulted in the latter's erec- 



350 History of Wyoming. 

tion of a trading house at that point. This post was located 
in the valley of the Black Fork, a tributary of Green River, 
two and one-half miles above Smith's Fork. 

Basil Lajeunesse, W. M. Anderson, Thomas Fitzpat- 
rick, Captain William Sublette, Fontenelle, James Bridger 
and Jack Robinson all visited the Black Fork in 1834 and 
spent a part of the season in that vicinity. Nathaniel J. 
Wyeth, Captain Bonneville, Captain Stewart of the British 
army. Dr. Harrison, a son of the first president of that name, 
and a number of Catholic and Protestant missionaries who 
were on their way to Oregon, were also visitors at the ren- 
dezvous held by the Rocky Mountain and American Fur 
Companies at that place the same year. The whole country 
was filled with Snake Indians at that time, and these had 
many friends among the trappers. 

In the spring of 1842, Jim Bridger built a blockhouse, 
or rather two houses joined together, surrounded by a fence 
eight feet high, made of logs set three feet in the ground 
and hewn to a touching surface. This served as a corral 
for the stock and also protected the blockhouse, which was 
located within the enclosure. During the next few years a 
large amount of business was transacted in furs at this 
point. In 1845, Auguste Vasquez became a partner of 
Bridger at this fort. The former had served under General 
Ashley as a trapper and later under Captain William Sub- 
lette. In 1843 he was chosen by Fremont and went with 
him to Oregon and to Northern California, and returned 
with him to the Great Salt Lake and was discharged at the 
Missouri River. Coming back to the mountains, he entered 
into partnership with Bridger as above stated. The firm of 
Bridger and Vasquez continued to do business at the fort 
until 1854, when, it is said, they sold out to Louis Robinson, 
but I do not feel certain that this transfer was made. Louis 
Robinson was a native of North Carolina and came to the 
west in 1832, locating at Taos, New Mexico. The Mormons 
claim that he was of their faith and that he went to Green 
River with Isaac Bullock and John Nebeker and fifty odd 
other Mormons in the year 1853, when the great Mormon 



History of Fort Bridger. 351 

settlement was made on the western tributaries of Green 
River. It is said by some that this man Robinson directly 
represented Brigham Young and that he was acting under 
orders when he bought Fort Bridger and the land connected 
with it. All I can find on this subject comes principally 
from Mormon sources. There is a story, however, told by 
E. A. Curley, a special correspondent of the London Field, 
who wrote some letters to his paper from Wyoming in 1873. 
These letters were republished in 1874 by the Wyoming 
Board of Immigration, and from among them I select the 
following extract regarding a visit paid by the correspon- 
dent to Fort Bridger and the old mountaineer of that name. 
Mr. Curley seems to have secured the facts for this story, 
if facts they are, from Judge Carter, the post trader at Fort 
Bridger at that time. 

**The post is nestled in a beautiful valley with babbling 
brooks running through and around it. It was named after 
a famous hunter, trapper and guide, Jim Bridger, who 
passed about fifty years of his life in the wild regions of the 
Rocky Mountains. He was a great favorite with the In- 
dians, and, with a natural fondness for mountain scenery, 
he traversed the country in every direction, sometimes ac- 
companied by an Indian, but oftener alone — the beaver that 
he caught making his excursions as profitable as they were 
interesting to this wildest of mountain Nimrods. He fa- 
miliarized himself with every mountain peak, every deep 
gorge, almost every hill and landmark, in an immense re- 
gion of country. Few objects of interest to a hunter escaped 
his scrutiny, and he was said never to forget what once he 
had seen. By long intercourse with Indians, he learned 
their language, became familiar with their signs, adopted 
their habits, conformed to their customs, was imbued with 
some of their superstitions, and at length excelled them in 
strategy. In the course of his chequered life he saw mar- 
vels enough to have formed the stock in trade of a regiment 
of fair-weather travelers, and of novelists after — generally 
a long way after — Fenimore Cooper. But the actual mar- 
vels, of which he had seen so many, never satisfied Jim 
Bridger; he delighted in tough yarns, in which he was quite 
an artist, telling his most Munchausen-like stories with 
such an air of literal accuracy, and with such an appearance 
of honest indignation at the slightest shadow of doubt, 



352 History of Wyoming. 

as generally enabled him to impose upon the credulity of 
the many. Mr. Hepworth Dixon, in his trip across the 
American continent, became the prey of artists far less 
skillful than old Jim; and it is almost a pity that he did 
not have the fortune to meet the greatest liar on the Ameri- 
can continent and extend his very interesting book to three 
volumes in consequence. Bridger built a ranch on the site 
of the present post, where he had a few cattle in partner- 
ship with one Vasquez, who was, I believe, a Mexican half- 
breed. When the Mormon pioneers first passed this way to 
Salt Lake, he probably acted as their guide. At any rate, he 
so far sophisticated President Brigham Young — who 
was even then an old bird not easily caught — that he bought 
out Bridger, who pretended to hold a stretch of thirty miles 
under a Mexican grant, paying him down 14,000 for the 
grant, the shanties and the cattle, and agreeing to pay 
$4,000 more at a subsequent time. The place became too 
hot for the Mormons; they had to leave, and Bridger rented 
his pretended grant to General A. S. Johnston of a military 
post for |600 a year, on a ten years' lease. Taking a copy of 
this provisional lease, he then journeyed to Salt Lake and 
succeeded in raising the other $4,000 from the Mormon 
prophet. But the contract, to be valid, must be confirmed 
at Washington. A diligent search revealed the fact that 
there was no Mexican grant, and that Bridger was kindly 
obliging the government for a substantial consideration 
with a piece of its own property. The bargain consequently 
fell through, and the post was established without payment 
of rental; but old Jim had the pleasure of spending the 
$8,000. President Young had made repeated applications 
to have his claim allowed; but, although it is quite as good 
as many another that had passed muster, it is very unlikely 
that the prophet will ever find profitable his |8,000 invest- 
ment in Bridger. He still maintains, however, that he was 
never so unwise as to be outdone by old Jim ; that his deeds 
are all right in his possession ; and that it is nothing but the 
willful injustice of Uncle Sam that withholds from him 
this magnificent domain." 

In corroboration of the sale by Bridger to Young, the 
War Department informs me that "The Mormons set up a 
claim to the land on which the post was located on the 
ground of a conveyance from James Bridger, who was said 
to hold a Spanish grant for the same." The land in that 
part of Wyoming was acquired from Mexico by the war of 



History of Fort Bridger. 353 

1848, and Bridger made the location in 1842. It is probable, 
therefore, that Bridger did have some sort of a title or 
promise title to the property from the Mexicans. He took 
up the land with a view to using the broad valleys for pas- 
turing stock. There were Mexican grants in Colorado and 
New Mexico and in other parts of the territory ceded by the 
Mexican government to the United States in 1848. All of 
Bridger's transactions were notably honest, and there are 
hundreds of people even to this day, who knew him well, 
who will testify to this. He told some wonderful tales, but, 
like the novel writer, he did not claim that they were true. 
They amused, at least, if they did not instruct. 

Resuming the direct history of the fort, Louis Robin- 
son rebuilt it in 1855, and when it was finished it presented 
a very substantial appearance. It was constructed of boul- 
der stone, one hundred feet square and fourteen feet high. 
On the top of the walls were pickets and on diagonal corners 
were bastions, somewhat after the style of Fort Laramie. 
A corral fifty-two feet wide was built against the fort. 
The locality then was a part of Utah and the Mormons had 
scattered settlements over a considerable portion of that 
section, and thus matters stood until 1857, when the Mor- 
mons, who had been conducting affairs in the territory in a 
manner displeasing to the United States, by interference 
with the duties of territorial officials, not of their own re- 
ligious faith, and by obliging prominent Gentiles to leave 
the territory, a crisis was reached in the affairs of Utah. 
President Buchanan appointed A. Gumming governor to 
succeed Brigham Young, who had held that office, and also 
made some changes in other territorial offices. Young re- 
fused to recognize these appointments, whereupon the Presi- 
dent promptly dispatched a military force to Utah to seat 
the newly appointed officials and to enforce the laws of the 
United States. The command of the expedition was given 
to Brigadier General Harney, but he being detained by the 
political troubles in Kansas, Colonel E. B. Alexander of the 
Tenth Infantry went out in command. The force consisted 
of the Fifth, Seventh and Tenth Infantry, Second Dragoons, 
-(23) 



354 History of Wyoming. 

and Phelps and Reno's batteries of the Fourth Artillery. 
The troops started west by the North Platte route over the 
Overland trail, passing South Pass, and reached Henry's 
Fork of Green River thirty miles east of Fort Bridger and 
there went into camp to await instructions from Washing- 
ton. In November, General Albert Sidney Johnston arrived 
and took command, having been substituted for General 
Harney. On the 23rd the expedition reached Fort Bridger 
and went into winter quarters. As I have explained in the 
history of the Overland trail, the greater part of the sup- 
plies for this force had been captured and destroyed on 
Green River and the Big Sandy by Mormon troops, and the 
command had to be placed on short rations. Captain R. B. 
Marcy with forty men was at once dispatched across the 
mountains to Fort Massachusetts to obtain supplies. It 
was a terrible trip in the dead of winter and there was much 
suffering among the men on the journey. Jim Baker ac- 
companied Captain Marcy, and that officer testified that he 
rendered valuable services as assistant, guide and inter- 
preter. The story is told that Marcy on this journey met a 
band of TJtes in the mountains and tried to hire one as 
guide. The chief of the band said to Baker, the inter- 
preter, that the snow was too deep for any human being to 
cross. Baker said in a taunting manner, "Do you think 
we are old women? I at first took you for a warrior, but I 
see you're a squaw." The Indian became very much en- 
raged at this taunt, when Baker added in a soothing way, 
"Go home, now, and cover up warm, or assist your squaw in 
taking care of the babies." The warrior pointed to the moun- 
tain and called attention to the snow upon the peaks, and 
said that in the passes it was many feet deep. Notwith- 
standing this discouraging report, the little force pushed on 
and after losing nearly all their animals and suffering from 
hunger, cold and all the incidental privations, the little 
command at last reached Fort Massachusetts. Captain 
Marcy often said that had it not been for Jim Baker his lit- 
tle company would never have been able to reach its desti- 
nation. Supplies were secured at Fort Massachusetts, but 



History of Fort Bridger. 355 

the return journey was not undertaken until June, and they 
came back by way of South Pass. In the meantime, the 
troops at Fort Bridger, which had been placed on half ra- 
tions, were reduced to half of that. The snow was exceed- 
ingly deep that winter and little or no game was to be found 
and consequently horses and mules became the only article 
of diet. The wood for the camp had to be hauled a distance 
of five or six miles and the time finally came when there 
were no horses for this purpose. The men cheerfully har- 
nessed themselves to the number of thirty before each 
wagon to go to the woods and secure fuel. At last spring 
came and supplies reached them from Fort Laramie. As 
soon as the snow was off. General Johnston made a recon- 
noissance of the neighborhood and finally decided to estab- 
lish a post at Fort Bridger, as it was the most accessible 
point for concentrating troops to operate against the Mor- 
mons and Indians, and finally on the 10th of June, Troop K, 
First Cavalry, and Company E and H, Sixth Infantry, under 
the command of Major William Hoffman, who had just ar- 
rived with reinforcements and an ample supply train, were 
detailed to remain at the fort while General Johnston with 
the balance of the command pushed forward to Salt Lake. 
At about this time Brigham Young, on the part of the 
Mormons, consented without further resistance to the trans- 
fer of his oflSce to Governor Gumming, and to the occupancy 
of the territory by United States troops. General Johnston 
then proceeded to establish old Camp Floyd, which was 
located forty miles south of Salt Lake City. Major Hoffman 
in the meanwhile was not idle at Fort Bridger. The build- 
ing of barracks and quarters, etc., was at once begun, the 
labor being performed by the troops. The old boulder-stone 
Mormon fort (hitherto referred to) had meanwhile been 
taken possession of and converted into storehouses. 

On the 17th of August of this year. Brevet Lieutenant 
Colonel E. A. S. Canby, Major Tenth Infantry, relieved 
Major Hoffman in command, the latter joining the compa- 
nies of the Sixth Infantry, which shortly left the post en- 
route for California. During the administration of Colonel 



356 History of Wyoming. 

Canby, and in the same year, the building of the post was, 
for the most part, completed. Subsequently no important 
changes in the command of the fort occurred until May 29, 

1861, when Captain Jesse A. Gore, Tenth Infantry, became 
commanding officer and so continued until the withdrawal 
of troops from Utah to aid in suppressing the rebellion. 

About this period, Gamp Floyd, already referred to, 
was abandoned, and the troops, under the command of Colo- 
nel Cooke, Second Cavalry, ordered to Fort Bridger. On his 
arrival he directed that the greatest portion of the subsist- 
ence stores then at the post, and such of the quartermas- 
ter's stores as were not needed elsewhere, should be sold at 
auction. Captain Gore, with the bulk of the garrison, joined 
Colonel Cooke's command, which early in August, 1861, 
left the post for Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Captain J. C. 
Clarke, Fourth Artillery, with a few soldiers whose terms 
of service had nearly expired, being left in charge of the 
post. In December of the same year. Captain Clarke was 
ordered east, leaving Ordnance Sergeant Boyer and a few 
privates at the post. 

For about a year from this date. Fort Bridger was with- 
out a garrison or a commissioned officer, during which peri- 
od the property was under charge of Sergeant Boyer. This 
was a somewhat critical period in the history of the post. 
The Shoshone Indians were at that time hostile, and the 
Mormons, since the withdrawal of the troops, were regarded 
as still more dangerous enemies. 

Fearing trouble, and for the protection of property at 
the post as well as for personal security. Judge W. A. Car- 
ter, the post trader, organized a volunteer company of 
mountaineers from the surrounding country. In December, 

1862, Captain M. G. Lewis, with Company I, Third Califor- 
nia Volunteers, arrived and assumed command. During 
several succeeding years. Fort Bridger was garrisoned by 
companies of California and Nevada Volunteers; and vari- 
ous changes occurred from time to time. Major Noyes Bald- 
win, who afterwards located in Lander, was at one time in 
command. 



History of Fort Bridger. 357 

In July, 1866, the volunteer troops were mustered out 
of service; and on the 13th of that month Brevet Major A. 
S. Burt, Captain Eighteenth Infantry, with Companies F 
and H, First Battalion of that regiment, arrived and as- 
sumed command. When the Territory of Wyoming was 
formed in 1868, the post and vicinity were included in that 
territory. 

Many old trappers remained at the post or near there, 
becoming permanent settlers in the country, and these often 
visited the fort and station in the Overland days. Albert 
D. Richardson, who crossed the plains in 1865 with Vice 
President Schuyler Colfax, stopped over at Fort Bridger 
and there met and talked with Uncle Jack Robinson. He 
describes him as a good story-teller, droll and interesting. 
While waiting for dinner. Uncle Jack related that he had 
once, single-handed and alone, made 150 Blackfeet run. 
"How was that?" queried Richardson. "Well, you see," re- 
plied Uncle Jack, "it was one year when the red devils were 
very hostile and lifted the hair of every white man they 
could catch. While riding a swift horse one day, I came 
suddenly upon a party numbering fully 150. I turned quick- 
ly and ran, and they all ran after me." Then he added, "but 
they didn't catch Old Jack." 

In 1866-7, the project of a railroad across the continent 
was in contemplation, and during these years portions of the 
garrison were, from time to time, engaged in escorting engi- 
neers of the Union Pacific Railway; also detachments were 
employed in guarding the Overland stage route 200 miles 
east of Green River. The troops were also employed in 
erecting additional storehouses and repairing old ones, un« 
der Brevet Major J. H. Belcher, Post Quartermaster. 

The post was abandoned May 23, 1878, pursuant to 
General Orders No. 4, Headquarters Department of the 
Platte, series of 1878, and remained without a garrison until 
June 28, 1880, when in view of the location of the Northern 
Utes on the Uintah reservation, it was reoccupied by Com. 
panies F and H, Fourth Infantry, under the command of 



358 History of Wyoming. 

Captain William H. Bisbee, in compliance with Special Or- 
ders No. 57, June, 1880, from same headquarters. 

In the summer of 1883, the work of building additional 
barracks and quarters was commenced, with a view of in- 
creasing the garrison. In June of this year, two companies 
from the post and two from Fort Fred Steele, under com- 
mand of Major I. D. De Russy, Fourth Infantry, were en- 
gaged for about two months in repairing and improving 
the road to Fort Thornburg. From November 19 to Decem- 
ber 4, 1885, Company H, Twenty-first Infantry, under the 
command of Lieutenant F. E. Eltonhead, of same regiment, 
was at work on the telegraph line between the post and Car- 
ter Station, being engaged in replacing the old wooden tele- 
graph poles by iron ones, in accordance with instructions 
from Department Headquarters. 

After the necessity for which the post was established 
had ceased, its garrison was useful in protecting the Over- 
land stage route, on which it was located, and in keeping in 
subjection the Ute and Shoshone tribes of Indians, who 
roamed in the vicinity. The utility of the post consisted in 
its being a base of supplies for troops serving at the Wind 
River Agency and Sweetwater mining district, and a win- 
tering place for the cavalry operating in that country dur- 
ing the summer. 

The post was discontinued and troops withdrawn No- 
vember 6, 1890. 

This closes the military history of Fort Bridger. The 
civil history of that locality and the record made by honored 
pioneers in that section will be given in connection with the 
history of Uintah County, which will appear in the second 
volume of my work. 



Events on the Overland. 359 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

EVENTS ON THE OVERLAND. 

Vhat Came of Fremont's Explorations — Hockaday and Liggett's 
Monthly Stage From the Missouri to Salt Lake — Fort Kear- 
ney, South Pass and Honey Lake Wagon Road — Winter Camp 
IN THE Wind River Valley — Colonel F. W, Lander and the 
Shoshone Indians — Russell, Majors and Waddell, the Freight- 
ers — Daily Stage Line — The Pony Express — Fight Between the 
Shoshones and Sioux — Death of the War Chief Washakie's 
Eldest Son — Construction of the Telegraph Line. 

The Overland trail through Wyoming became the great 
cmtinental highway over which passed the army of settlers 
yho located in Oregon, California and Utah. Its geographi- 
cil position was such as to make it the most direct route to 
tie territories named, and it had another important ad- 
vmtage. It was the one easy route from the Missouri to the 
Columbia. There was water, feed and fuel in abundance, 
tiree absolute necessities on a road to be used for emigra- 
ton purposes. I have already told of Robert Stuart and 
lis companions discovering this short-cut to the Pacific; 
ye have seen General Ashley, Captain Sublette, Captain 
Bonneville, Rev. Parker, the missionary, Marcus Whitman, 
rather De Smet, John C. Fremont and other men of renown 
)ass over this trail. 

During the year 1840, Congress had under considera- 
.ton the establishing of a line of posts through the Indian 
country, and the Secretary of War was asked to report to 
the Senate, giving his opinion as to the necessity of estab- 
lishing these posts from the Missouri River to the South 
Pass. That officer, in reply to the Senate resolution asking 
for information, said that he could not satisfactorily answer 
until the completion of certain explorations undertaken by 
the War Department, which he expected would be finished 
during the year. He, however, considered that three posts 



360 History of Wyoming. 

would be suflacient, one at the junction of the N.orth' and 
South Forks of the Platte, one at the mouth of the Lara- 
mie, and the third might be at the mouth of the Popo Agie 
on Wind River or at the junction of Horse Creek and Greea 
River. The report and recommendations were of such a 
nature as to prevent the subject being further considered 
by Congress until the explorations spoken of were made. 
The evident object of the Secretary of War was to preven: 
action by Congress. No explorations were made into thi5 
section of country, and it was not until the spring of 1842 
that an expedition was fitted out to explore the Norti 
Platte, the Sweetwater and South Pass. This was Fre- 
mont's exploring party, but he did not go to the mouth *t 
the Popo Agie. Nor did he get nearer Horse Creek than tie 
main Newfork, and yet that was near enough to answer all 
practical purposes. He reported in favor of a post at tie 
mouth of the Laramie, but made no recommendation £t 
that time for any other post in Wyoming. 

The settling up of the territories west brought abort 
the necessity of military protection for the people, and coi- 
sequently the founding of military posts throughout the ii- 
terior. The army post created a demand for transportatioi 
and the government found it advantageous to employ con 
tractors to handle its freight, consisting of military stores 
ammunition, etc. Such contracts were let as early as 1841 
for transporting the supplies to Fort Kearney, Fort Lara 
mie and Fort Hall. The founding of cities increased this 
demand for transportation, as merchants found it cheaper 
to employ freighters than to own and operate freighting 
outfits. The outgrowth of this demand for freight trans- 
portation was the organization of transportation compa- 
nies. The supplies for General Albert Sidney Johnston's 
army in 1857 were transported by contract, and the freight- 
ers were Russell, Majors and Waddell, who had for a num- 
ber of years been engaged in the freighting business be- 
tween the Missouri River and Santa Fe. Following John- 
ston's army were three large trains belonging to the firm 
I have mentioned, loaded with five hundred thousand 




PONY EXPRESS STATION. 




DEER GREEK OUERLAND STAGE STATION. 
{Now Glenrock.) 



Events on the Overland. 361 

pounds of supplies. The train was in the rear of the army 
and without a military escort. The head train had passed 
Green River and the two following it were still on the 
Sandy, when a Mormon force under Colonel George A. 
Smith came up and captured the three trains. No violence 
was offered to the freighters, but orders were given to 
wagon masters to surrender the property to the Mormons; 
at the same time each was told to select a wagon and a 
yoke of oxen and take supplies sufficient to last the men 
until they should reach Fort Leavenworth. As soon as this 
was done, the trains were set on fire and the stores, together 
with the wagons, consumed. This high-handed outrage was 
a full declaration of war on the part of the Mormons against 
the general government, and besides, it placed Johnston's 
army on very slender subsistence for the winter. This is 
more fully explained in the history of Fort Bridger. The 
men belonging to the freighting outfits arrived safely at the 
Missouri River and were the first to report the loss of the 
supplies to the government, which they made known to 
the commander at Fort Laramie as they passed through. 
The cattle captured by the Mormons were returned to the 
United States authorities at Salt Lake the following year. 
Early in the spring of 1858, the War Department hur- 
ried forward an immense amount of supplies for troops at 
Fort Laramie, Fort Bridger, Fort Hall and Salt Lake. Rus- 
sell, Majors and Waddell had on the plains that year 3,500 
wagons, 40,000 oxen and 4,000 employes, but some of these 
were on the Santa Fe trail. The road across Wyoming in 
1858 was a grand thoroughfare, filled with government 
freighters, army ambulances and emigrant outfits. The 
most of the wagons and oxen were left in the west and 
never returned to the Missouri River country. Remarkable 
to relate, the Indians seldom annoyed these freighters. The 
road over which this freight was carried was comparatively 
level as far west as South Pass. There was an abundance of 
grass and water nearly every mile of the way, yet I find 
General Johnston forwarding a report to the quartermas- 
ter's department at Washington saying that it would bo 



362 History of Wyoming. 

impossible to find subsistence along the road for the number 
of animals it would require to transport the freight neces- 
sary for the army. This was only the ordinary blunder of 
an eastern oflScer who knew nothing of the nutritious qual- 
ity of the grasses on the plains and in the mountains. 

The conditions, circumstances and developments of the 
west brought about new demands, such as mail, express 
and passenger facilities, and these had to be supplied. In 
the early days of the occupation of Fort Laramie by United 
States troops, the great difficulty was to secure mail. Let- 
ters intended for the western posts went to Fort Leaven- 
worth and then were forwarded as opportunity offered to 
Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, Fort Hall and Salt Lake. In 
1851, John M. Hockaday and William Liggett established a 
stage line to carry the mail and express packages to the 
western posts. The stage also carried passengers. The 
mail contract with the United States government called for 
making the journey from St. Joseph, Missouri, to Salt Lake 
in twenty-one days, and the same number of days for the 
return, making forty-two days for the round trip. The 
horses were changed at Fort Kearney, Fort Laramie, Fort 
Hall and Salt Lake. When the stage reached a watering 
place, the driver watered his horses, and when they needed 
feed, turned them out on the prairie. In this way the mail 
and passengers were carried. This continued until 1858, 
when Russell, Majors and Waddell, the government freight- 
ers, became the purchasers of the Hockaday and Liggett 
line, which had grown from a monthly to a semi-monthly. 
The new proprietors ran the line from Atchison, Kansas, 
and built stables and stations every ten or fifteen miles, 
and horses were strung out along the line. When all was 
in readiness, stages left Atchison and Salt Lake every day, 
changing horses at each station, and made the 1,200 miles in 
ten days. The line was supplied with Concord coach es and 
the animals used were Kentucky mules. It took a large 
number of freight teams to supply hay, grain and provisions 
for the relay posts. From Salt Lake, Ben Holliday ran a 
line to San Francisco, the government paying each of these 



Events on the Overland. 363 

Overland mail lines |400,000 for carrying the mail from the 
Missouri to San Francisco. The daily line was put in opera- 
tion in the spring of 1859. 

In order to give a correct history of the great Overland 
trail, it will be necessary to show the interest which the 
general government was commencing to take in this high- 
way. 

In the winter of 1856-7, Congress made an appropria- 
tion for the building of what was called the Fort Kearney, 
South Pass and Honey Lake wagon road. This was sub- 
stantially a government road from the Missouri through to 
California. The object was to open a highway which would 
permit emigrants to reach the Pacific coast without passing 
through Salt Lake or the territory occupied by the Mor- 
mons. A massacre of a whole train of people at Mountain 
Meadow, Utah, who were on their way to California, by 
Mormons, had prompted Congress to open a new route, and 
William M. McGraw secured the contract, with the under- 
standing that the road builders should be accompanied by 
a sufiSciently large military escort to give protection while 
the work was going on. The soldiers were accompanied by 
C. Drexler, taxidermist, and J. G. Cooper, surgeon. The 
expedition left Fort Leavenworth in the spring of 1857 and 
at once started for Fort Kearney, where the work of con- 
struction was to commence. The route was west by the 
Overland trail find for the most of the way little work had 
to be done. There were some new crossings made, and at 
such places the banks on either side of the river were 
graded down. The expedition went to Ash IIollow, Chim- 
ney Eock, Fort Laramie, Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, 
and late in the fall reached Rocky Ridge, near South Pass. 
The country at that season of the year presented a mid- 
winter appearance, and to attempt going into camp at such 
a place was out of the question. The government guide 
recommended the Wind River Valley as a desirable win- 
tering place, so the soldiers and road builders turned north 
and wading through deep snow finally reached the valley, 
and winter quarters were selcted on the Popo Agie River at 



364 History of Wyoming. 

a point two miles northeast of where Lander now stands. 
The encampment was surrounded with abundant feed for 
horses and mules and game of all kinds was plentiful. Here 
in one of the most beautiful spots for a winter camp the sol- 
diers and artisans remained until the spring opened, when 
Colonel F. W. Lander arrived and took command of the ex- 
pedition. It was the first visit of Colonel Lander to this 
beautiful valley and it is said that he was much pleased 
with it. Hon. B. F. Lowe became acquainted with the colo- 
nel a year later. Lander liking the location of the valley, 
and Lowe being favorably impressed with the many good 
qualities of the colonel, nothing was more natural than that 
he should name the town, which he was afterwards to locate, 
in honor of Colonel Lander. On the 1st of June, 1858, the 
command moved south to Rocky Ridge and took up the 
work of building the road on across Wyoming. Before leav- 
ing. Colonel Lander negotiated a treaty with the Shoshone 
tribe for a right of way through the country claimed by 
them, extending westward from the Sweetwater to Fort 
Hall. The Indians were paid on the spot in horses, fire- 
arms, ammunition, blankets, and many other articles of 
value, highly prized by Washakie and the chief men of the 
nation. The Shoshones remembered Colonel Lander kindly 
ever after and they mourned his death when they heard 
of it. He made several railroad surveys through the Rocky 
Mountains, and in one of these expeditions he was the sole 
survivor. In 1861 he entered the war for the preservation 
of the Union and in May of that year he was appointed a 
brigadier general and distinguished himself in several cam- 
paigns in Virginia. He died in 1862. His wife was an ac- 
tress of note, Jean Margaret Davenport. At the breaking 
out of the war she volunteered as an army nurse and re- 
mained in the service until 1865, when she again returned to 
the stage. 

It is proper here to mention two very important enter- 
prises which relate to the Overland trail ; in fact they are a 
part of the trail itself, and these are the conveniences for 
crossing the various streams. The one great obstacle in the 



Events on the Overland. 365 

way of the early emigrants was the swollen rivers which 
crossed their path. The hardy trappers, traders and explor- 
ers cared little for rivers, but when it came to the women 
and children connected with the Overland travel it was a 
serious business, and ways and means were finally found to 
overcome the difiQculty. The history of the ferries and 
bridges of the Overland through Wyoming is not as clear 
as could be wished. It certainly extends beyond the memory 
of any man now living. It is safe to say that the bridge 
across the Platte at Fort Laramie is the first structure of 
that kind built within the present limits of our state. This 
bridge has been mentioned in the history of Fort Laramie. 
In those early days it was hard to find men who would fur- 
nish the capital for these great conveniences along the Over- 
land trail, for the reason that the season when a bridge was 
necessary was very short, being only two or three months in 
the year. After the month of August the rivers could be 
crossed at almost any point, and consequently the emigrants 
would not pay for going over a bridge. 

Early in the fifties Louis Ganard built a toll bridge on 
the Sweetwater, a short distance below Independence Rock, 
and during the seasons of high water he did a paying busi- 
ness. He had a sort of sliding scale of prices, intended to 
be adjusted to the flood in the river. If the stream was run- 
ning very high he charged ten dollars for a wagon and its 
teams. If the water was lower the charge was five dollars, 
and he had also a three dollar rate. Ganard was a French 
Canadian and had a squaw for a wife, with whom he lived 
until the time of his death. He had two nephews, half- 
breeds, who lived with him. As has been related, the Mor- 
mons, in 1847, established a ferry for their own convenience 
on the North Platte, where Fort Caspar was afterwards 
built. This ferry was kept up for a number of years, but 
there was always difficulty in keeping track of the boat. 
Mormon emigrants were instructed before leaving the east 
to build a raft at this ferry in the event of their being unable 
to find the regular boat. About the time the bridge on the 
8weetwater was built, John Eeshaw, or Richaud, bridged 



366 History of Wyoming. 

the North Platte at a point seven miles below the Mormon 
ferry. He did a good business there but was much annoyed 
because people refused to pay his prices and went up to the 
ferry and crossed somehow, either in a boat or on a raft. 
In those days the horses were driven across the ford, but 
the wagons were carried over on the improvised ferry boat, 
also the people and their effects. At last some one put in a 
good boat and stretched a rope across the stream, establish- 
ing a regular ferry. This was too much for Reshaw. He 
stormed, roared, and finally gave the parties running the 
ferry $300 to stop business. He did not, however, purchase 
the ferry boat and rope, but he thought he had secured the 
traffic for his bridge. W. H. Carmichael, who now resides 
at Wheatland, passed over the Overland trail in 1859, being 
one of a company going to California. The train was a 
large one, and when it reached Reshaw's bridge, the leader 
entered into negotiations with Reshaw for crossing. The 
price was fixed at |2.50 per wagon and the emigrants made 
up their minds they could do better by going to the ferry. 
Reshaw informed them that the ferry was a thing of the 
past and no longer existed, but the leader of the train did 
not choose to believe a statement that was made so clearly 
in the interest of the toll-bridge keeper and consequently he 
proposed to go on up to the ferry. Reshaw then notified him 
that if he persisted in going on, he would be obliged to come 
back and cross the bridge at last, and if he did return, double 
price would be charged, that is, |5.00 a wagon. On went 
the train toward the ferry and on arriving there they found 
the rope down and the ferry boat moored on the opposite 
side. The water was high, but a man was placed on a horse 
and took a rope across. After considerable delay and no 
little hard work, the ferry was re-established and the fami- 
lies, teams and goods were rapidly transferred to the north 
bank of the river. All but four teams had been taken over 
when Reshaw, accompanied by three men, all heavily armed, 
put in an appearance, and seeing the situation, his indigna- 
tion knew no bounds. He abused and threatened those on 
shore, remarking that he had influence with the Indians 



Events on the Overland. 367 

and would see to it that they followed the train and de- 
spoiled the emigrants of all they possessed. George Morris, 
one of the emigrants, refused to be bulldozed, and drawing 
a revolver, covered Reshaw with it and ordered him to get 
in the boat and accompany a load that was going across, 
informing him at the same time that he would stand no more 
of his abuse, but that he might make his complaint to the 
leader of the train, who was on the other side of the river. 
Reshaw went over, and when he reached the other side he 
burst out anew and fairly astonished the people of the train 
with his violent language. It so happened that the parties 
to the dispute were standing near a wagon which was occu- 
pied by a sick man. Reshaw heard the click of a rifle as it 
was cocked and looking around to see where it came from, 
discovered that the invalid had him covered with his rifle 
and seemed to be fully determined to hold his advantage. 
This brought an end to the scene and Reshaw and his armed 
ruffians started back down the river, but with a parting 
malediction on the heads of the emigrants, threatening 
them with 500 savages, who at his bidding would capture 
the train, scalp the people and run off their stock. He then 
left, amid the jeers of the party. As soon as he had de- 
parted a subscription was taken up and twenty-five dollars 
raised and paid to the owner of the boat for its use. The 
train now proceeded on to the west. Reshaw's threat was 
not carried out, as no Indians followed or disturbed the 
emigrants. 

In that same year Louis Ganard built a bridge at the 
Mormon ferry, as it had become a place of some importance. 
This point was occupied by troops July 29, 1858, Companies 
D and E, Fourth Artillery, Captain Joseph Roberts, Cap- 
tain G. W. Getty, being a part of the second column of the 
Utah expedition, for the purpose of keeping open the com- 
munication with Salt Lake City, and to aid in the prompt 
forwarding of supplies. I find on file in the War Depart- 
ment an order dated Washington, March 23, 1859, which 
orders the abandonment of the post at Platte Bridge, and 
the troops were accordingly withdraw on April 20th of that 



368 History of Wyoming. 

year. The same order includes the abandonment of Camp 
Walbach, a post which had been located at a somewhat 
earlier date, but what year I am unable to find in the records 
of the War Department. The location of this post was at 
the head of Lodge Pole Creek, on the old Lodge Pole trail. 
The locality is now in Albany County, about twenty miles 
east of Laramie. Old pioneers say that the soldiers sta- 
tioned at Camp Walbach were massacred in 1854, but that 
it was reoccupied afterwards. It was an unhealthy spot, 
the water being bad and caused a great amount of sickness 
among the troops. There were no troops at Platte Bridge 
from April 20, 1859, until sometime in the month of May, 
1862, when it was occupied by volunteer troops who were 
serving as escort for emigrants and for the protection of the 
telegraph line. When it was decided, a year or two later, 
to chastise the Indians, the post was rebuilt to accommo- 
date several companies. 

To return to the Platte bridge, which was the most 
notable structure of its kind in this part of the country in 
early times. It was finished, it was said, at a cost of |60,- 
000. It was of cedar logs, built on cribs filled with stone, and 
made to resist the current of the river and time. Martin 
Oliver of Caspar, who, when he first came to the country, 
worked on the bridge, says that it was commonly reported 
that Ganard came from the Sweetwater with $30,000 in 
cash, and this sum he put in the new bridge before it was 
completed, and that he spent every year large sums in 
building new piers and structural work. This, then, is the 
160,000 which the bridge is said to have cost. 

At the time Johnston's army went to Utah in 1857, Jim 
Bridger had a ferry on the North Platte, a short distance 
below where Orin Junction is today. Its more exact loca- 
tion is near the Cheyenne and Northern railroad bridge 
which now spans the North Platte. This ferry was a fairly 
good business enterprise, but Bridger was too active a man 
to give it much personal attention. He had a number of 
partners in the venture, and it is quite safe to say that he 
did not make any great amount of money out of his ferry. 




*^M^#-^^^-^ '^'"^ 



i'> 



LA BONTE STAGE STATION ON THE OVERLAND. 




BRIDGER'S FERRY. 



Events on the Overland. 369 

At the time he put in this ferry on the North Phitte. Jim 
Baker commenced a like enterprise on Crreen River at the 
old Overland crossing. Baker was another man who was 
not adapted to a business requiring him to remain in one 
place, but he made some money during 1857-8, yet the sea- 
son of high water was so sliort that it was not encouraging 
for him to continue the business any great length of time. 

I will now go back to the Overland Stage Company. 
The new proprietors, Russell, Majors and Waddell, regard- 
less of expense, abundantly equipped the line and started 
the stages running early in the summer of 1859. The rush 
to California, Oregon and Utah was considerable that year 
and the Concord coaches were filled with trans-continental 
travelers. They did a large business in express as well as 
passengers. This same firm ran a line from Leavenworth to 
Denver. Previous to that all mail for Denver and other 
Colorado points was carried by the Salt Lake stages and 
dropped at Fort Laramie, and mail matter was often three 
months old when it reached Colorado. Russell, Majors and 
Waddell did business under the name ''Central Overland, 
California and Pike's Peak Express Company." This name 
was so unwieldy that it was abbreviated to "C. O. G. 
& P. P. Express," which everybody will admit was long 
enough. Newspaper editors of the country, those practi- 
cal men of few words, called it the Overland stage, and the 
roadway itself the Overland trail. This great mail, express 
and passenger route was the talk of the whole country and 
the news of events occurring along the line became a regular 
feature in the great journals of the day. This news consist- 
ed principally of attacks on the stages or the stage sta- 
tions by Indians, robberies by freebooters, snowbound 
stages, sickness and deaths along the road. Those were 
days filled with stirring events in Wyoming, but the coun- 
try had scarcely accustomed itself to the fast time made 
by the daily Overland stage before a new enterprise was 
announced. W. H. Russell of the C. O. C. & P. P. Express 
conceived the idea of carrying letters to and from Califor- 
nia by pony express, and the schedule time between San 

—(24) 



370 History of Wyoming. 

Pranciaco and New York was ten days, less than half the 
time heretofore required to can'y the mail through.* Ail 
letters by this route were required to be written on tissue 
paper, and the charge for each half ounce was |5.00. Mes- 
sages by this line were sent by telegraph from New York 
and other eastern points to St. Joseph, Missouri. They 
were then carried by pony express to Sacramento, Califor- 
nia, and from there forwarded by telegraph to San Fran- 
cisco. On the pony express line between the Missouri River 
and Sacramento there were 190 stations; 200 men were 
€fmployed as station keepers and eighty men as riders. 
Riders were selected from trappers and scouts, who were 
acquainted with the country, understood the service for 
which they were needed, capable of great physical power, 
endurance and bravery. They were armed with a Marlin 
rifle and a Colt's revolver of the most approved pattern. 
The horses were a cross between the American horse and 
the Indian pony. The saddle was of medium weight, made 
of the best material, and to the cantle was attached a pair 
of saddle-bags containing the dispatches and letters. The 
schedule time to be made was fifteen miles an hour, but tbis. 
was more than was averaged. The first pony express left 
St. Joseph April 3, 1860, going by way of Fort Kearney, 
Fort Laramie, South Pass, Fort Bridger, Salt Lake, Carson 
City, to Sacramento, making the distance in ten days. The 
first express rider from the west left Sacramento on April 
4th and reached St. Joseph on the 13th. These trips were 
made once a week from each way. It was considered at 
that time a wonderful achievement, but in a financiaJ way it 
was not a success. Indian troubles occurred at many 
points; stations were burned and the keepers killed, stock 
run off, riders shot from ambush, and in short the dangers 
were of such a character as to be almost insurmountable, 
and yet the promoters of the line continued to furnish new 
riders in place of those killed and new ponies in place ©f 
those stolen, and so they continued to keep the enterprise ia 

*F. A. Bee and B. F. Ficklin were the assistant projectors of the pony express, tJk«<J.%k 
W H. Russell was the man who organized it. 



Events on the Overland. 371 

full practical operation for two years, when it was from ne- 
cessity abandoned, the business having paid only about ten 
per cent of the amount expended. 

The season of 1861 was filled with important events 
along the Overland trail in Wyoming. There were many 
depredations committed by Indians and the trouble seemed 
to be on the increase as the summer advanced. The Sioux 
were out in full force, likewise the Cheyennes. The Sho- 
shones early in June camped on the Sweetwater, ten miles 
west of Strawberry Creek. Soon after a war party of Chey- 
ennes, Sioux and Arapahoes made their appearance on the 
Strawberry, where Lewiston is now located. They were in 
search of the Shoshone village and they pushed on to the 
west to the point where their scouts had located the enemy. 
The Sioux had the advance and came in sight of the Sho- 
shone camp just at sunrise on the morning of June 20th. B. 
F. Lowe, who was at the Shoshone encampment, says that 
as the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes advanced in solid 
column with the rising sun reflecting on their bright bur- 
nished spears and shields, it was a magnificent sight. The 
Sioux dashed forward and cut off four hundred of the Sho- 
shone horses and started back with them in an easterly di- 
rection. All was now excitement in the Shoshone village, 
and preparations were instantly made to follow the ma- 
rauders. The war chief of the band was the eldest son of 
Chief Washakie, and he was the first to mount. He sat 
astride his noble war-horse, in front of his father's lodge, 
waiting for a few of his picked men. The old chief came out 
and his face wore signs of impatience. Casting his eyes on 
the young war chief, he said, "What are you waiting for?" 
The young man made no reply, but brushing the flanks of 
his horse with his heels, the spirited animal bounded for- 
ward, carrying the war chief in pursuit of the fleeing ene- 
my. He dashed along a distance of six miles, when he came 
up to eight Sioux Indians at the crossing of Willow 
Creek. These closed in on him with their lances, but the 
Shoshone warrior, with a Colt's revolver in each hand, did 
not shrink from the unequal contest. With his right hand 



372 History of Wyoming. 

he brought down a Sioux, and another with his left, but 
at this instant the remaining six crossed their spears in his 
body and he fell to the ground lifeless. His enemies had 
barely time to remove his scalp when young Washakie's 
friends were upon them and a running fight ensued which 
lasted for three hours. The Shoshones recaptured their 
horses, besides securing a number of those belonging to 
the Sioux, who had retreated into a green grove of quaking 
asp near Eagle Nest, on Little Beaver. The Shoshones as- 
saulted their position but were unab'le to drive the Sioux 
out of the timber and finally night i)ut an end to the con- 
test. After a brief consultation, the Shoshones decided to 
return to their village, bury their dead and care for the 
wounded. The Sioux, taking advantage of the darkness, 
managed to escape, but they were on foot and had to travel 
many a weary mile to insure their safety. The Shoshones 
lost in this fight five killed and several wounded; the Sioux 
had forty men killed and lost a large amount of supplies, 
arms and horses. Chief Washakie has never ceased to 
mourn the loss of this, his eldest son. He has always felt 
that his own hasty words brought about the death of the 
young man. 

In this connection it will not be out of place to more 
fully introduce this remarkable chieftain, who will here- 
after be prominent in this history. Captain Bonneville 
says that in 1833 he met a young Shoshone chief, "a man of 
great promise," but unfortunately he fails to give his name. 
I feel satisfied, however, that the chief he referred to was 
Washakie. This great leader of the Shoshones became a 
chief when he was nineteen years old. The "Indian Guide," 
published at the Wind River boarding school, Shoshone 
Agency, in its December number, 1897, says that Washakie 
was born 1803, that his father was a Flathead and his 
mother a Shoshone, that he was a warrior from his youth 
up. According to the date given by the "Indian Guide," 
Washakie was 30 years old at the time Bonneville met him. 
The age of this chief has been a question of more or less 
speculation for years. In 1892 the writer met this re- 



Events on the Overland. 373- 

Downed warrior at Fort Washakie, and in the conversation, 
asked him how old he was and he promptly replied that he 
did not know, but he remembered that he was fifty-five years 
of age at the time the great treaty was signed, meaning the 
treaty of 1868. This would make the year of his birth 1813 
and his age when Bonneville met him twenty years, and 
eighty-five at the present time (1898.) 

The Overland telegraph was the great event in the west 
during the year 1861. Edward Creighton of Omaha, in. 
1860, conceived the idea of constructing a line of telegraph 
across the Rocky Mountains. He had completed several 
lines in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Missouri, and this experi- 
ence, together with his great energy and business qualifica- 
tions, enabled him to carry out the undertaking. During . 
the year 1860 he entered into a contract with the Western 
Union people to build a line from the Missouri River to Salt 
Lake. Congress, in the meantime, had granted a subsidy of 
140,000 a year for ten years as an inducement for the con- 
struction of the telegraph. During the fall of 1860, Mr. 
Creighton visited Salt Lake and secured the co-operation 
of Brigham Young in the enterprise. From Salt Lake he 
went to California and procured the help of the California 
State Telegraph Company. This company was to build as 
far east as Salt Lake. In the spring, Mr. Creighton com- 
menced the construction west and the work was pushed 
with great vigor, and on October 17th, 1861, his con- 
tract to construct the line to Salt Lake was completed and 
on the 24th of the same month the California company 
reached Salt Lake with their line and the two wires were 
united. The route chosen was the Overland trail. The 
telegraph offices were numerous in Wyoming — one at Fort 
Laramie, Horse Shoe, Deer Creek, Platte Bridge, a couple 
on the Sweetwater, one at South Pass, Sand Creek, Fort 
Bridger and several other points. As part payment for the 
construction of the line, Mr. Creighton was to receive $100,- 
000 in stock, which was valued at eighteen cents on the dol- 
lar. The company afterwards increased the amount of 
stock to three times the original and gave Mr. Creighton his- 



374 History of Wyoming. 

portion of the increase. The shares immediately rose in 
value from eighteen cents to eighty-five cents. He after- 
wards sold one-third of his stock for |850,000. This same 
contractor in 1865 commenced to build a line from Denver 
west on the southern stage route, and the next year it was 
pushed across Laramie Plains, through Bridger Pass and 
on to Fort Bridger and Salt Lake. Both of these lines were 
of national importance and a great convenience to the army 
in its operations against the Indians in Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

CHANGING THE OVERLAND TRAIL. 

Ben Holliday Becomes Proprietor of the Stage Line — Shoshones 
Capture All the Horses for a Distance of 200 Miles — The 
Mormon Battalion — Arrival of Volunteer Troops — The Emi- 
grant Road Expedition — Colonel P. Edward Connor Takes 
Charge of the Military District of Utah — Fort Douglass Lo- 
cated — Fort Bridger Garrisoned — Mormon Effort to Have 
Troops Removed from Fort Douglas — Colonel Connor's Letter 
to the War Department — Removal of the Stages to the Lara- 
mie Plains and Bridger Pass Route — Whisky Gap Named— Thor- 
ough Equipment of the Holliday Line. 

The events on the Overland mail route in the year 1862 
were many. Tribes that had heretofore been peaceable 
suddenly assumed an attitude of hostility. The trouble had 
in the past been mostly with the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arap« 
ahoes, but in the early spring of this year Indians to the 
west made war on emigrants, freighters and the Overland 
mail coaches. The government, being now thoroughly 
aroused, ordered to the west volunteer troops from Califor- 
nia, Kansas, Iowa and other states. There were some 
troops enlisted by the government composed of captured 
Confederate soldiers and also deserters from the southern 
army. These were made into regiments which were sent 



Changing the Overland Trail. 375 

to fight Indians on the plains and were styled U. S. Volun- 
teers. When these troops arrived in the west they were 
distinguished from other volunteers by being called "Gal- 
vanized Yankees." Before any of the troops mentioned 
had time to arrive, the Indians commenced active hostili- 
ties. 

During the winter of 1861-2, Russell, Majors and Wad- 
dell found themselves financially embarrassed through 
losses sustained in the pony express enterprise and the 
daily Overland coach system. They had been obliged to 
borrow large sums of money to meet their obligations and 
keep the business running, and they found themselves at 
the close of 1861 owing Ben Holliday $100,000. Holliday 
was the proprietor of the line running from Salt Lake to 
California. Russell, Majors and Waddell being unable to 
meet their debt to Holliday, turned over to him the prop- 
erty and franchises. The pony express had served its pur- 
pose, however, by securing from the government a contract 
for carrying the mails for the neat sum of |1,000,000. This 
contract, or at least one-half of it, together with the horses, 
coaches, stations and outfit of the line from the Missouri 
River to Salt Lake, fell into the hands of Holliday at a mere 
nominal cost, and Russell, Majors and Waddell were 
obliged to content themselves with a loss of several hun- 
dred thousand dollars. It was a bitter stroke of fortune 
for these pioneers. 

Holliday had been busy during the winter and spring, 
stocking up the line, distributing additional men, horses and 
stores at the different stations in Wyoming, and all things 
were in readiness for business when in March, like a thun- 
derclap from a clear sky, the Shoshone tribe which had for 
so many years been peaceable and friendly to the whites, 
made a descent simultaneously on the stage stations from 
Platte Bridge, just above Caspar, to Bear River Station, 
where Evanston now stands, and captured every horse and 
mule belonging to the company. The coaches containing 
passengers were left standing at stations and between sta- 
tions. The Indians refrained from killing anyone except at 



376 History of Wyoming. 

the station of Split Rock, on the Sweetwater. Holliday had 
brought to that place a Pennsylvania colored man who 
spoke only what is called Pennsylvania Dutch. This man 
was the cook at the station. The Indians who were gather- 
ing up the stock reached Split Rock and concluded that it 
was a good opportunity to get something to eat, and select- 
ing one of their number who could speak English, instructed 
him to direct the negro to prepare dinner for them. The 
order was given in fairly good English, but the negro failed 
to understand. The native linguist then tried French and 
followed it with Spanish, but none of these languages were 
understood by the trembling cook and things began to look 
serious. After a brief consultation among the Shoshones, 
they decided that the negro was bad medicine, so they killed 
him on the spot. Near the Devil's Gate Station they met 
the west bound coach, which contained, besides some pas- 
sengers, Lem Flowers, an agent of the company, also two 
other employes, Jim Reed and Bill Brown. A demand was 
made on them for the horses, which they refused to give up, 
and a fight ensued which resulted in the wounding of the 
three men mentioned. They finally gave up the horses, and 
the Indians were content to go away. This attack on the 
stage line by the Shoshones resulted in the stoppage of all 
stages in Wyoming. President Lincoln was appealed to, 
but having no troops who could reach the scene of Indian 
depredations under two months, made a personal appeal to 
Brigham Young to send troops for the protection of the 
mails. In response to this request. Young sent what was 
known as the Mormon battalion. It consisted of 300 men 
under the command of Lot Smith. Headquarters being es- 
tablished near Devil's Gate, details of twenty men were 
made to guard different points on the road. New stock was 
furnished by the stage company, and by the time the stages 
were again ready to move, the Sioux in eastern Wyoming 
and western Nebraska started out on their regular spring 
campaign of murder and plunder. The War Department, 
being again appealed to, could do nothing but push the vol- 
unteer troops forward. The Fourth Iowa Cavalry arrived 



Changing the Overland Trail. 377 

in MsLj, and they were followed by a battalion of the Sixth 
Ohio Cavalry, afterwards known as the Eleventh Ohio Cav« 
airy, and about the same time the Eighth Kansas Infantry 
came out. These troops were distributed over a wide sec- 
tion of country, and their duties were to escort emigrant 
trains, the mail coaches, and to guard and repair the tele- 
graph line. It was hard service, but it was performed in a 
creditable manner. The Mormon battalion did not wait to 
be relieved, but quietly withdrew to Salt Lake. It has never 
been explained why these troops were in such a hurry to 
get away. It has been claimed, however, that Brigham 
Young offered to make a contract with the government to 
guard the Overland mail, and it is believed that his proposi- 
tion was considered at the time, but nothing came of it. 
There were many charges made against the Mormons at 
that period, some going so far as to claim that they were 
responsible for the Indian outbreaks. This was the opinion 
of a majority of the army officers who were engaged in the 
Indian service. 

It is an indisputable fact, when we look up the evidence, 
that the government had many enemies in this quarter of 
the globe, shortly after the breaking out of the war. Many 
army officers who had been in service in the west had re- 
signed and cast their lot with the southern Confederacy in 
1861, and these had their friends in the west. The Demo- 
cratic party was in control of the national government up 
to the time of Lincoln's inauguration. The southern peo- 
ple, who had always possessed a strong desire for civil ap- 
pointments in connection with the army, had been success- 
ful in securing numerous post traderships, and these traders 
had brought with them assistants and clerks from the south 
and it was quite natural that these people should be in sym- 
pathy with their kindred at home. This element, up to the 
time the volunteers were stationed along the Overland 
trail, was more or less demonstrative. The Mormons, no 
one pretended to claim had any love for the government. 
Added to this disloyal sentiment, there was a Confederate 
influence brought to bear from New Mexico, which showed 



378 History of Wyoming. 

itself in Colorado and in other portions of the Rocky Moun- 
tains, and especially along the Overland trail. Public feel- 
ing ran high in Denver and on one occasion a rebel flag was 
raised over a store on Sixteenth street, in that city. A 
crowd of Union men quickly gathered in front of the store 
and told the parties who raised the flag that Denver was a 
Union city and that the Confederate emblem must be taken' 
down at once or serious consequences would result. The 
flag was promptly removed. Governor Gilpin took ener- 
getic measures to protect Union citizens, and to this end 
raised a military force which co-operated with the United 
States troops in the subjugation of the Confederates in the 
southwest. His splendid service on this occasion did much 
to suppress disloyalty in the whole western country. The 
Confederate sympathizers in Wyoming were not numerous 
enough to exert any detrimental influence after the arrival 
of the volunteer troops. A few ill-advised persons along the 
stage line expressed their sympathy with the Confederacy 
and denounced President Lincoln, but a sharp reprimand 
from an oflBcer was all that was required to bring these fool- 
ish people to their senses. Volunteers thought it bad 
enough to be obliged to fight savages without submitting to 
having treason talked in their presence by white men, con- 
sequently it early came to be understood that neither the 
government of the United States nor its honored chief ex- 
ecutive could be lightly spoken of in their hearing. 

After the arrival of the troops from the east and their 
distribution along the stage road, the Indians as far west 
as the South Pass seemed to hesitate about continuing their 
depredations, and for a time peace prevailed, but it was not 
to last any lengthened period. The Indians, seeing the 
formidable force, required time to plan and carry out a new 
sort of campaign. They now adopted a system of harrass- 
ing the troops, and the officers found it dangerous to send 
out men to repair the telegraph line without giving them 
strong escort. Emigrants continued to put in an appear- 
ance on the road, and what was remarkable, few of them 
were armed in a manner to secure the protection of them- 



Changing the Overland Trail. 379 

selves and families. They relied on the soldiers to see them 
safely through the dangerous country, and the result was 
that many of them lost their stock and not a few of them 
their lives. 

In May, 1862, the first division of the Eleventh Ohio 
Cavalry, sometimes called the Sixth, Colonel Collins in 
command, reached Fort Laramie, and these troops were at 
once sent out to guard the stage and telegraph line west as 
far as Pacific Springs. They were scattered in small detach- 
ments and did escort duty, accompanying stages and emi- 
grant trains. The service proved very severe, but the offi- 
cers and men performed it without a murmur. They had 
numerous slight engagements with prowling bands, and 
occasionally a soldier was killed. The great difficulty was 
to protect the telegraph line. As the Indians had found out 
that this was a part of the duty of the troops, they kept them 
busy making repairs. The most serious difficulty that oc- 
curred that season was at Independence Rock, Split Rock 
and the Three Crossings of the Sweetwater. 

On June 16, 1862, what was known as the emigrant road 
expedition left Omaha and proceeded up the north side of 
the Platte River, up the Sweetwater, over the Lander cut-off, 
near Fort Hall, and thence down on the south side of Snake 
River to Oregon. The expedition was ordered by the Secre- 
tary of War, and Captain Medorem Crawford was in charge, 
having under him fifty mounted men. This officer, in his re- 
port, says: "From the best information in my possession, 
I estimate the emigration to Oregon and Washington this 
year, 10,000 souls. There were also many on the road to 
California, Salt Lake and Denver." This officer also report- 
ed that emigrants had started out with a mistaken impres- 
sion as to the condition of the roads and the prevalence of 
grass along the route. Teams were overloaded, and when 
they left the valley of the Platte they began to give out. 
First furniture was thrown out to lighten the load, then 
many wagons abandoned, and in quite a number of instances 
disabled cattle were left along the trail. 

"The first evidence of Indian depredations we saw was 



380 History of Wyoming. 

a grave at the crossing of New Fork on Green River. From 
the inscription placed over it we learned that Patrick Mo- 
ran, of Missouri, was killed by Indians on the 18th of July 
and two men wounded. We passed this place August 11, 
about three weeks after, at which time no Indians were to 
be seen. The next grave was on La Barge Creek, in the 
Bear River Mountains. On the head-board of the grave was 
inscribed: 'Opened by Kavanaugh's train on the 27th of 
July, 1862. The body of a man found too badly decayed for 
removal. One shot in the temple and an arrow shot. Sup- 
posed to have been killed by Indians.' 

"On the 25th day of August we passed the graves of the 
following persons: One unknown man found by Captain 
Glenn's party, August 13. He had been shot in the back of 
the head with buckshot. Three miles farther there were five 
graves, side by side, of persons supposed to have been killed 
by Indians. Rufus C. Mitchell, N. Howie, James Steel, Da- 
vid Whitmer and Frank Sessions were the names inscribed 
over them. This was in the vicinity of Fort Hall, and hap- 
pened on the 9th of August, we passing on the 25th. We 
learned from the ferry-man that while these five men were 
slain by Indians twenty armed men from the same train 
stood upon a hill near by and made no attempt to rescue 
their comrades. There the strong reasons for believing 
that white men bore a part in this massacre. Between Fort 
Hall and Raft River we found four graves of men supposed 
to have been killed by Indians on the 9th of August. After 
passing Raft River we found the grave of a Miss Adams, 
who was shot on the 9th and died on the 12th. We passed 
here August 31, twenty-two days after the fight. About the 
same time a Mr. Phillips left his train to go fishing, alone 
and unarmed, and was taken by Indians, and is supposed 
to have been killed. This happened near Goose Creek. It 
will be seen that the number killed, of which we have posi- 
tive information, is about fifteen. No emigrants have at 
any time been troubled by Indians while in the vicinity of 
my company, but from the disposition shown toward the 
advance trains, it is easy to see that the later and weaker 
parties would have been easily cut off had it not been for the 
protection afforded them by the government. Near old Fort 
Hall a ferry had been established, and many emigrants had 
crossed in pursuit of the mines. Some went to Fort Lemhi, 
others to the Deer Lodge Prairie, while others kept down 
the north side of Snake River and recrossed the stream at 
Boise. From what was told me, I am satisfied that many 



Changing the Overland Trail. 381 

were induced to cross at Fort Hall by the representations 
of these ferrymen, which turned out unreliable. About 
twenty wagons which had crossed and met a returning par- 
ty, were induced to recross and join those who were already 
under my escort. At this point I had 125 wagons of emi- 
grants under my charge and I found many of their teams 
so weak that they could not travel over ten miles per day, 
others being able to proceed faster; and in order to give 
protection to all, I divided my company, placing the advance 
party in charge of my principal assistant, Mr. Le Roy Craw- 
ford, while I remained with the rear and weaker party. 
From this point my journey was extremely slow. Many of 
the emigrants were short of provisions, which deficiency 1 
had to supply. Others had difficulties among themselves 
which I was obliged to settle. The grass was very scarce 
and their stock would scatter during the night, so that fre- 
quently my men would spend hours in looking after them in 
the morning. We cured their sick, fed their destitute, 
hunted, and in some instances drove their teams, mended 
their wagons, hauled their goods, settled their disputes and 
kept them moving. Two men died and one was drowned in 
Snake River. With these exceptions, every man, woman 
and child that had traveled in my vicinity reached the set- 
tlements in safety." 

I make use of the above both for the purpose of the his- 
torical facts contained in this officer's report and to show 
the conditions prevailing along the Overland trail that year. 
Captain Crawford was certainly a model officer to have 
charge of such an expedition, and it cannot be otherwise 
than that he endeared himself to many unfortunate emi- 
grants on the trail. We will now turn our attention to 
events happening between South Pass and Salt Lake. 

On August 6th, Colonel P. Edward Connor of the Third 
Infantry, California Volunteers, assumed command of the 
District of Utah and from the first commenced a vigorous 
prosecution of the war against Indians. This gallant offi- 
cer was much annoyed at the prevalence throughout Utah 
of a disloyal sentiment toward the government, and conse- 
quently on assuming command of the district he enjoined 
upon all commanders of posts, camps and detachments to 
cause to be promptly arrested all persons endeavoring to 



382 History of Wyoming. 

destroy and defame the principles and institutions of a 
government under whose benign influence they had been so 
long protected, and he further ordered that such persons be 
confined until they had taken the oath of allegiance to the 
United States, and he further added, "Traitors shall not 
utter treasonable sentiment in this district with impunity, 
but must seek a more genial soil or receive the punishment 
they so richly merit." The Utah district extended east at 
that time to a point between Big Sandy Station and Pacific 
Springs. 

Colonel Connor had under his command a couple of Ne- 
vada regiments as well as two from California. He taught 
the Indians through his entire district to fear his punish- 
ments before he had been there a year. He proved himself 
an able oflScer and won distinction as an Indian fighter. In 
September he went to Salt Lake and selected the location 
whereon was built Camp Douglas. The post was located 
three miles from the business portion of the town. The 
Mormons did not like the presence of Connor's force and 
used every means to get the troops away, but without avail. 
Colonel Connor refused to be drawn into a personal contro- 
versy with anyone representing the Mormon church or give 
them any just cause for complaint, and yet in his letters 
to the War Department he showed his utter contempt for 
Brigham Young. One of the methods used to secure the 
removal of the troops was to show the necessity of employ- 
ing a military force along the Overland mail route, east of 
Salt Lake. Mormon influence was brought to bear to in- 
duce the mail contractors, the Overland Stage Company, to 
demand protection from Indians. Connor claimed that the 
Mormons incited the Indians to commit depredations. Come 
from what source it may, the savages fulfilled expectations 
by running off a hundred head of horses during the month 
of November from Fort Bridger; at least it was so reported. 
These horses belonged to some trappers and hunters who 
went to winter at that post. The loss was reported to Colo- 
nel Connor and he at once dispatched Company I of his regi- 
ment, in command of Captain Lewis, to garrison the fort. 



Changing the Overland Trail. 383 

The troops left Fort Douglas December 2nd. The Indians 
had a short time previous to this attacked the station at 
Pacific Springs, also a telegraph station at Big Sandy. 
Colonel Connor detailed ten men to guard the latter station, 
and they remained there during the winter. About the 
same time an emigrant named Van Orman reported that 
nearly a year before, while passing through the Green River 
country, the Bannock Indians had captured his three neices 
and a nephew. At the time, he had been obliged to go on to 
Oregon with the balance of his family and as soon as he 
could he had returned to look after the fate of the rest of his 
relatives. He had learned that the three girls were dead 
but the boy was in the hands of Bear Hunter, of the Ban- 
nock tribe. Colonel Connor at once dispatched Major Mc- 
Garry with a force to punish the Indians and recapture the 
boy. Bear Hunter and his band were found in the Cache 
Valley and Major McGarry ordered his troops to surround 
them and make a vigorous attack. The soldiers killed three 
Indians and wounded another, when Bear Hunter surren- 
dered. He was at once asked for the Van Orman boy. The 
chief replied that the white boy had been sent away some 
days before. The major told him to send some of his men 
out and bring him in and that he should hold the chief and 
four of his men as hostages until the boy was returned. 
Bear Hunter dispatched three of his men and the next day 
they returned with the lad. 

Colonel Connor made up his mind to strike a decisive 
blow and end the war with the Shoshones, Bannocks and 
Snakes, but the agents and officers of the stage company 
demanded troops to escort the mail and did not interest 
themselves in a war against the Indians. Political influence 
was brought to bear to have Colonel Connor's entire force 
at Camp Douglas distributed at various points along the 
Overland from Salt Lake to Big Sandy. Finally the com- 
mander of the Pacific Department wrote Colonel Connor on 
the fJtibject, which brought back a reply that throws a good 
deal of light on the situation. The letter is dated December 
20th and reads: 



384 History of Wyoming. 

''Sir: Your communication of date December 12, 1S62, 
inclosing telegram from General-in-Chief to Department 
Commander, is just received. In reply I have the honor 
to inform you that since my arrival here I have been aware 
that efforts were being made to dissever my command. The 
real governor of this Territory, Brigham Young, and his 
satellites on the one hand, and agents and contractors on 
the other, have since my arrival here constantly worked to 
separate this command — the former, with his usual sa- 
gacity, for the attainment of his own purposes and without 
the least doubt of his success (high authority states that he 
has openly boasted, in fact, that he would drive me away 
from here before spring), and the latter from a desire to 
make money out of the government. Judge Carter, agent 
of the Overland Mail Company east of here, and sutler of 
Fort Bridger, with other interested persons within this dis- 
trict, have not so much the interest of the government or the 
Overland Mail Company at heart as a desire to speculate 
upon the necessities of this command by selling to it sup- 
plies, of which Judge Carter has large quantities on hand. 
As an evidence of this fact, that gentleman has been the 
only one of a great many among those interested largely in 
the Overland Mail Company who has desired the establish- 
ment of more posts on the line; and I am now satisfied that 
the rumor started by him previous to my garrisoning Fort 
Bridger, of 100 head of stock being stolen by Indians from 
the reservation, was false, and circulated for the purpose of 
having troops ordered to the post. I am reliably informed 
that the so-called President Young is making active prepara- 
tions indicating a determination on his part to oppose the 
government of the United States in the spring, provided 
Utah is not admitted into the Union as a State, or in case 
of a foreign war or serious reverse to our arms. It is con- 
stantly asserted by him and his agents that this command 
should be moved and scattered along the line of the Over- 
land Mail Company as a 'check against Indians,' who they 
say are ready to attack the property at any moment; and 
many willing converts to this fear are found among Brig> 
ham's hosts. But no one having the interest of the govern- 
ment or the company in view can be found here credulous 
enough to be blind to the real motives which actuate their 
desires. Brigham Young is now engaged in mounting can- 
non for the purpose of resisting the government, and has 
reports circulated, which have reached the ears of those 
highest in authority, in order to mature his plans, gain time 



Changing the Overland Trail. 385 

and prepare liis cannon. Desirable as this would be to him, 
I hope to defeat his intentions. From a careful scrutiny of 
the state of affairs here, and thorough knowledge of the 
country, I am satisfied I occupy every necessary position. 
The entire line from the Ruby Valley to Ham's Fork is com- 
pletely under my control, and while, in my opinion, there 
exists no necessity for troops at Fort Bridger, to quiet the 
apprehensions of the Overland Mail Company, if they have 
any (which I doubt), and to obey the orders of the general 
commanding, I shall continue to garrison Fort Bridger, and 
I will immediately send sufficient force to occupy Ham's 
Fork, although I am of the opinion there is no real necessity 
for it. My present position was selected for its availability, 
and commanding as it does not only all the avenues to but 
even the town itself, it is an important one, and I am not 
surprised that Brigham Young considers its occupancy dan- 
gerous to his interests. The presence of this command here, 
which the informants of the General-in-Chief desire so much 
to have removed, indicates that my information regarding 
the real intentions of these people is correct, and events 
will prove that in selecting my position and carrying out 
my own views, the interest of the government and of the 
Overland Mail Company has been anticipated. I am truly 
glad that the Department Commander has given me dis- 
cretionary powers in the premises. I am credibly informed 
and believe that Mormons had instigated the late attack by 
Indians on the telegraph station at Pacific Springs, in order 
to draw my forces to that point. Mormons also, in the 
northern part of this valley, encourage depredations by the 
Humboldt Indians by purchasing of them property of which 
massacred emigrants have been despoiled, by giving in ex- 
change therefor powder, lead and produce. I have hereto- 
fore refrained from submitting a report of these transac- 
tions to the general commanding for the reason that I de- 
sired to be previously well informed." 

This letter was accepted by the War Department as 
the true situation of affairs at Salt Lake and along the Over- 
land mail route as far east as Pacific Springs. There is no 
doubt that persons, who desired to make money out of the 
troops, were anxious to have the different posts along the 
mail route garrisoned, but Colonel Connor had other views. 
This experienced Indian fighter knew that the only way to 
secure peace with the Indians was to bring them to battle 

-(25) 



386 History of Wyoming. 

and crush them in detail. With this end in view he set 
about organizing a campaign which would bring disaster to 
the Bannocks, Snakes and Shoshones. 

Citizens of Denver had long been working to secure 
the regular Overland stage route for their town, and when 
Ben Holliday became proprietor of the line he agreed upon 
a route running through Denver and from that point west, 
and discontinue that part of the road running up the North 
Platte, the Sweetwater and across South Pass. The 
many diflSculties experienced on the latter route was the 
inducement to abandon it. The new road led by way of 
Julesburg to Denver, from the latter place over the old 
wagon road to Fort Lupton, and north across the Laramie 
Plains, then due west, through Bridger Pass, joining the old 
trail. The change was made during the summer of 1862, 
and remarkable to relate, the transfer to the new line was 
so successfully accomplished that not a mail was missed or 
a coach delayed. The rolling stock, horses and other prop- 
erty of the company was gathered at the station just above 
Devil's Gate. Company A, of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, 
with Major O'Farrell in command, was the escort at the 
time the transfer was made. The first day the long train of 
coaches, wagons, horses and mules made eleven miles from 
the station where the property had been gathered. The 
route chosen was directly south from the Sweetwater. The 
camp selected was in a gap in the mountains where there 
was a fine spring and plenty of wood for cooking purposes. 
Shortly after going into camp the Major discovered that 
quite a number of his soldiers were intoxicated and he at 
once sent for Lieutenant W. H. Brown, who was oflScer of 
the day, and informed him of the condition of many of the 
men and gave it as his opinion that someone was selling 
whisky in the camp. The command was doing escort duty 
for not only stage stock, consisting of coaches, wagons, 
horses and stores, but for a number of emigrants who had 
availed themselves of the opportunity for safe conduct. 
Lieutenant Brown received orders to search all these wag- 
ons and if he discovered whisky to destroy it. Taking a 



Changing the Overland Trail. 387 

corporal and three or four men, they commenced the search 
for the contraband article. They had examined every wagon 
in the camp except one; when they came to this they disco v. 
ered a barrel of whisky. The officer at once ordered his men 
to roll the barrel out, knock in the head and empty the 
contents on the ground. This was done, but it chanced that 
the spot where the whisky was emptied was just above the 
spring, and the fiery liquid went pouring down into the 
water supply for the camp. The soldiers saw what was 
going on and they rushed forward with cups, canteens, 
buckets and camp kettles to save what they could of the 
whisky. Those who were without the wherewith to hold 
the liquor stamped their boot-heels in the ground and 
caught the whisky in the hole, and lying down drank it. 
A half hour later the intoxicant was showing its effect 
pretty generally around the camp and soon there were few 
sober men to be found. One soldier who had succeeded in 
getting a full canteen from the spring grew richly mellow 
and while in this condition paid his respects to Major 
O'Farrell at the headquarters tent, assuring his command- 
ing officer, with maudling mein and many a **hic," that that 
was the finest spring he had ever seen and the best water 
he had ever tasted. Major O'Farrell was apprehending an 
attack from the Indians that night, and the condition of his 
men fairly disheartened him. He saw at a glance that even 
a small body of savages could make a successful raid on hi» 
camp, consequently the sober and less intoxicated men were 
kept on the alert that night. Fortunately no Indians put in 
an appearance and by morning the debauched men had slept 
off their intoxication and were ready for duty. The gap in 
the mountains in which the camp was made had never been 
named up to that date, but the soldiers in referring to it 
afterwards called it Whisky Gap, a name which it bears to< 
the present time. After escorting the stage stock to the 
future line of operation, this command selected the location 
for Fort Halleck and constructed the buildings. The fort 
was located on the new Overland trail and was garrisoned 
for some years by troops from the Eleventh Ohio. The offi- 



388 History of Wyoming. 

cial order locating Fort Sanders in 1866 includes the aban- 
donment of Fort Halleck. 

The equipment of the Overland road by Ben Holliday 
was equal to that of a modern railway. The coaches, ex- 
press wagons and the rolling stock generally were all manu- 
factured by the famous Concord Coach Manufacturing Com- 
pany of Concord, New Hampshire. This company not only 
manufactured the rolling stock but supplied the material 
used in the repair shops along the line. The harness was 
made by the Hill Harness Company of the same city. The 
material in everything was of the very best. The stations 
along the line averaged about ten miles apart, and every 
fifty miles was what was called a home station, where the 
drivers changed and made their homes. These were also 
eating stations for passengers. The intermediate stopping 
places were called "swing stations;" here only horses were 
changed, and at these were kept two men to take care of the 
stock. At every station was a large barn, with accommoda- 
tions for from thirty to fifty horses. The grain was supplied 
from Fort Kearney and Salt Lake. When there was a fail- 
ure of crops, which sometimes happened, horse feed was 
shipped from St. Louis. Every horse on the line was grain 
fed, groomed and cared for in the best manner. The main 
shops of the company were located at Atchison, Denver 
and Salt Lake, and there were repair shops on each divis- 
ion of 200 miles. Besides the repair shops, on each of these 
divisions was a traveling blacksmith shop. This consisted 
of a wagon fitted up with bellows, anvil and tools, drawn 
by a team of strong horses. The movable shop was kept 
going constantly from one end of the division to the other. 
There was also a harness maker and mender, who traveled 
over each division with his tools and material for repairing 
harness. The supplies for the road — that is, the provisions 
used at the stations — were purchased in large quantities at 
St. Louis and sent out and distributed among the division 
points, and from these they were sent to the smaller sta- 
tions as required. At first the men made trips east when 
they needed clothing, but later Mr. Holliday conceived the 



Changing the Overland Trail. 3 89 

idea of having clothing of all kinds, including boots and 
shoes, manufactured in large quantities for the use of his 
men. The suits were of the most substantial material and 
made in the most thorough manner. The overcoats were of 
Irish frieze, cut long, with capes reaching to the hands. The 
linings in these coats were of blue Shaker flannel. The driv- 
ers, enveloped in them, were well protected from cold, wind 
or rain. The boots were liigh-topped, made especially to 
keep the feet and legs warm. The underclothing was of a 
kind suited to the needs of men who were constantly ex- 
posed to winds and storms. This clothing was distributed 
by special express sent out for the purpose, ajid the amount 
each man received was charged up to his account, the pncv 
being the cost and transportation. No profit was demanded. 
The company owned large transportation trains of ox aud 
mule teams and these transported all supplies to stations, 
and on their return hauled fuel to places along the line 
where it was needed. The first division on the main line was 
from Atchison to Fort Kearney, the second from Fort Kear- 
ney to Julesburg, the third from Julesburg to Denver, i\\o 
fourth from Denver to North Platte (Fort Steele) going by 
way of Virginia Dale, the fifth from North Platte to Green 
Kiver, and the sixth from Green River to Salt Lake. On 
each division was an agent, a bookkeeper and a steward of 
supplies. These were the divisions on the new line after 
the Sweetwater and South Pass route was abandoned. 
Leaving Denver, the stations were, Big Thompson, La Porte. 
Virginia Dale, Big Laramie, Cooper's Creek, Medicine Bow, 
Elk Mountain, North Platte, Sulphur Springs (forty miles 
south of Rawlins), Laclede (head of Bitter Creek), Rock 
Springs, Green River, Granger, Fort Bridger, Bear River 
\Evanston), Echo Canon and Salt Lake. 

The officers of the company were, Ben Holliday, presi- 
dent and proprietor; Bela M. Hughes, who had been attor- 
ney for the C. O. C. and P. P. Company before Holliday's 
time, was retained as the attorney for the new company; 
David Street was made paymaster and general agent, and 



390 History of Wyoming. 

his assistants were Thomas A. Beach and A. T. Beach. The 
following persons at different times held the position of su- 
perintendent of the line: Isaac Eaton, Major John Kerr, 
William Reynolds, David Remick, Alexander Benham, 
James Stewart, Reuben S. Thomas and Robert I. Spotsweod. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



INDIAN DEPREDATIONS ON THE OVERLAND. 

Colonel Connor's Winter Campaign — Battle of Bear River — 124 
Indians Killed — Colonel Connor Made a Brigadier General — 
Southern Utes Go on the War Path — Additional Troops Askew 
For — General Connor Makes a Statement to the War Depart- 
ment Regarding the Mormons — Major Wynkoop Ordered to 
the Overland Trail — Hostiles Attack Sweetwater Station — 
Utes Attack Stage station on Laramie Plains — The Bannocks 
and Snakes Want Peace — Wyoming Attached to the Military 
District of Colorado — Utes Sue for Peace in Utah — The Ca- 
reer of the Notorious Joseph A. Slade in Wyoming — His Exe- 
cution BY Vigilantes in Montana. 

During the winter of 1862-3, there were numerous dep- 
redations committed along the Overland between Fort Lara- 
mie and Salt Lake City. Several miners were killed, as well 
as some belated emigrants. Colonel Connor learned that 
there was a large encampment of Indians on Bear River. 
These were of the Bannock, Snake and Shoshone tribes 
and were under chiefs Bear Hunter, Sagwich and Leight. 
They were well armed and had plenty of ammunition which 
they had secured from the Mormons in exchange for the 
property of emigrants whom they had killed on the trail 
during the fall. A large number of the young men of Chief 
Washakie's band of Shoshones had been operating with 
these marauders since March of the preceding year and 
they had become as reckless and bloodthirsty as the others. 
Washakie had spent much time in earnest entreaty with 
these young warriors in order to induce them to withdraw 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 391 

from the hostile camp. The young men for a long time re- 
fused compliance with his wishes on the ground that emi- 
grants would be robbed anyhow and they might as well 
have a share of the booty. Finally the chief succeeded in in- 
ducing a greater part of them to withdraw. This left in 
the camp of Bear Hunter 300 warriors, and being well armed 
they became insolent in the extreme. Their Chief was a 
warrior of recognized ability, and the success of these al- 
lied bands the year before tended to increase his power and 
influence. Colonel Connor carefully investigated the camp 
on Bear River and possessed himself of a knowledge of its 
capabilities for defense. When all that was necessary was 
ascertained in regard to the Indian camp. Colonel Connor 
resolved to make a winter campaign against these savages, 
and having noticed that heretofore the Indians in some man« 
ner gained a knowledge in advance of intended military 
operations, he on this occasion observed the greatest secrecy 
and to more successfully cover his movements, he resolved 
to deceive certain Mormons, who he suspicioned were in 
league with the Indians. He therefore on the 22nd of Janu- 
ary ordered Company K, Third Infantry, California Volun- 
teers, Captain Hoyt in command, two howitzers under com- 
mand of Lieutenant Honeyman. and twelve men of the 
Second Cavalry, California Volunteers, with a train of fif- 
teen wagons carrying supplies for twenty days, to proceed 
in the direction of the hostile camp on Bear River. When 
the suspected Mormons saw the departure of the little force 
they knew that it was intended to operate against Bear Hun- 
ter's band, and there was many a knowing look as well as 
an air of satisfaction, for they were confident that so small 
a force would avail little in an attack on a position as strong 
as that occupied by the hostiles. As expected, a messenger 
was dispatched to Bear Hunter, informing him of the expe« 
dition, giving full details as to the number of men com- 
posing it. It was afterwards learned that Bear Hunter 
sent back word to his friends by the messenger that he 
would be glad of having the opportunity of welcoming Colo- 
nel Connor's soldiers, and as the weather was very cold he 



392 History of Wyoming. 

would see to it that it was made warm for them. On the 
night of the 24th, two days after the departure of Captain 
Hoyt and his men, Colonel Connor made the second move 
in carrying out his plan. He left the fort under cover of 
darkness with detachments from Companies A, H, K and M, 
Second Cavalry California Volunteers, numbering 220 men, 
accompanied by Major McGarry, Second Cavalry California 
Volunteers; Surgeon Reid, Third Infantry California Vol- 
unteers; Captains McLean and Price and Lieutenants Chase, 
Clark, Quinn and Conrad, Second Cavalry California Volun. 
teers; Major Gallagher, Third Infantry California Volun- 
teers, and Captain Berry, Second Cavalry California Volun« 
teers, who were present at the post attending general court 
martial, as volunteers. The weather was very cold, but not 
a man or officer murmured. By daylight, sixty-eight miles 
had been accomplished and the next night the Infantry with 
the supply train was overtaken, and Colonel Connor, finding 
them in camp, ordered them to march forward that night. 
On the morning of the 29th, the command reached the vi- 
cinity of the Indian camp just as day was breaking, and 
fearing that the hostiles would discover the strength of 
his force, Colonel Connor pushed his cavalry forward to 
the banks of Bear River, leaving the infantry to follow with 
as much speed as possible. The snow was deep, but the 
soldiers made a rapid march, following the cavalry force. 
Shortly after daylight Colonel Connor ordered the cavalry 
forward under Major McGarry, with instructions to sur* 
round the Indians. After the departure of Major McGarry's 
command. Colonel Connor remained behind a few minutes 
to give orders to the infantry and artillery, after which he 
galloped forward and joined the advance column. 

On arriving on the field. Colonel Connor found that 
Major McGarry had dismounted the cavalry and attacked 
the Indians, as he found that the nature of the ground would 
not permit him to surround them. As the soldiers came up, 
the savages rushed from their hiding places on foot and on 
horseback and with fiendish malignity waved the scalps of 
white women and children, and challenged the troops to 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 393 

battle, and at the same time vigorously attacked the whites. 
The cavalry accepted the challenge and poured in a deadly 
fire which caused the Indians to take shelter behind some 
strong natural defenses, consisting of a dry ravine about 
forty feet wide and from six to twelve feet deep. The sides 
of this ravine were fitted up with steps, so as to enable the 
warriors to mount to a sufiicient height to discharge their 
rifles without exposing themselves to the fire of the sol- 
diers. Some parts of this ravine were fitted up with covers 
made from willows, thickly woven together, and behind 
these artificial defenses they fired upon the soldiers with 
telling ejffect. Colonel Connor, finding that he could not 
dislodge the hostiles without great sacrifice of life, ordered 
Major McGarry to turn their left flank. This was farther up 
the ravine, next to the mountain. Up to this time the in- 
fantry had not yet been engaged. Captain Hoyt had reached 
the ford with his men, three-quarters of a mile away, but 
found the water too deep. Colonel Connor, ascertaining the 
situation, ordered the men holding the cavalry horses to 
mount and lead the horses they had in charge across the 
ford and transport the infantry men to the opposite side. 
The troops were soon across and hurried to the battlefield. 
Up to this time the soldiers had suffered greatly. Colonel 
Connor found his men falling on every side of him, but the 
difficulties of the situation nerved him to greater effort. 
He now ordered the flanking party to advance down the 
ravine, and as the Indians were driven out the infantrj^men 
in front shot them down. Some of the Indians tried to es- 
cape by swimming Bear River, and seeing this. Colonel Con- 
nor ordered a detachment of cavalry across the river to head 
them off. By far the largest number remained in the ra- 
vine and fought to the last. Colonel Connor's men, being 
thoroughly aroused, advanced into the mouth of the ravine, 
when the contest became a hand-to-hand fight. In their mad 
efforts to escape, many of the now demoralized warriors 
sprang over the ravine and plunged into the river, but they 
were shot down by the unerring marksmen. The fight com- 
menced at six in the morning and lasted four hours. The 



394 History of Wyoming. 

official report says that 224 dead Indians were found on the 
field. No prisoners were taken, except 160 squaws and chil- 
dren, but these were not molested, being left on the field. 
Colonel Connor had fourteen men killed and four officers 
and forty-nine men wounded. One of the officers and five 
of the wounded men died. I have talked with many of the 
men who were in the battle, and all agree that it was a most 
desperate engagement. Some of the men were stationed 
on the river to prevent the escape of the savages, and they 
claim that fully twenty-five were killed while in the water 
and whose bodies floated down the stream and were there- 
fore not in the official count. This would make the number 
of Indians killed 249. The bodies of Bear Hunter, Sagwich 
and Leight were found among the slain. One hundred and 
seventy-five horses were captured; also a quantity of arms. 
Seventy-five lodges and a large amount of wheat which had 
been furnished by the Mormons was destroyed. The cold 
on the day of battle was extreme. Seventy-five of the sol- 
diers had their feet frozen and many of them were maimed 
for life. Colonel Connor, in his official report of the battle, 
says that the suffering of his men during the march was be- 
yond descrijjtion, but they steadily continued on without 
regard to hunger, cold or thirst, and not a murmur escaped 
them to indicate their sensibilities to pain or fatigue. 

On receiving this report. General Halleck recommended 
that Colonel Connor be made a brigadier general for the 
heroic conduct of himself and men during the battle of Bear 
River. The appointment was accordingly made on March 
29th. The prompt recognition on the part of the war de- 
partment of Connor's services in crushing the hostiles on 
Bear River gave great satisfaction to the people of the west, 
except of course the Mormons in Utah. His name was heard 
at that time from one end to the other of the Overland sys- 
tem. His practical method of fighting savages was ap- 
plauded by everybody, but the destruction of the Bannocks 
and Snakes did not serve to overawe the many other tribes 
located east and west of the Snake country. Trouble in 
Nebraska was apprehended early in the season. On March 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 395 

2nd, 1863, A. S. Paddock, Secretary and Acting Governor of 
Nebraska, sent a protest to Major General Halleck against 
withdrawing the troops from that territory for service in 
the Department of the Missouri, as it would leave the fron- 
tier settlements, which had contributed half their men, un- 
protected. Major General Curtis on the same date asked 
for the privilege of leaving part of these troops for the pro- 
tection of the frontier. This request was ignored, as mili- 
tary events of importance in Missouri, Kansas and Arkan- 
sas called for all the troops in the department. Thus it was 
that the Overland stage route in Nebraska was left at the 
mercy of the Indians. 

The next trouble was with the Southern Utes, who first 
attacked the stage line beyond Salt Lake and later came 
into eastern Wyoming. On April 28th, General Connor, 
writing to the Department of the Pacific, says: 

"The Indians are congregating in large force in the vi- 
cinity of the Mormon settlements south of this post, with a 
view of depredating on the Overland mail and emigrant 
routes, and are incited and encouraged in their hellish work 
by Brigham Young, by whose direction they are also sup- 
plied with food, and by his people with ammunition, which I 
have no means of preventing, nor can I strike at them before 
they get stronger, as in order to reach them I have to pass 
through Mormon settlements, and the Mormons notify the 
Indians of my approach, when they scatter to their inacces- 
sible mountain retreats, and thus avoid me. I understand 
the agents of the Overland mail company are opposed to 
having more troops sent here. Why I am unable to say. I 
can only surmise, but cannot prove anything, as nothing can 
be proved against a Mormon or one of their Gentile favor- 
ites. I deem it a duty I owe to my command to notify the 
government,through the general commanding, of the danger 
to which they are exposed from the treachery, fanaticism 
and disloyalty of this people in case of a serious reverse to 
our arms in the east. I have also serious fears in conse- 
quence of my small command being scattered over a large 
extent of territory, of being overpowered in detail by the 
hordes of Indians now congregating under Mormon aus- 
pices, and who, my spies inform me, are to be joined by Mor- 
mons disguised as Indians. Brigham Young has complete 
control of the Indians of the territory, and could if he chose 



396 History of Wyoming. 

prevent the horrors that will soon be enacted on the Over- 
land route, and which with the force at my command I am 
powerless to prevent. If the exigencies of the service will 
not admit of my being adequately reinforced, I would again 
respectfully recommend that Brigham Young's offer to pro- 
tect the Overland mail and emigrant route for a certain 
sum be accepted and my command withdrawn, in which 
case the obnoxious Federal officers would of course have to 
leave." 

On April 3rd a band of Indians attacked a post known 
as the Sweetwater Station. The hostiles were well armed 
and made a furious assault, but they were finally driven off 
after having dangerously wounded one soldier of Company 
L, Sixth Ohio Cavalry (afterwards known as the Eleventh.) 
There were twenty six men belonging to this company at 
the station at that time. 

On April 1.3th, General Connor telegraphed to Major 
General Halleck from Camp Douglas: "Unless immediately 
reinforced with cavalry, the Indians, urged on by Mormons, 
will break up the Overland mail and make the emigrant 
road impassable." General Halleck referred this dispatch 
to General Schofield, commanding Department of the Mis- 
souri, and that officer ordered Colonel Chivington to send a 
cavalry force to reinforce Gen.Connor, and the Colonel, after 
some delay, ordered four companies of the First Colorado 
Cavalry, under Major E. W. Wynkoop, to proceed west 
on the Overland stage line as far as Fort Bridger and co- 
operate with General Connor's forces. Two of these compa- 
nies were taken from Denver and Major Wynkoop was or- 
dered to proceed with these to Fort Collins, where tvvo other 
companies were located. Arriving there, he found that 
these troops were not mounted and were indifferently armed 
and so necessarily there was considerable time consumed be- 
fore the soldiers were ready for the march westward. In 
the meantime, General Connor's forces had met the hostile 
Utes twenty-five miles west of Salt Lake and after a severe 
engagement had driven them to the hills. A number of 
emigrants had been killed in that vicinity, also soldiers and 
stage drivers. General Connor complained that these Indi- 



Indian Depredations on tJie Overland. 397 

ans were receiving help from the Mormon settlers west ot 
Salt Lake. On June 18th, Governor Evans of Colorado noti- 
fied General Schofield that he had learned of a proposed 
war council of Sioux, Che3'ennes and Arapahoes which was 
soon to be held north of Denver and near Fort Laramie. 
This conference, the Governor felt certain, would result in 
a more systematic attack on emigrant trains and the Over- 
land stage. 

The delay of Major Wynkoop's command resulted in 
permitting the Southern Utes to attack the Overland stage 
road on the Laramie Plains. On July 5th, these Indians at- 
tacked the stage company's station at Cooper Creek and ran 
off all the stock, and the same night they visited Medicine 
Bow station and carried off all the provisions and stripped 
the keepers of the station, Hazard and Nicholls, of their 
clothing. The commander at Fort Halleck, being notified of 
these depredations, dispatched a force of seventy-five men 
to hunt up the savages. These troops, after scouting in 
various directions, located them at a point eighteen miles 
east of the fort and at once attacked them, killing a number. 
The Indians finally took shelter in the mountains. The 
troops in this engagement suffered considerably. Lieutenant 
Hugh H. Williams, among others, being mortally wounded. 
On the 10th the Indians ran off all the mules at Rock Creek 
station. These same hostiles ran off 250 head of horses a 
few miles from Fort Laramie. Extending their route north- 
ward, they came upon 211 head of horses belonging to Re- 
shaw, and these were also taken. By this time the condition 
of affairs along the Overland route from Denver to the North 
Platte had become serious. Philip Mandel, the hay con- 
tractor on the stage line, had a number of encounters with 
Indians that season. He and his men went to the hay fields 
armed with Winchesters and kept close at hand horses 
saddled, so as to fight or run as the occasion might require. 
Hay gathering that year could not be considered a peaceful 
vocation, as encounters with war parties were of frequent 
occurrence. These Indians belonged to the same tribe which 
had attacked the line beyond Salt Lake. General Connor, 



39^ History of Wyoming. 

by urgent appeals, had secured reinforcements from Califor- 
nia, composed of a battalion of the Second Cavalry of that 
state. 

Returning now to that part of the stage line west of 
Green River, the good effect of General Connor's method of 
fighting Indians will be observable. In the early part of 
June he met 200 Snakes, who signified a desire to be friendly 
and promised to remain so. At Fort Bridger 700 more of 
the same tribe told the General they were tired of fighting 
and wanted to be at peace, and as proof of their good inten- 
tions they returned to him 150 horses and mules they had 
stolen from the whites. The Shoshones, or that part of the 
band operating with the Snakes and Bannocks, begged of 
General Connor to be allowed to go back to Washakie's 
band. These misguided young men had suffered severely 
for their participation with the Snakes and Bannocks in 
depredations on the Overland trail. Pocatello with his band 
visited General Connor and begged for peace. 

On July 19th, General Schofield, at the request of Gov- 
ernor Evans, made an order transferring to the military 
district of Colorado that part of the Territory of Idaho for- 
merly belonging to the Territory of Nebraska, thus placing 
Wyoming in the district commanded by Colonel John M. 
Chivington, who had the reputation of being a good Indian 
fighter. Matters along the stage line from Virginia Dale 
west were badly demoralized that season. Virginia Dale 
became a place of refuge for a number of women and chil- 
dren who had been living at stations on the line west. Ma- 
jor Wynkoop's much talked of Indian expedition failed to 
arrive in Wyoming and was finally ordered to another point 
by Colonel Chivington. The troops stationed at Fort Hal- 
leck were few in number and consequently were unable to 
strike a decisive blow, and so the long summer and fall 
passed. There were depredations now and then, but the 
little force at Fort Halleck kept the Indians in check for the 
time being. In spite of the depredations of Indians, and the 
unfavorable conditions which prevailed, there was some 
prospecting for gold that season on the head of Cooper 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 399 

Creek, Button Creek and Rock Creek, by miners on their re- 
turn from California, but they were finally driven out by the 
Utes. 

In the latter part of July, the Southern Utes notified 
General Connor of a desire on their part to make peace, and 
a treaty was speedily entered into by the General with Little 
Soldier's band, the Indians giving up the property of the 
government in their hands, and General Connor turning 
over to them the ponies he had captured. The Indian chief 
was assured that the government desired to protect all good 
Indians, but that it would punish severely all bad ones. 
Later the General had a conference with the following Ute 
chiefs and made treaties with them: Antero, Tabby, Ca- 
nosh, Ute Pete, Au-ke-wah-kus, and Black Hawk. All these 
chiefs were accompanied by their people and the conference 
took place near Springville, Utah, and thus the Indian diffi- 
culty on the Overland, west of Pacific Springs, for the time 
being, was ended. Some of the Ute tribes who had been 
committing depredations on the Laramie Plains still re- 
mained hostile. 

General Connor never allowed himself to be idle for a 
moment. When not engaged in fighting Idians, he laid 
plans to thwart the Mormons. He wrote long letters to 
Adjutant General R. C. Drum of the Department of the Pa- 
cific, giving in detail the plans and purposes of Brigham 
Young and his followers in their treasonable designs against 
the government. Finally an idea occurred to him that he 
might successfully subdue the Mormons in a peaceable way 
and that was through the opening of gold mines, and there- 
by induce a large number of Gentiles to come Into the coun- 
try. With his usual impetuosity, he issued an order to a 
number of his officers to take their men into the mountains 
and prospect for gold. Major Noyes Baldwin was one of 
the first sent out. He prospected in Utah, south of Fort 
Bridger, and later went to the South Pass, going as far 
north as Big Wind River. General Connor, writing to Ad- 
jutant General Drum, says: 



400 History of Wyoming. 

"Having reason to believe that the territory is full of 
mineral wealth, I have instructed commanders of posts and 
detachments to permit the men of their commands to pros- 
pect the country in the vicinity of their respective posts, 
wherever such course would not interfere with their mili- 
tary duties, and to furnish every proper facility for the dis- 
covery and opening of mines of gold, silver and other min- 
erals. Already reliable reports reach me of the discovery of 
rich gold, silver and copper mines in almost every direc- 
tion, and that by spring one of the largest and most hopeful 
fields of mining operations will be opened to the hardy and 
adventurous of our people. Both gold quartz and silver 
leads have been discovered at Egan Canon, about 200 miles 
west of this place; also in Ruby Valley, and at points along 
the mail route. The Goose Creek mountains, 150 miles 
northwest of this city, are believed to contain rich mines of 
precious metals. The mountains in the immediate vicinity 
€f this place are being explored and prospected, and I have 
reason to believe with successful results. Already, within 
a distance of from twenty-five to fifty miles of this city, in 
the east and west mountains, mines have been discovered, 
yielding, with imperfect tests, rich indications of silver, and 
largely charged with lead and copper ores. The work is 
still going on, and I have little doubt that rich veins of sil- 
ver, and probably gold, will be discovered in almost every 
direction, and still nearer to Salt Lake City. I may also 
mention that near Camp Connor, 150 miles north of this 
place, large deposits of salt, sulphur and extensive beds of 
coal have been found, while the springs adjoining the camp 
yield immense deposits of the carbonate of soda, which will 
one day, I have no doubt, be of very considerable commercial 
value. If I be not mistaken in these anticipations, I have no 
reason to doubt that the Mormon question will at an early 
day be finally settled by peaceable means, without the in- 
creased expenditure of a dollar by the government, or still 
more important, without the loss of a single soldier in con- 
flict. I have every confidence, therefore, in being able to 
accomplish this desirable result without the aid of another 
soldier in addition to those already under my command, not- 
withstanding the obstacles sought to be thrown in my way 
by the Mormon leaders, who see in the present policy the 
sure downfall of their most odious system of church tyran- 
ny. I have no fear for the future and believe the dawn is 
breaking upon this deluded people, even though their elders 
and bishops and chief priests may escape the personal pun- 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 401 

ishment of their sins against law and crimes against hu- 
manity and the government, so richly merited." 

Before closing the events of 1863, it will be necessary to 
introduce a notorious character in these pages. It was a 
recognized fact in the Overiand days that all the officers and 
agents connected with the Overland stages were men of the 
highest character, with a single exception, and this indi- 
vidual was Joseph A. Slade. He was a division superin- 
tendent, first with headquarters at Fort Laramie, and later 
established Virginia Dale, naming the place in honor of his 
wife. The incidents connected with this man Slade, I have 
drawn from numerous and what I consider reliable sources. 

Hugo Koch, who now resides in Fremont County, tells 
me that he came west in the fall of 1858 and that at Atchi- 
son he joined a bull train which was in charge of Slade, who 
the following year became a superintendent of a division of 
the Overland stage company in Wyoming. This, then, is the 
introduction of that notorious character into this country. 
Koch describes Slade as not far from thirty years old at that 
time, though he must have been older, as he was a volunteer 
in the Mexican War. He was rather under the medium size, 
dark complexion, firm set features and determined look. 
Slade was accompanied by his wife, who was rather good 
looking and about the same age as her husband; weight 
about 160 pounds. Mr. Koch claims that Slade was a bad 
man when he was drunk and that he was often found in this 
condition. Mrs. Slade was not altogether a lovely charac- 
ter, often interfering in her husband's business, and many of 
the difficulties he had with people originated with her. I 
have on this same authority something of Slade's early life. 
He was born in southern Illinois and at the age of thirteen 
displayed an ungovernable temper and killed a man by 
striking him with a stone. This man had interfered with 
some boys with whom young Slade was playing. The father 
of the lad succeeded in getting him out of the country and 
sending him to Texas, where he grew to manhood and was 
married. His wife always possessed great influence over 
him, even when he was drunk. Soon after arriving in Wyo- 

-(26) 



402 History of Wyoming. 

ming he killed Andrew Farrar, a man connected with the 
train. The two were drinking together at some point east 
of Green Eiver and got into an animated conversation, dur* 
ing which something was said about shooting, Slade remark- 
ing that no man must dare him to shoot. Farrar, who was 
fast reaching a maudlin condition, replied, "I dare you to 
shoot me." Instantly Slade drew his revolver and fired, in- 
flicting a dangerous wound on the person of Farrar. Hor- 
rified at what he had done, he expressed the greatest sorrow 
to the wounded man and those around him and instantly dis- 
patched a messenger on a fast horse to Fort Bridger to se- 
cure a surgeon. The doctor came promptly, but his services 
were without avail and Farrar died. As superintendent 
for the stage company, Slade had many adventures. He 
conducted business in a manner satisfactory to the stage 
company and was noted for his promptness in all transac- 
tions relating to the passenger and express business. I find 
many old timers who were well acquainted with Slade while 
he was in charge of a division of the Overland stage. All 
agree that he was a good man for the very difficult position 
he held, but that he was a dangerous character when under 
the influence of liquor. He had trouble with many people, 
and among others Jules Reni, a Canadian Frenchman, who 
had a ranch on the South Platte where Julesburg is located 
at the present time, the town being named after this Ca- 
nadian. Reni and Slade often met and as often had mis- 
understandings. Finally they had a quarrel and Reni fired 
with a shotgun thirteen buckshot into Slade's person. His 
antagonist appeared well satisfied and said to some person 
standing near, "When he is dead, you can put him in one of 
these dry goods boxes and bury him." This remark was 
heard by Slade, and with an oath he replied, "I shall live 
long enough to wear one of your ears on my watch guard. 
You needn't trouble yourself about my burial." While the 
shooting excitement was still on, the Overland stage came 
along, and it chanced that the superintendent of the road 
was on board. This officer ordered the arrest of the would- 
be murderer, and those present took him into custody and 



Indian Depredations on the Overland. 403^ 

proceeded to hang him. After he had been strangled until 
he was black in the face, he was allowed to go, on promising 
to leave the country, which he did for the time. Slade suf- 
fered from his wounds for several weeks and finally made a 
journey to St. Louis to procure surgical assistance. Seven 
of the buckshot were cut out and the balance remained in 
his person to remind him of vengeance. When he returned 
to the road he took occasion to send word to his antagonist 
that he was determined to kill him on sight, but he would 
not go out of his way to meet him. Reni, or Jules as he wa^ 
always called, received Slade's message and at once re- 
turned to the division of the Overland where Slade was em- 
ployed and on his way told several persons that he was 
going to kill Slade. The latter was at Pacific Springs and 
heard of the threat, and he at once started for Julesburg. 
When he arrived at Fort Laramie he visited the officers and 
laid the subject before them and promised to take their 
advice. The officers understood all about the threats of 
both parties and frankly told Slade that in their judgment 
Jules would kill him unless prompt measures were taken, 
and that he would have no peace on his division unless Jules 
was captured and killed. Slade now dispatched four men 
to Bordeaux's ranch, where he learned Jules had spent the 
night before. The instructions given the men were to make 
Jules a prisoner, securely tie him and await the arrival of 
Slade, who was to follow in the next east bound coach. The 
men sent after Jules did not find him at Bordeaux's, so they 
went on to Chansau's ranch, the next station, where they 
found their man. They captured him without opposition, 
securely bound his hands and feet and placed him in the 
corral in the rear of the station. Slade came in the next 
coach, as agreed, and was rejoiced to find his enemy a cap- 
tive. He at once went to the corral and on sight leveled a 
pistol and fired. The ball struck Jules in the mouth but did 
not kill him ; a second shot passed through his head and pro- 
duced instant death. Slade now returned to Fort Laramie 
and went through the farce of delivering himself up to jus- 
tice, and demanding an investigation. The commander of 



404 History of Wyoming. 

course discharged him, inasmuch as he had advised the kill- 
ing. The story of this shooting has been told in many ways. 
I have met persons who claimed that Slade ordered Jules 
placed in a standing position and fired repeated shots, and 
between each went to the station and invited the crowd to 
take a drink, and just before firing would say, ''Now, Jules, 
I'm going to hit you — in such a place," and being an expert 
shot he kept his word every time. Finally he cut off his ears 
and put them in his vest pocket, after which he killed him 
outright. This is the story told by some parties now living 
in this state, but I am satisfied they have been misinformed 
and that my account is substantially correct. The stage 
company investigated the affair at the time and while they 
did not approve of Slade's conduct, they permitted him to 
continue in his position as superintendent of his division. 

While discussing the Jules Reni and Slade affair, I will 
finish the story of the remaining desperado at this point in 
the history. Slade's whole conduct while connected with 
the Overland was the embodiment of ruffianism, and how he 
held his position with the stage company is hard to conjec- 
ture. It may be that his reputation was some protection to 
the company, and that he had some ability to get stages 
through on time, but for all this he was a dangerous charac- 
ter when drunk, and in this condition he was very often 
found. He was guilty of many acts of violence toward men 
who were much better in every way than himself. After 
the stages were removed to the southern line, he on one oc- 
casion entered the sutler's store at Fort Halleck and amused 
himself by shooting holes through the canned goods on the 
shelf. At another time he took possession of the sutler's 
quarters and terrorized everybody connected with the estab- 
lishment. For this offense the commander of the fort had 
him arrested and refused a release unless the stage company 
would first dismiss him from their employ. This was done 
and Slade found his way to Montana, where he had many 
adventures, and finally located in Virginia City in 1863, 
where his frequent drunken brawls and high-handed acts 
of violence made him the subject of investigation by the 



Indian Depredations on tlie Overland. 405 

Tigilantes, who sentenced him to be hanged. When in- 
formed of his fate by the executive officer of the committee,, 
he fell upon his knees on the floor and with clasped hands 
begged for his life. When he saw that it was useless to im- 
plore, he exclaimed, "My God! My God! Must I die?'' One 
of his friends, at this critical moment, who had been begging 
for his release, threw off his coat and doubling up his fists 
declared that Slade should be hanged only over his dead 
body. A hundred rifles in the hands of the vigilantes were 
cocked and aimed at him in less than a minute and he was 
only too glad to make promises of future good behavior ia 
order to save his life. The vigilantes now proceeded to exe- 
cute the condemned man. A rope was thrown over the 
cross-beam of the gateway of a corral and Slade was placed 
upon a dry goods box, the rope drawn tight and the box 
pushed from under him, and all was over. Mrs. Slade had 
been sent for, but arrived too late to see her husband alive. 
The body had been cut down and taken to a hotel, where 
the newly made widow followed it. She threw herself upon 
the dead body, clasping the inanimate form in her arms, and 
gave vent to heart-rending cries, followed by bitter curses 
upon those who had hanged her husband. Finally, turning 
to those about her, she exclaimed in an agony of grief, "Why, 
oh, why did not some of you, the friends of Slade, shoot him 
down and not suffer him to die on the scaffold? I would 
have done it had I been here. He should never have died 
by the rope of the hangman. No dog's death should have 
come to such a man." Many people in Wyoming will not 
agree with Mrs. Slade, for they are firmly of the opinion 
that he deserved the death which came to him. It is com- 
monly reported that while in this country Slade was secretly 
at the head of a gang who stole horses, robbed emigrants 
and did murder, when occasion required, in carrying out 
these enterprises. It is said that "the devil is not as black 
as he is painted," and this may apply to some extent to 
Slade. He was, however, a bad man, and committed many 
atrocious acts while in Wyoming, but just how many I have 
no desire to make the necessary investigation to determine. 



406 History of Wyoming. 

Like most men of his class, who held human life cheap, he 
was a coward at heart, as his conduct at the time of his 
death proved. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



INDIAN TROUBLES ON THE OVERLAND. 

Events of 1864— A Glance Backward — The Crow Country — The 
Crow Character — What Robert Campbell Says of Them — The 
BozEMAN Road — The Man Who Laid it Out and His Death — 
Overland Stage Company Complains — Gen. Connor's Policy with 
Indians Successful — Return of Stolen Property — Gen. Connor 
Ordered to Protect the Overland from Salt Lake to Fort 
Kearney — Mormons Attempt to Have Camp Douglas Removed — 
Gen. Connor's Trouble With the Mormons — The Outlook for 
1865. 

To properly understand the conditions of 1864 in the 
country now comprising Wyoming, it may be well to take a 
glance backward and find out somewhat of the territory 
north of the North Platte, which is soon to become the cen- 
ter of important military operations. Up to the time of the 
building of Fort Laramie the Crow Indians, or, as they 
originally called themselves, the Upsarokas, owned all the 
country along the Yellowstone, Big Horn and Big Wind 
Kivers. They were a powerful tribe, and, as Indians go, 
were superior in many respects. They would steal horses, 
of course, but were not disposed to murder white people 
unless in self defense. The early trappers had now and 
then a difficulty with the Crows, but not to the extent that 
they had with the Blackfeet. The Crow warriors prided 
themselves not exactly upon their honesty, but on their 
honor, when they made a promise to protect the property 
of the trappers placed in their hands for safe keeping. This 
is well illustrated by the experience of Robert Campbell 
with this tribe. He was at one time quartered in the village 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 407 

of the Crows and was the guest of Arapooish, the then great 
chief of the tribe. Campbell was on a successful trapping 
expedition and had secured a large number of peltries. He 
partially trusted to the honesty of the Crows, but yet had 
his misgivings, so before entering the village he made a 
cache in which he placed one-half of the beaver skins. 
When all had been properly secured about the cache, he 
and his men went forward to the Crow village. The tribe re- 
ceived him cordially and he became a guest of the chief and 
was quartered in his lodge. There was merry-making and 
much smoking of a most friendly character, but one night 
the stalwart chieftain entered the lodge with a oloud of dis- 
pleasure on his brow and seating himself in his accustomed 
place he remained silent for a long time and finally said to 
Campbell, abruptly, that he had more furs than he had 
brought to the lodge. Mr. Campbell knew the Indian char- 
acter to perfection and he quickly saw that it would be bad 
policy to hesitate or keep anything back, and so he replied 
that he had. The chief looked into the face of his guest and 
demanded to know the whereabouts of the furs. Without 
hesitation the fur trader described to the chief the location 
of the cache. What followed is given as Campbell told the 
story to Washington Irving. 

" ' 'Tis well,' replied Arapooish, ^you speak straight. It 
is just as you say. But your cache has been robbed. Go 
and see how many skins have been taken from it.' Campbell 
examined the cache and estimated his loss to be about one 
hundred and fifty beaver skins. Arapooish now summoned 
a meeting of the village. He bitterly reproached his people 
for robbing a stranger who had confided to their honor; and 
commanded that whoever had taken the skins, should bring 
them back; declaring that, as Campbell was his guest and 
inmate of his lodge, he would not eat nor drink until every 
skin was restored to him. The meeting broke up, and every 
one dispersed. Arapooish now charged Campbell to give 
neither reward nor thanks to any one who should bring in 
the beaver skins, but to keep count as they were delivered. 
In a little while the skins began to make their appearance, 
a few at a time; they were laid down in the lodge, and those 
who brought them departed without saying a word. The 
day passed away. Arapooish sat in one corner of his lodge, 



4o8 History of Wyoming. 

wrapped up in his robe, scarcely moving a muscle of his 
countenance. When night arrived, he demanded if all the 
skins had been brought in. Above a hundred had been 
given up and Campbell expressed himself contented. Not 
so the Crow chieftain. He fasted all that night, nor tasted 
a drop of water. In the morning some more skins were 
brought in, and continued to come, one and two at a time, 
throughout the day, until but a few were wanting to make 
the number complete. Campbell was now anxious to put an 
end to this fasting of the old chief, and again declared that 
he was perfectly satisfied. Arapooish demanded what num- 
ber of skins were yet wanting. On being told, he whispered 
to some of his people, who disappeared. After a time the 
number was brought in, though it was evident they were 
not any of the skins that had been stolen, but others gleaned 
in the village. 'Is all right now?' demanded Arapooish. 
'All is right,' replied Campbell. 'Good! Now bring me 
meat and drink!' When they were alone, Arapooish had a 
conversation with his guest. 'When you come another time 
among the Crows,' said he, 'don't hide your goods; trust 
to them and they will not wrong you. Put your goods in 
the lodge of a chief and they are sacred; hide them in a 
cache and anyone who finds them will steal them. My peo- 
ple have now given up your goods for my sake; but there 
are some foolish young men in the village who may be dis- 
posed to be troublesome. Don't linger, therefore, but pack 
your goods and be off.' Campbell took his advice and made 
his way safely out of the Crow country. He ever afterward 
maintained that the Crows were not so black as they were 
painted. 'Trust to their honor,' says he, 'and you are safe; 
trust to their honestv, and they will steal the hair off your 
head.' " 

The Crows were very proud of their country and it can 
be said that no other tribe exhibited such unbounded love of 
their hunting grounds as this nation. They claimed the 
land as far east as the valleys of the different branches of 
Powder Eiver and w^est a considerable distance beyond 
Wind River and north to the Yellowstone and south to the 
north end of the Laramie range. This was a good country 
for game and possessed every advantage as a residence for 
a wild tribe. The chief Arapooish was an enthusiast in re- 
gard to the country which composed his domain. He told 



Indian Troubles on the Overland, 409 

Robert Campbell that the Crow country was a good country 
and that the Great Spirit had put it in exactly the right 
place. It was good for horses, and he added, "What is a 
country without horses?" He said that on the Columbia,, 
the people were poor and dirty, paddled about in canoes and 
ate fish. On the Missouri, he said, the water was muddy ^nd 
bad. To the north of the Crow country it was too cold and 
to the south it was too hot. The Crow country was just 
right. The water was clear and sweet. There was plenty of 
buffalo, elk, deer, antelope and mountain sheep. The Wind 
River valley, he said, was the best wintering place in the 
world and had plenty of game. Is it any wonder that the 
Crow nation fought long and hard to defend this country^ 
which they loved so much? They fought the Blackfeet for 
seventy-five years to keep them away from these hunting 
grounds, and later they defended the territory against com- 
bined assaults of the Arapahoes, the Cheyennes and the nu- 
merous tribes of the Sioux nation, and they would have suc- 
ceeded against these fearful odds had it not been for the 
ravages of the small pox. They finally were driven out by 
the warlike Sioux and their home, which had been sweet to 
them for so many years, knew them again no more. It was a 
sad day for the white men when the Crow country passed 
into the hands of the Sioux and their allies. The Crows 
from the first coming of the whites welcomed them and en- 
couraged all to remain. They adopted the trappers into 
their tribe and gave them equal opportunity with the Indian 
braves to become great chiefs. 

I am thus particular to give a short sketch of the Crow 
nation and the Crow country for the reason that the ene- 
mies of the Crows were the enemies of the whites, and the 
disaster that befell this tribe of Indians resulted finally in 
the destruction of many white men who attempted to pass 
through the country. 

The Bozeman road was one of the bloody thoroughfares 
of Wyoming. It was not a main highway across the conti- 
nent, like the Overland trail, being laid out in comparatively 
modern times and in another direction. It led from Boze- 



4IO History of Wyoming. 

man City, Montana, all the way through what had been the 
Crow country, to Fort Laramie, in Wyoming, and was not 
in the beginning intedned for a military road, but circum- 
stances compelled the United States government to place a 
line of military posts along the route, and thus it became 
a noted thoroughfare, guarded by United States troops. 
It received its name from J. M. Bozeman, a citizen of Mon- 
tana, who in the spring of 1863 laid out the road from Red 
Buttes on the Platte River to the Three Forks on the Mis- 
souri River. John M. Jacobs accompanied Bozeman on this 
trip and assisted in the enterprise. Bozeman was shortly 
afterwards killed by Indians at the mouth of Shields River 
on the Yellowstone. The city of Bozeman, Montana, was 
named in honor of this enterprising pioneer. As soon as 
this road was laid out it was used by miners going to Mon- 
tana, it being a short cut to the newly discovered gold fields. 
The Indians at once objected to the passage of emigrant 
trains through that part of their country. The Sioux and 
Cheyennes, the former led by Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses, 
Spotted-Tail and Two-Face, and the latter by White Ante- 
lope, but these tribes having a war on hand on the South 
Platte, were unable at first to give much attention to the 
Bozeman road, and yet they managed to make it uncom- 
fortable for many of the trains passing by this route. In 
1865, General Alfred Sully was sent up the Missouri with an 
expedition against the Sioux and succeeded in bringing the 
savages to battle at several points, and in one engagement 
killed nearly six hundred of them. This expedition was 
successful, but it resulted in driving the Indians down on 
the Platte and made the conditions on the Overland trail 
and the Bozeman road much worse than before. 

Those who pass over what was once the Crow country, 
even at this day, cannot help feeling that the eloquence of 
Arapooish was not out of place when his theme was the 
home of the Crows. Bridger, Beckwourth, Father De Smet 
and many others of the early travelers spoke in glowing 
terms of this fair land. The fertile basins of Wind River, 
Big Horn, Yellowstone, Tongue River, and many other 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 411 

choice localities attest the chieftain's eloquence. The wild 
fruits, the game, the grasses and native grains make the 
Crow country worthy of the love of the people of the Crow 
nation. I have no desire to discuss the rights and wrongs 
of the Indians, but I cannot help saying that the United 
States government should have given its protection to the 
Crow nation as against those more barbarous tribes, the 
Sioux, the Cheyennes and the Arapahoes. The American 
Fur Company was the aider and abettor in the conquest of 
the Crow country, simply because the great Sioux tribes 
had more furs and skins to sell than the Crows. The desire 
of this company was trade, and it mattered not who was to 
be wronged. They furnished the guns, powder and lead 
which made the conquest. The Sioux even to this day admit 
that they stole the hunting grounds of the Crows because 
they were the best. Had our government given assistance 
to the Crow nation, that tribe would have become allies, 
and thereby the lives of thousands of white settlers would 
have been saved. This is one of the great mistakes made by 
the government. These Indians possessed integrity of char- 
acter, and meet them where you will, even to this day, they 
still make the proud claim that the Crow nation never killed 
a white man except in self defense. The reader must under- 
stand that the conquest of the Crow country occurred in 
comparatively modern times. In the forties. Father De 
Smet found the Crows occupying their beautiful country, 
and it was not until after his time that wasting war, waged 
year after year for more than a decade, forced the members 
of this tribe to give up their homes. That was the oppor- 
tunity for the government to have assisted this friendly 
tribe and thus assisted white men as well. The Crows were 
brave warriors and would have beeen glad of the opportu- 
nity to protect the Overland road. After this digression, let 
us return to the events of 1864. 

During the year 1864, the Overland Stage Company 
made many complaints regarding slight Indian depreda- 
tions along the mail route. During the spring and early 
summer there were occasional attacks on the mail coaches 



412 History of Wyoming. 

and some stock stolen from the company and also from 
passing emigrants. As the summer advanced, Indian depre- 
dations increased, the greater part of the trouble being in 
eastern Wyoming and western Colorado. General Connor 
reported on July 1st, from Camp Douglas, that the policy 
pursued toward the Snakes had had a most happy effect. 
Connor believed in making Indians understand that depre- 
dations would be followed by swift and awful punishment, 
and he also believed in rewarding good conduct on the part 
of the Indians by issuing to them flour, sugar and clothing. 
The Bannocks, Snakes and Shoshones had become friendly 
through Connor's methods, which justified him in the belief 
that Indians could be managed only by inspiring a whole- 
some dread of consequences. His theory was that you must 
impress upon the mind of the savage that "the way of the 
transgressor is hard," and at the same time make him under- 
stand that the government would protect good Indians. The 
General was certainly the most successful Indian fighter of 
his time. He cleared the stage road of hostiles from Green 
River to California, and kept it clear. 

To show the conditions which prevailed around Fort 
Bridger that spring, I will quote from a report made by 
Major P. A. Gallagher, the commander. The report was to 
General Connor and reads as follows: 

"I have the honor to report to the general commanding 
that one of Washakie's Indians, named Wo-an-gant, brought 
to this post yesterday nineteen horses which had been stolen 
and delivered them into my hands, making the following 
statement: He says that being out hunting in the Wind 
River Mountains, he came to four lodges of Indians, and 
that they are a branch of the Snake tribe, called by the 
Shoshones, Sheepeaters. They informed him that they had 
stolen twenty-three horses from the white men who were 
mining or prospecting some two months before near Beaver 
Head. This Indian says that he told them that a treaty had 
been made with the whites last summer, which was the first 
information they had of it. They delivered up to him 
twenty horses (three having got away from them) to be 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 413 

brought by him to Fort Bridger. One of the horses was kept 
by one of Washakie's Indians, which I think I can get. 
Islneteen of the horses are here, which I shall keep until I 
know the wishes of the general in regard to them." 

Governor Evans of Colorado telegraphed to the Secre- 
tary of War on September 7th, asking that the Second Colo- 
rado, serving near Kansas City, Missouri, be sent to do ser- 
vice on the Overland mail route, claiming that unless pro- 
tection was given to this line of travel that famine would be 
added to the gigantic Indian war then in progress. Flour, 
he said, was already $45 per barrel, the supply growing 
scarcer every day, with none on the way; that the people 
were fearing an attack of Indians which had been planned 
to cover a distance of 300 miles of traveled road. He urged 
that the troops be sent at once; otherwise it would be too 
late for supplies to reach the west that season. On the 22nd 
of the same month. Colonel Chivington telegraphed the Sec- 
retary of War that the Indians were troublesome on the 
same route and urged him to have troops sent forward. The 
Secretary of War referred the matter to the headquarters 
of the Department of Kansas, and Major General Curtis, 
commanding at Leavenworth, ordered that well garrisoned 
posts be established on the Overland route at points not 
over fifty miles apart and troops were ordered forward for 
this purpose, but there were delays without number. Ben 
Holliday, with the enterprise and dash for which he was 
noted, pushed forward new stock tenders along the line to 
take the places of those who had been killed, and horses 
in place of those run off. He closed a telegram to General 
Curtis as follows: "With your advice and assistance and 
my determination, I know we can put this line in operation 
so that there will be no further interruption in this service." 
General Curtis replied that no one was more anxious than 
himself to protect the mail route, and promised to distribute 
troops along the line without delay. He also made a re- 
quest for arms to be distributed to the employes of the stage 
line and these were finally furnished by the Governor of 
Kansas. General Mitchell started from Omaha the lattet 



414 History of Wyoming. 

part of September with a few troops to place at stations at 
points near Julesburg. On October 1st, Ben Holliday asked 
that five soldiers be placed at each station on the Overland 
and said that unless this was done it would be impossible 
to keep his men at stations. He also asked that from two to 
four soldiers be placed on each coach. On October 3rd, 
stages started out from the east with escorts, and military 
commanders farther west were notified to see that all stages 
be furnished with a sufficient number of soldiers to protect 
the mail and passengers. On October 6th, Major John S. 
Wood, commanding Fort Laramie, requested that he be al- 
lowed to furnish provisions to certain friendly Indians 
about the post. General Mitchell, in approving the request, 
which was forwarded to General Curtis, explained that he, 
on his late visit to Fort Laramie, had induced these bands 
to make war upon hostile Indians and had promised them 
a reward for every scalp taken. I have examined the rec- 
ords carefully to ascertain what action General Curtis saw 
fit to take regarding this request, but can find nothing. I 
find it difficult to believe that this officer would approve of 
a reward for scalps. On the night of the 12th, twenty-five 
Indians attacked the mail ten miles west of Plum Creek. 
There were several soldiers in the coach at the time and 
some passengers. The fight was short but sharp. One In- 
dian was killed and several wounded. Of those connected 
with the stage, one soldier was severely wounded, and also 
a passenger. The Indians were finally driven off and the 
stage proceeded westward. The next night the stage was 
attacked near Valley Station. Fortunately the escort was 
a heavy one and gave ample protection to the mail and 
passengers. Twelve Indians were killed. 

With the opening of the lines of communication came 
additional trouble and Ben Holliday now clamored loudly 
for the promised protection. He telegraphed the Secre- 
tary of War that unless immediate measures be taken to 
stop depredations, he would be obliged to cease running the 
Overland coaches. He suggested that General Connor be 
assigned to the duty of protecting Overland traffic. This 
appeal was successful, as will be shown farther on. 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 4 1 5 

Late in October, the Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes 
began depredations on the North Platte and also on the Lar- 
amie Plains. General Connor having made a good record 
in suppressing Indians, General Halleck telegraphed him 
from Washington to give all the protection in his power 
to the Overland route between Fort Kearney and Salt Lake, 
without regard to department lines. In reply to this. Gene- 
ral Connor asked that the troops along the line be subject to 
his orders. This General Halleck did not approve, but said 
that the troops of the different departments should act to- 
gether. Governor Evans of Colorado was rendering every 
assistance in his power and was rejoiced over the fact that 
the Indians were to be chastised by this successful Indian 
fighter. About the 1st of November, General Connor sent 
a cavalry force of 200 from Fort Douglas to co-operate with 
other troops on the Overland road, while he himself took the 
stage for Denver to investigate the condition of affairs 
along the stage road. It was his opinion that a winter cam- 
paign should be made against the hostiles. He wrote the 
commander of the Department of the Pacific, on the eve of 
his departure for Denver: 

"I design proceeding hence to Denver by stage next 
week, where I hope to be able to gather the necessary in- 
formation, after examining the field, to guide the future 
movements of my troops. Should I find it practicable and 
advisable to make a winter's campaign, with a fair proba- 
bility of severely punishing the savages, of which I now en- 
tertain little doubt, I will make such arrangement and dis- 
position of the troops as may be necessary, and immediately 
return to this post by stage. As soon thereafter as every- 
thing necessary for a vigorous campaign can be prepared, 
I propose to return and assume personal command of the 
expedition, making Denver the base of operations. As my 
absence from the district (with which I will be in constant 
communication) will be but temporary, not exceeding, per- 
haps, a fortnight, I will retain command, leaving a compe- 
tent oflScer here to attend to details. Should my confident 
expectations regarding the possibility of a winter campaign 
against the Sioux, Arapahoes and Cheyennes not be real- 
ized after personal examination I purpose to make imme- 



41 6 History of Wyoming. 

diately, my troops will go into winter quarters, ready for 
such service as may be required by the exigencies of either 
district. There is no doubt that until the savages eastward 
of Denver shall have been thoroughly defeated and severely 
punished, no permanent peace can be hoped for; nor can 
their frequent raids upon the Overland route be prevented 
by any number of troops at the disposal of the government. 
I am equally clear in the opinion that the winter or early 
spring is the only time when Indians can be successfully 
pursued, punished and brought to terms. If this be possi- 
ble, as I now think it is, I need hardly add that the most vig- 
orous measures will be taken at the earliest possible day. 
Your instructions in the premises have been most carefully 
noted and will be strictly obeyed. I trust that the move- 
ments above set forth will meet with the approbation and 
concurrence of the General commanding the department, to 
whom I will report from time to time regarding my future 
actions." 

Everything seemed to be in readiness for a winter cam- 
paign when suddenly there appeared no further necessity 
for troops on the Overland. The 200 cavalry which had 
started out from Fort Douglas to go east over the Overland 
road were halted at Fort Bridger, making the force at that 
post about 300 men. The general impression prevailing in 
military circles was that the Overland Stage Company had 
become timid and required an escort for their stages when 
there was really no necessity for it. There was considera- 
ble travel in the stages, and these people were not slow in 
assisting the stage company to secure protection for the 
mail and passengers. The general government had all it 
could do in the south, so no additional troops could be 
spared for the west. The stage company and the telegl'aph 
company, assisted by the Mormons, were anxious to get rid 
of the troops at Fort Douglas. The two former desired 
Connor's forces to be distributed at many points along the 
stage line, while the latter worked actively to get Connor 
and his soldiers sent to the Army of the Potomac. Brigham 
Young was often indiscreet and said things which proved 
his disloyalty, and General Connor, who was a patriot as 
well as a loyal soldier, wished for an opportunity to punish 
the head of the Mormon church, and had it not been for 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 417 

Colonel R. C. Drum, Assistant Adjutant General of the De- 
partment of the Pacific, there might have been trouble. He 
advised Connor not to do anything that would precipitate 
matters and bring on an insurrenction of the Mormons. On 
one occasion he writes General Connor : 

"The condition of affairs at Salt Lake, as reported by 
you, is very critical, not only as regards your own command, 
but as regards this department and the whole country. The 
question is, are we at this time, and as we are now situated, 
in a condition to undertake to carry on a war against the 
Mormons — for any cause whatever — if it can possibly be 
avoided ; not whether there are not matters that require to 
be changed; bad government and worse morals to be cor- 
rected and the authority of the national government to be 
more thoroughly enforced; but can we not be able to pass 
all these by for the present, at least, and thus avoid weaken- 
ing the general government, now taxed to its utmost and 
struggling for its very existence." 

Connor was a man of decided character, discreet, and 
above all things loved the flag under which he fought, and 
this it was that enabled him to endure the sneers and threats 
of Brigham Young. It was a great satisfaction to General 
Connor that in spite of the strongest efforts put forth by 
the Mormons to have Camp Douglas removed, the post still 
remained and he was its commander. The Mormon city was 
under his guns and it could be reduced to ashes at any time. 
Brigham Young's forces numbered 5,000 well armed men 
and there came to General Connor many reports that these 
troops were intended for the capture of Camp Douglas. He 
writes to Colonel Drum in the midst of all this excitement, 
''Finding that I am prepared to resist any attack, and know- 
ing that the city is at the mercy of my guns, and will be 
surely destroyed if my troops are attacked, the Mormons 
seem to be quieting down somewhat, although armed forces 
are assembling inside of Brigham's yard and having nightly 
drills with artillery and infantry. My impression is that 
there is no immediate probability of conflict." General 
Connor firmly believed that the Mormons were responsible 
for the uprising of the Indians and for the murder and rob- 
bery which had been perpetrated on the Overland road, and 
-(27) 



41 8 History of Wyoming. 

believing this, it is not at all strange that he should feel like 
administering punishment to the people who instigated the 
robberies and murders, as well as to the Indians who com- 
mitted them. The known disloyalty of Brigham Young and 
his followers ofifered the opportunity and General Connor 
found it difficult not to administer the punishment. 

The summer which had passed so quietly on the Over- 
land trail was followed by exciting events on the mail road 
both in Nebraska and Kansas and as the winter approached 
the Indians became more aggressive in the west. The op- 
portunity for a winter campaign did not offer, and so Gene- 
ral Connor remained inactive, but all things were placed in 
readiness for the next year and the future promised great 
events in military operations against the Indians. 

The event which closed the Indian wars of 1864 was the 
battle of Sand Creek, which took place November 29th. The 
affair caused much severe comment throughout the entire 
country. Colonel John M. Chivington, the Commander of 
the District of Colorado, led the expedition in person and 
the result was the killing of a large number of Indians. The 
battle, while it did not occur in Wyoming, had an important 
effect on Indian affairs in this state and along the Overland 
trail. Colonel Chivington had been so unfortunate as to 
make many bitter enemies in Colorado, and these people de^ 
nounced the Sand Creek affair as a massacre and succeeded 
in bringing about an official investigation by the joint com- 
mittee on the conduct of the war, at the second session, 
thirty-eighth congress, 1865. This subject was thoroughly 
discussed at the time in the newspapers of the country and 
much said for, as well as against, the officer commanding 
the troops on this occasion. The matter, even to this day, 
remains in dispute as to whether it was honorable warfare, 
such as the government was urging against Indians, or "a 
horrible massacre," as charged by those who did not like 
Colonel Chivington. A large number of prominent citizens 
of Colorado were in this battle, some of whom I have been 
personally acquainted with for many years, and I have yet 
to hear a single one of them condemn the methods of the 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 419 

commander in this fight. They claim that there was great 
provocation. Women and children, as well as men, had 
been killed by Indians and their bodies horribly mutilated. 
The white people had reached a condition of terror and 
they must either flee from the country or rise up in their 
might and destroy these Indians root and branch. Major 
E. W. Wynkoop, First Colorado Veteran Cavalry, claimed 
at the time that the Sand Creek affair cost the lives of hun- 
dreds of white people, who were afterwards killed in re- 
venge by the savages, but this oflicer proves by his volumi- 
nous writings on the subject that he was fond of notoriety, 
as well as having an exalted opinion of his own ability as a 
military commander. For the sake of brevity, I will confine 
the Sand Creek affair to the official report of Commander 
Chivington, which reads as follows: 

"Having ascertained that the hostile Indians had pro- 
ceeded south from the Platte and were almost within strik- 
ing distance of Fort Logan, I ordered Colonel George L. 
Shoup, Third Regiment Colorado Volunteer Cavalry, 100- 
days' service, to proceed with the mounted men of his regi- 
ment in that direction. On November 20th I left Denver, 
and at Booneville, Colorado Territory, on the 24th of No- 
vember joined and took command in person of the expedi- 
tion, which had been increased by battalion First Cavalry of 
Colorado, consisting of detachments of Companies C, E and 
H. I proceeded with the utmost caution down the Arkansas 
River, and on the morning of the 28th ultimo arrived at 
Fort Lyon, to the surprise of the garrison of that post. On 
the same evening I resumed my march, being joined by Ma- 
jor Scott J. Anthony, First Cavalry of Colorado, with 125 
men of said regiment, consisting of detachments of Com- 
panies D, G and K, with two howitzers. The command 
then proceeded in a northeasterly direction, traveling all 
night, and at daylight of 29th November striking Sand 
Creek, about forty miles from Fort Lyon. Here was discov- 
ered an Indian village of 130 lodges, comprised of Black 
Kettle's band of Cheyennes and eight lodges of Arapahoes 
with Left Hand. My line of battle was formed with Lieu- 
tenant Wilson's battalion, First Regiment, numbering about 
— men, on the right ; Colonel Shoup's (Third) regiment, num- 
bering about 450 men, in the center, and Major Anthony's 
battalion, numbering 125 men, First Regiment, on the left. 



420 History of Wyoming. I 

The attack was immediately made upon the Indian camp by- 
Lieutenant Wilson, who dashed forward, cutting the enemy 
off from the herd, and driving them out of their camp, which 
was subsequently destroyed. The Indians, numbering from 
900 to 1,000, though taken by surprise, speedily formed a 
line of battle across the creek, about three-fourths of a mile 
above the village, stubbornly contesting every inch of 
ground. The commands of Colonel Shoup and Major An- 
thony pressed rapidly forward and attacked the enemy 
sharply, and the engagement became general, we constantly 
driving the Indians, who fell back from one position to an- 
other, for five miles, and finally abandoned resistance and 
dispersed in all directions, and were pursued by my troops 
until nightfall. It may perhaps be unnecessary for me to 
state that I captured no prisoners. Between 500 and 600 
Indians were left dead upon the ground ; about 550 ponies, 
mules and horses were captured, and all their lodges were 
destroyed, the contents of which have served to supply the 
command with an abundance of trophies, comprising the 
paraphernalia of Indian warfare and life. My loss was 
eight killed on the field and forty wounded, of which two 
have since died. Of the conduct of the Third Regiment, 100 
days' service, I have to say that they well sustained the repu- 
tation of our Colorado troops for bravery and effectiveness, 
were well commanded by their gallant young Colonel, 
George L. Shoup, ably assisted by Lieutenant-Colonel L. L. 
Bowen, Major Hal Sayr, and Captain Theodore G. Cree, com- 
manding First, Second and Third Battalions of that regi- 
ment. Of the conduct of the two battalions of the First 
Regiment, I have but to remark that they sustained their 
reputation as second to none, and were ably handled by 
their commanders, Major Anthony, Lieutenant Wilson and 
Lieutenant Clark Dunn, upon whom the command devolved 
after the disabling of Lieutenant Wilson from wounds re- 
ceived. Night coming on, the pursuit of the flying Indians 
was of necessity abandoned and my command encamped 
within sight of the field. On the 1st instant, having sent 
the wounded and dead to Fort Lyon, the first to be cared 
for, the last to be buried upon our own soil, I resumed the 
pursuit in the direction of Camp Wynkoop, on the Arkansas 
River, marching all night of the 3rd and 4th instant, in 
hopes of overtaking a large encampment of Arapahoes and 
Cheyennes under Little Robe Little (Raven), but the ene- 
my had been apprised of my advance, and on the morning 
of the 5th instant, at 3 o'clock, precipitately broke camp 



Indian Troubles on the Overland. 421 

and fled. My stock was exhausted. For 100 miles the snow 
had been two feet deep, and for the previous fifteen days 
(excepting on November 29th and 30th) the marches had 
been forced and incessant. Under these circumstances, 
and the fact of the time of the Third Regiment being nearly 
out, I determined for the present to relinquish the pursuit. 
Of the effect of the punishment sustained by the Indians 
you will be the judge. Their chiefs, Black Kettle, White 
Antelope, One Eye and Knock Knee were among the killed, 
and their bands almost annihilated. I was shown the scalp 
of a white man found in one of the lodges, which could not 
have been taken more than two or three days previous. 
The evidence is most conclusive that these Indians are the 
worst that have infested the routes on the Platte and Ar- 
kansas Rivers during the last spring and summer. Amongst 
the stock captured were the horses and mules taken by them 
from Lieutenant Chase, First Cavalry of Colorado, last Sep- 
tember. Several scalps of white men and women were found 
in their lodges; also various articles of clothing belonging 
to white persons." 



422 History of Wyoming. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

THE BLOODY YEAR ON THE PLAINS. 

Indians Become Experts in Killing and Robbing — Hostilities Open 
ON January 7 — Captain O'Brien's Desperate Fight Against Over- 
whelming Numbers — The Burning of Julesburg Station — The 
Attack on Mud Springs Station — Colonel Collins Brings Re- 
lief — Fight at Rush Creek — Destruction of the Telegraph 
Line — Colonel Collins Returns to Fort Laramie — His Recom- 
mendations to the Government — Organization of the Depart- 
ment of the Plains — General Connor Placed in Command — 
Indians Attack Deer Creek Station — Colonel Moonlight's Ex- 
pedition TO Wind River — Renewed Trouble at Julesburg — 
Capture of Two Face and Blackfoot — Their Execution at Fort 
Laramie — Rescue of Mrs. Eubanks — The Schuyler Colfax Party. 

I now come to that important year of Indian troubles 
in this section, 1865. The hostiles were in arms in Kansas, 
Nebraska, Colorado, the greater part of Wyoming, and in 
what is now North and South Dakota. The Indians did not 
wait for grass for their ponies, but subsisted their forces on 
the goods they could capture along the mail and passenger 
routes running west from the Missouri River. They were 
successful in their marauding expeditions and consequently 
were encouraged to push their hostility to the farthest limit. 
That will ever be known as the bloody year on the plains. 
There was trouble on the Smoky Hill road in Kansas, also 
along the Arkansas and on the Republican in the same 
state. Hostile bands were prowling along all roads leading 
into Denver and along the Platte River, By some means 
they possessed themselves of plenty of arms and ammuni- 
tion and an encounter with them was by no means an event 
devoid of danger. The hostile attitude of the savages and 
their intention to wage a bloody war that season was well 
known to the government. Captain Nicholas J. O'Brien 
had been sent the fall before to the mouth of Pole Creek 
with instructions to build a post in that vicinity. The lo- 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 423 

cality was in the neighborhood of Julesburg, an important 
station on the Overland, as it was a distributing point for 
stores. The new post when completed was called Fort Sedg- 
wick and Captain O'Brien was made the commander. This 
post, like others on the road, sent out escorts with freight 
trains and coaches and the garrison was kept busy during 
the winter. 

The Indians had by this time become experts in killing 
and robbing. They had learned the value of government 
trains loaded with clothing, blankets, ammunition, subsist- 
ence and supplies and they made strong efforts to capture 
these, together with the teams of fine government mules. 
The stage stations also contained a large amount of choice 
goods, a fact that was well known to the Indians. 

On January 7th, 1865, a large force of Indians under 
Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and other chiefs made an at- 
tack on an incoming stage and came very near capturing it, 
but fortunately it escaped to the station, having one man 
and one horse killed. Captain O'Brien discovered the Indi- 
ans and hastily mounted thirty-seven men and leaving 
twelve at the fort in charge of two pieces of artillery, he 
dashed down on the savages. Riding to a bluff about half a 
mile from the fort, they discovered that the Indians were in 
strong force, but the little band was not dismayed at this. 
The charge was sounded and the gallant heroes, with the 
clatter of hoofs and shouts, were soon in the midst of the 
savages, fighting, as never soldiers fought before, the large 
force opposed to them. The Indians in their turn, with 
overwhelming numbers, charged back upon the white men 
and for a time the carnage went on. At last Captain 
O'Brien, finding nearly half of his men killed, ordered the 
remainder to fall back, which they did, but kept up a fire 
which prevented the Indians from cutting them off from 
the fort, which the now exulting foe were attempting. 
Fourteen of the thirty-seven enlisted men lay dead on the 
field. The Indians, with savage shout and maddened fury, 
now attempted to storm the fort. Fortunately the garrison 
possessed two pieces of artillery and these were brought out 



424 History of Wyoming. 

and served with telling effect on the advancing savages. 
This checked their ardor and held them at bay. Night came 
on and the Indians withdrew and the next morning it was 
found they had left the neighborhood. A party was sent 
out to the battlefield of the day before to gather up the dead. 
They found them lying where they fell, but their bodies had 
been stripped and horribly mutilated. The dead soldiers 
were carried to the fort and buried with the honors of war, 
but each living comrade registered a vow beside these graves 
to avenge the death of his brothers in arms. It was never 
fully determined how many Indians were killed in this bat- 
tle, but after peace had been declared they admitted their 
loss to have been sixty-three. The blood of the Indians was 
now fairly aroused and they determined to capture the 
goods at the stage station, and on February 2nd they at- 
tacked the place, secured a portion of the stores and suc- 
ceeded in setting the buildings on fire while Captain O'Brien 
and five of his men were on escort duty down the river. On 
their return they discovered the smoke of the conflagration 
at the stage station. In the stage which they were escorting 
were four passengers and one a woman. Ascending a hill, 
Captain O'Brien discovered the Indians. Returning to the 
coach, he had every man, passengers and all, carefully ex- 
amine his arms, and caused the coach to proceed slowly 
along. Soon the road neared the bank of the river, and here 
he met some teamsters with wagons, who, beyond a pistol or 
two, were unarmed, and who had left the station for some 
object, less than a half hour before. They now became 
aware of the situation, and were greatly alarmed. These 
men the Captain ordered to return and keep near the stage, 
which they did, all moving slowly toward the station and 
fort. Meanwhile the heads of Indians were popping up 
quite frequently over the bluffs in the distance. Arriving 
near one of these, the Captain boldly rode to the top and 
taking his blanket swung it three times over his head. The 
Indians saw this and supposed he had a large force in the 
rear which he was signaling to come up, and they began 
to flee. The river was frozen and sand had been scattered 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 425 

over the roadways on the ice. They took everything they 
could from the burning station and houses and beat a rapid 
retreat across the river. At the first sign of their leaving, 
the stage driver and teamsters put their animals to their 
utmost speed and ran into the fort, the Captain arriving in 
time to give the Indians a few parting shots with his artil- 
lery as the last of them ran across the river. The shots rico- 
cheted along the ice, and caused the Indians to drop some of 
their plunder, though doing no further damage. 

Colonel Thomas Moonlight of the Eleventh Kansas 
Cavalry, who had been made commander of the district of 
Colorado, seemed a misfit in his position. About the 1st of 
February, he proclaimed martial law in his district, for 
the purpose, as he explained, of enabling him to raise men 
and horses to go out and open the Overland road. This 
proclamation he sent to all commanders in the district, with 
a request that they press into the service both horses and 
men. 

On February 4th, nine soldiers and five citizens were 
attacked at Mud Springs, a station on the Overland one 
hundred and five miles east of Fort Laramie. Colonel Col- 
lins, of the Eleventh Ohio, stationed at Fort Laramie, tele- 
graphed Lieutenant Ellsworth, who, with his command, was 
at Camp Mitchell, to proceed in all haste to Mud Springs. 
The force moved promptly and made the distance of fifty- 
five miles in twelve hours. Colonel Collins at once put him- 
self at the head of one hundred and twenty men of the 
Eleventh Ohio Cavalry and Company D of the Seventh Iowa 
Cavalry. The force traveled all night and reached Camp 
Mitchell during the forenoon of the next day, and Mud 
Springs the day following. The Indians had run off fifteen 
horses belonging to citizens, one mule and three horses be- 
longing to the government, also several hundred head of 
cattle, the property of Creighton and Hoel. On the morn- 
ing of the 6th the Indians returned to the station to renew 
the attack, but seemed greatly surprised at the increased 
number of soldiers present. They had evidently come to 
take the place. They approached the station by a ravine 



426 History of Wyoming. 

which permitted them to come within seventy-five yards 
without being seen, from which point they would discharge 
arrows at an angle of about forty-five degrees, making a 
curve and descending on the soldiers at about the same 
angle. Colonel Collins, finding that quite a number of his 
men were wounded by this unseen foe, sent two parties out 
to dislodge the savages, one on foot to drive them out of the 
ravine and another on horseback to cut them off. The In- 
dians now left their position and the white men took posses- 
sion, and from that time on had no further trouble. The 
fight lasted about four hours. Colonel Collins had seven 
of his men wounded, three of them seriously. The Indians 
lost a large number of warriors. Colonel Collins reported 
that there were white men or Mexicans among the Indians 
and that they had plenty of ammunition. During the fight 
Colonel Collins telegraphed Major Thomas L. Mackey, com- 
manding at Fort Laramie, to send down a field piece, and 
directly after the message was sent the Indians cut the 
telegraph wire. About an hour after the hostiles disap- 
peared, a strong force was sent out to repair the line. The 
break was found about a mile west of the station and the 
damage repaired, but soon after it was cut again and just at 
dark another party was sent out and found the wire gone 
and two telegraph poles destroyed. It being important to 
keep up communication with Fort Laramie, wire was taken 
from poles east of the station and the break repaired. Dur- 
ing the night of the 6th the station was fortified and Colonel 
Collins prepared his troops to take the offensive. In the 
morning no Indians were to be seen. Leaving Captain 
Fonts in command of the station. Colonel Collins went out 
with a strong force to develop the whereabouts of the Indi- 
ans. They found plenty of trails and everything pointed to 
their probable location at some springs on Rush Creek, ten 
miles distant. Before daylight on the morning of the 8th, 
Lieutenant W. H. Brown of the Eleventh Ohio arrived from 
Fort Laramie with the howitzer, having made the hundred 
and five miles in thirty-four hours. This Lieutenant is the 
same man I have mentioned in connection with the WTiisky 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 427 

Gap affair. His artillery reached Mud Springs just in time 
to be of service. The command proceeded to Rush Creek, 
but discovered that the Indians had crossed the river and 
were in the hills beyond. The camp indicated that a large 
body of Indians had made their headquarters in that sec- 
tion and that they were the ones committing the depreda- 
tions. The camp extended for several miles and there was 
evidence that over one hundred beef cattle had been slaugh- 
tered, and besides, there were oyster, meat and fruit cans, 
as well as flour sacks, indications of the spoliations of trains 
and stations on the Overland. Pressing forward on the 
fresh trail, they soon came in sight of more than two thous- 
and warriors on the opposite side of the river. Colonel Col- 
lins now ordered an examination of the ice to see if it would 
bear the troops, but the savages saved them the trouble of 
crossing, as it was noticed that they were already approach- 
ing the south side from two points some distance above and 
below. A position was chosen on the higher ground, a cor- 
ral formed of the train, sharpshooters pushed forward and 
rifle pits dug. Every soldier worked with a will, knowing 
that they must expect to meet a foe who outnumbered them 
nearly twenty to one. Colonel Collins was an experienced 
Indian fighter and he made the best disposition possible of 
his small force, realizing that his troops were too weak in 
number to charge or scatter. He therefore placed them in a 
compact body and depended on their coolness, courage 
and marksmanship. On came the Indians with more than 
their usual boldness, but their advance columns on the right 
and left were met by a deadly fire from the trained veterans 
of the plains. Finding that death awaited them in the front, 
the Indians fell back and crept forward under the hillocks 
and ridges which surrounded the position occupied by the 
white men. The soldiers were on the alert, and whenever 
a savage exposed himself to fire upon the troops he was 
picked off by the crack shots in the command. There was 
one position which afforded the Indians a secure place from 
which to fire on the veterans. This was a knoll about 400 
yards distant, behind which a dozen or more warriors were 



428 History of Wyoming. 

securely hidden. Colonel Collins resolved to dislodge the 
troublesome savages, and for this purpose made a detail 
of sixteen men chosen from Company D, Seventh Iowa Cav- 
alry, and the First Battalion of the Eleventh Ohio Volun- 
teer Cavalry. Lieutenant Patton was given command of 
this detachment and was ordered to charge at a gallop, re- 
volvers in hand, to clear out the Indians from behind the 
knoll. It was a gallant movement and a fierce charge. The 
concealed foe was routed and shot down as they ran. Some 
two hundred Indians, occupying a position beyond the con- 
tested point, dashed forward to save their comrades from 
destruction, and then followed a hand-to-hand fight with 
the advancing savages. The soldiers having accomplished 
their object strictly obeyed orders and returned to the posi- 
tion occupied by the main body. In this affair. Lieutenant 
Patton lost two men, John A. Harris of the Seventh Iowa 
and William H. Hartshorn of the Eleventh Ohio. This 
charge discouraged the Indians and they began to fall back 
behind the hills, and most of them retired to the north side 
of the river. The command of Colonel Collins camped on 
the battlefield and strengthened their position during the 
night. At sunrise the next morning, 400 mounted warriors 
recrossed the river and again renewed the attack, but their 
fire was delivered at long range and did no damage, and 
they finally retired across the river and rapidly followed the 
main body of Indians, who had gone north. At 2 o'clock 
that afternoon, the 9th, Colonel Collins left his camp and 
moved up the Platte a distance of fifteen miles. At that 
point the command was divided, part under Lieutenant 
Brown going on to Camp Mitchell, then to Fort Laramie. 
These two places had been left with insufficient garrisons. 
Colonel Collins, with the remainder of the command, in- 
tending to go to Mud Springs. Both divisions moved out 
promptly on the morning of the 10th. The weather was 
extremely cold and the troops suffered severely. When we 
consider the large number of Indians engaged in this affair 
and their thorough equipment and defiant attitude, and then 
compare the small force under Colonel Collins, the bravery 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 429 

of the men and the skill of the ofiQcers must be admitted. 
Not less than 150 Indians were killed. Colonel Collins lost 
all told two killed, sixteen wounded and ten badly frost- 
bitten, making a total of twenty-eight killed and disabled. 
There were two facts which, if taken together, will explain 
the failure on the part of the Indians and the success of the 
white men. The Indians had possessed themselves of a 
large number of improved arms and had an abundance of 
fixed ammunition, but haA'ing no experience in the use of 
these arms, they failed to do execution, invariably firing 
over the heads of the troops. The soldiers, on the contrary, 
obeyed orders, fought systematically and made every shot 
tell. Here is an illustration of the advantage of the trained 
soldier over the ignorant savage in the use of firearms. 
These commands both returned to Fort Laramie on Febru- 
ary 14th. Colonel Collins in his official report explains 
the condition of the Indians that spring, and having had 
experience on the plains, that portion of his report is ap- 
pended, which throws light on the Indian situation. 

"This party of Indians has rarely been equaled in size. 
It is usually difficult for large numbers to remain long to- 
gether for lack of subsistence, but in this case their stolen 
stock and plundered stores furnished them abundant sup- 
plies. The party was made up of all the Cheyennes, Ogalal- 
las and Brule' Sioux south of the Platte, together with prob- 
ably a few Kiowas, Arapahoes, and perhaps some straggling 
Apaches and Comanches. It numbered from 800 to 1,000 
lodges and from 2,000 to 3,000 warriors. The last-named 
bands are most likely on and south of the Arkansas River 
for the winter, but many come up to depredate on the main 
and South Platte when grass comes. The party we met has 
no doubt gone north to the Powder River country, to join 
the hostile Indians there, and may be expected to continue 
their depredations along the North Platte till severely pun- 
ished. Their probable route from where we left them will 
be through the sand hills to L'Eau-qui-court, then across the 
heads of White River and South Fork of the Cheyenne to 
Powder River. Small parties may remain, but the main body 



430 History of Wyoming. 

will go there to secure their families and recruit their stock 
until spring. They are well armed and mounted ; have many 
rifled muskets and plenty of ammunition, including minie 
cartridges with ounce balls; are full of venom and bent on 
revenge for the loss of their people south. So soon as they 
reach the Indians north they will excite and perhaps compel 
them to be hostile. The posts on the Platte, especially 
Deer Creek and Platte Bridge, which are within 100 miles of 
Powder River, will be in immediate danger. More troops 
should be sent out here immediately to hold the posts in the 
sub district, and when spring opens important expeditions 
should be organized to penetrate the center of their country. 
"Having been nearly three years in this service and be- 
ing about to leave it, I venture to add a word as to the policy 
to be pursued. I beg to repeat the suggestions which I have 
heretofore made, that the permanent cure for the hostilities 
of the northern Indians is to go into the heart of their buf- 
falo country and build and hold forts till the trouble is over. 
A hasty expedition, however successful, is only a temporary 
lesson, whereas the presence of troops in force in the coun- 
try where the Indians are compelled to live and subsist 
would soon oblige them to sue for peace and accept such 
terms as the government may think proper to impose. The 
Black Hills, Big Horn Mountains, Yellowstone country^ 
are all rich in minerals, but this wealth cannot be made 
available while hostile bands of Indians are roaming over 
the country. If these Indians could be induced to remove 
north to the Main Missouri and remain there, it would open 
up an immense region for mining and agriculture which 
cannot now be reached. They w^ould be in a fine buffalo 
country, and out of the way of collisions with whites, which 
are always liable to occur if they are near together. It 
would also separate them from the southern Indians, and 
prevent the plotting and combining which now exists be- 
tween them. There are two points I would respectfully in- 
dicate as suitable locations for the posts spoken of, one 
about the head of the Little Missouri of the Mandans near 
the Three Buttes, and the other on some proper place on 
Powder River. An expedition starting from the Missouri 
near Fort Pierre and following the old traders' trail west of 
the forks of the Cheyenne, thence to the head of the Little 
Missouri of the Mandans, thence to Powder River, would 
be joined at some proper post by another from Fort Lara- 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 431 

mie, and if in sufficient force it could hardly fail to accom- 
plisli its object." 

General Eobert B. Mitchell of the District of Nebraska 
notified General Dodge on the 9th that the telegraph poles 
on the route between Julesburg and Fort Laramie were 
destroyed for a distance of fifteen miles, and on the Denver 
route from Julesburg ten miles of the line were destroyed 
and that poles to reconstruct the telegraph had to be hauled 
from one hundred and thirty to one hundred and forty -five 
miles. At this time there was no communication by tele- 
graph or stage from the east with either Fort Laramie or 
Denver. On the 10th General Dodge issued an order to the 
commanders of Fort Riley and Fort Kearney to halt all 
trains going west at those points and to organize the persons 
accompanying them into companies for the protection of 
their trains. Each company was to have a captain, who 
would be clothed with authority for the handling of the 
force under him. Insubordination on the part of any person 
accompanying the train was to be reported at the first mili- 
tary post reached, the commander of which was authorized 
to arrest and punish such persons. 

General Connor telegraphed from Camp Douglas the 
same day that the Indians, though driven from the road 
only two days before, had returned in increased numbers, 
and further stated that the troops were insufficient to con- 
tend with them; the probabilities were that communication 
by stage and telegraph would not be resumed for some time. 
This referred to the Indians on the North Platte and the 
route from Denver across the Laramie Plains. The outlook 
was certainly discouraging, but there were good command- 
ers and brave soldiers at work repairing the telegraph line 
and guarding the mail coaches as well as emigrants and 
government trains. On the 11th General Dodge sent orders 
to Colonel Moonlight at Denver to push out and meet Colo- 
nel Livingston, who was trying to open the road, and on the 
same day he ordered the Sixteenth Kansas Cavalry and a 
detachment in charge of howitzers to proceed from Fort 
Riley to join Colonel Livingstone on the Overland road in 



432 History of Wyoming. 

Nebraska. These troops carried with them forty days' ra- 
tions. The Overland mail company became clamorous for 
protection. The stock on the line had been run off and the 
stations burned. General Dodge, seeing the situation, sent 
the company word that he was prepared to protect the mails 
and would do so, and in a few days there was a large num- 
ber of troops on the road from Fort Leavenworth, Fort Riley 
and Omaha. Colonel Moonlight was ordered to throw all 
his available force on the stage line between Denver and 
Julesburg, to repair the telegraph, open communication and 
hold it open. 

On the 13th, Colonel Moonlight telegraphed to General 
Dodge from Denver that he was expected to protect points 
on the Overland while he was destitute of troops and he 
was without blankets, clothing, transportation, and had not 
a dollar in money. He made a strong appeal for men and 
means and ended his telegram by saying that the Indians 
were desperate. On the 14th, Colonel Livingston, who was 
operating on the Overland, telegraphed to Colonel Moonlight 
for assistance and urged that officer to clear the line between 
Denver and Julesburg. On the 15th, General Dodge tele- 
graphed that 50,000 rations were on the way to Julesburg 
for the use of troops on the march. He also telegraphed 
Colonel Moonlight the same day, "If the citizens of Colorado 
will not aid you, put the troops that are guarding towns 
and settlements on our lines of communication and let 
towns and settlements take care of themselves." Every 
officer in the department was putting forth his best efforts 
to beat back the Indians and open the lines of communica- 
tion. General Dodge was pushing forward ammunition, 
arms, supplies and additional horses to take the place of 
those killed or disabled. At this time the following troops 
were along the Overland. The station where each force was 
located is given. Companies A, E, F, H, I, and K, First 
Nebraska Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, near Cottonwood 
Springs, Nebraska Territory; Company C, First Nebraska 
Cavalry Veteran Volunteers, Fort Kearney, Nebraska 
Territory; Company G, First Nebraska Cavalry Veteran 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 433 

Volunteers, Plum Creek Nebraska Territory; Companies 
A, B, C, F, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, near Cottonwood Springs, 
Nebraska Territory; Company E, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, 
Columbus, Nebraska Territory; Companies A and C, First 
Battalion Nebraska Veteran Cavalry, near Cottonwood 
Springs; Company B, First Battalion Nebraska Veteran 
Cavalry, Dakota City; Company D, First Battalion 
Nebraska Veteran Cavalry, Omaha City, Nebraska Terri- 
tory; Companies A, D, I, L, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry Volun- 
teers, Fort Laramie; Company H, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry 
Volunteers, Camp Mitchell (near Scott's Bluffs) ; Company 
C, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry Volunteers, Fremont's Orchard, 
Colorado Territory; Companies B and F, Eleventh Ohio 
Cavalry Volunteers, Camp Collins. 

General Dodge telegraphed from St. Louis on the 23rd 
to General Mitchell at Omaha, who was about to start for 
Fort Laramie, "As you go up the valley, telegraph and keep 
me posted. Where is Powder River, and how far from 
Julesburg? One of my engineers has gone with the Six- 
teenth Kansas for the purpose of getting posts and stage 
stations together. Let stage company have corn if you can 
spare it. We must keep stages running. Troops should be 
on the way from Denver to make route secure to Julesburg. 
At any rate, don't let stages stop for want of escort. Also 
telegraph me any point that you may find where stores or 
forage are needed." Colonel Moonlight on the same date 
telegraphed General Dodge that he had sent out two com- 
panies of militia to operate on the line between Denver and 
Julesburg. On the 24th, General Mitchell telegraphed to 
headquarters from Fremont, Nebraska, that the posts along 
the Overland were all weak and asked for reinforcements. 
Major Mackey telegraphed on the same day from Fort 
Laramie that he was expecting trouble from the Indians 
at that point. 

On the 17th, the Secretary of War announced that the 

Territory of Utah and that part of Nebraska lying west of 

the twenty-seventh degree of longitude had been added to 

the military department of Missouri. The War Department 

-(28) 



434 History of Wyoming. 

evidently desired to fight the Indians on the east side of the 
mountains without taking the trouble to transmit orders 
to San Francisco. This was certainly good policy, but the 
war with these Indian tribes had been in progress for years 
and the savages were far from being subdued. The condi- 
tions at the time this change was made were nearly as bad 
as could be and there was no hope of its growing better in 
the near future. The small number of troops in the field 
against the Indians was to be made still smaller by the end 
of the term of service of the First Battalion of the Eleventh 
Ohio Cavalry and some other troops. Taken altogether, the 
government was not holding its own with the Indians. 
General Connor had one hope, and that was that the gov- 
ernment would be able to send reinforcements. He left 
Camp Douglas and went to Fort Bridger, where he arrived 
February 18th, and we find him telegraphing to the De- 
partment of the Missouri that Colonel Collins, the com- 
mander at Fort Laramie, had promised to keep express run- 
ning over the broken part of the telegraph line until the 
break could be repaired. The cunning savages had torn 
down the line and in some instances had carried away the 
wire for long distances. Before leaving Fort Bridger, Gen- 
eral Connor relieved Major John M. O'Neill, the commander 
of the post, at his own request and ordered him to report 
at Camp Douglas. Major O'Neill belonged to the Second 
California Cavalry and his administration of affairs at Fort 
Bridger gave satisfaction. Captain Albert Brown of the 
same regiment was ordered to take command of Fort 
Bridger. 

General Dodge had listened attentively to the advice of 
all his commanders in the field and finally made up his 
mind to adopt General Connor's method of dealing with 
bad Indians. All agreed that hostiles were in great force 
in the Powder River country, that is scouts reported that 
there were from 1,500 to 2,000 lodges and that each of 
these lodges contained from six to eight warriors. Powder 
River was used as a safe retreat and a place to keep their 
women and children as well as the old men of the tribe. 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 435 

From that locality forays were made down to the Overland 
road, striking it at any point west of Fort Kearney and east 
of South Pass, likewise a watch was kept for parties who 
traveled the Bozeman road. These freebooters adopted 
business methods in their murdering and thieving and man- 
aged to make it pay. They were so numerous that they 
were enabled to keep representatives of the various tribes 
forming the combination on the line of travel nearly all 
the time. Winter feed for ponies was good in the hills 
along the Powder River and having great numbers of these 
animals, each fresh band of warriors starting out could be 
well mounted. The run down stock, after each foray, was 
turned out to graze and grow fat on the nutritious grasses. 
These wild men of the plains and mountains had made 
rapid strides in the arts of war since they had become 
acquainted with the white man. They would pay any price 
for modern arms and ammunition or take any risk in the 
attempt to steal them. They had always been fond of 
bright blankets and of late had shown a disposition to pos- 
sess themselves of the modern tent of the soldier. They 
took naturally to war and prided themselves on being the 
descendents of a race of eminent warriors from the earliest 
known period of their traditions. Father De Smet had dis- 
covered that these red men were God's creatures but he 
never succeeded in making a trapper or a soldier believe it. 
Both of the latter class regarded the Indian as a red devil, 
whom it was at least good policy to kill. 

General Dodge made up his mind that a winter cam- 
paign in the Powder River country would be striking at 
the root of the evil which afflicted the Overland route and 
to this end he hurried forward a large cavalry force. Brig- 
adier General Robert B. Mitchell was to have command of 
the expedition and it was to go by way of Fort Laramie. 
This officer was impatient to win glory in the Powder 
River country and he chafed over the delays of making 
ready for the campaign and when it was reported by reli- 
able scouts that the snows were deep and that it was im- 
possible for the expedition to start he telegraphed General 



43*5 History of Wyoming. 

Dodge that if that officer would furnish the cavalry he would 
reach the Powder River country in spite of the snow or 
bad roads. In reply to this, General Dodge telegraphed, 
"All you can do is to work the troops up toward Julesburg 
and Laramie as fast as you can, and, as soon as ready, if 
Indians are north of Laramie, leave everything there but 
what you want, and then make a quick dash at them, using 
pack mules from Laramie. You can strike them with 1,500 
or 2,000 well mounted men. Subsistence and forage enough 
â– have been forwarded. Keep scouts out all the time so as 
to keep posted." The date of the above dispatch was the 
28th of February. The next we hear of General Mitchell 
is a dispatch from Fort Kearney dated March 6tli, saying 
that a large number of friendly Indians at Fort Laramie are 
in a starving condition and asking what he should do with 
them, adding that the Indians say they dare not leave their 
camp to hunt or provide for themselves because of the 
threats of hostiles. The answer to this comes on the same 
day, to feed the Indians condemned and damaged rations 
and form them into companies and use them as scouts. A 
second dispatch from Mitchell to General Dodge on the same 
day says, "Mrs. Morton, lately brought from the Indians 
on Powder River, says the Indians are high up on the North 
Fork of Powder River, where they intend to leave their fam- 
ilies for the summer for the purpose of making war on the 
Platte. She says the Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas, Brule 
and Ogalalla Sioux, and Minneconjous are banded together 
and determined to make war to the knife. This woman 
was captured at Plum Creek in August last." 

The military districts of the mountains and plains had 
up to this time been too numerous, the result being that 
the commanders of these districts did not feel justified in 
following the Indians from one local military division to 
another and consequently there were vexatious delays and 
much controversy as to whose duty it was to chastise rov- 
ing bands of savages. The tribes on the war path were 
pursued into the adjoining district and there left to be 
dealt with by the troops of the locality in which the hos- 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 437 

tiles took refuge. Marauding bands were chased out of 
the District of Nebraska into that of Colorado. Here plenty 
of opportunity offered to rob emigrant trains, capture mail 
coaches, kill and scalp white people to their heart's content. 
When the depredations were reported to the headquarters 
of the military district, a force was sent against them and 
they were promptly driven into the district of Utah and 
the thieving bands were again given a chance to commit 
more depredations farther west. At last General G. M. 
Dodge, commander of the Department of the Missouri, re- 
solved to organize a new department, and on March 28 
consolidated the districts of Utah, Colorado and Nebraska 
into one district to be known as the District of the Plains 
and assigned Brigadier General P. E. Connor to the com- 
mand with headquarters at Denver. The new commander 
assumed charge of the enlarged district on the day the 
order was issued, and at once proceeded to inaugurate a 
vigorous campaign and yet little success could be hoped 
for until large reinforcements arrived. When General 
Connor was tendered this command, he was on a return 
trip from the east, where he had been for some weeks, and 
it is highly probable that he saw and talked with General 
Dodge at his headquarters at St. Louis and that the new 
department was created for the purpose of giving General 
Connor an opportunity to fight Indians on a large scale. 
On the day following Connor's acceptance of the command 
of the Department of the Plains, General Dodge telegraphed 
him that the troops enroute to Laramie and Julesburg would 
give him over 2,000 mounted men and a train of 400 pack 
mules, and he adds with some severety, "I want this force 
pushed right after the Indians." On the same day that this 
dispatch was sent, General Dodge wrote Connor a letter 
of some length and from this I make a short extract for the 
reason that it relates to operations in Wyoming and the 
surrounding country. 

"The District of the Plains was formed so as to put 
under your control the entire northern Overland route and 
to render effective the troops along it. With the force at 



438 History of Wyoming. 

your disposal you can make vigorous war upon the Indians 
and punish them so that they will be forced to keep the 
peace. They should be kept away from our lines of travel 
and made to stand on the defensive. Sufficient infantry 
to hold most of the posts will be sent you from the regiments 
raised from Confederate prisoners in our hands for service 
on the plains. They are officered by our own men. Depots 
should be designated where we can put in one year's supply. 
These depots should be fortified. An engineer from these 
headquarters is now out examining these posts. I think 
there should be depots at Fort Kearney, Cottonwood, Jules- 
burg, Fort Laramie, Fort Halleck, Valley Station (or some 
point between Julesburg and Denver), Denver, Fort Lyon, 
and Utah. As it is each station is a partial depot, whereas 
with a few depots that other posts can draw from we can 
put proper staff officers at them and have our stores prop- 
erly taken care of and protected. The overland mail and 
telegraph must be protected at all hazards, and no excuse 
be given or allowed for stopping the mails. Order No. 41 
from these headquarters prescribes manner of organizing 
trains, etc., and you must see that no interference with em- 
igrant or private trains is allowed. The troops that have 
been lying at the different posts should, as soon as possible, 
be relieved and put in the field. I hear many complaints 
of them." 

Colonel Moonlight, who had asked to have charge of 
the Powder River expedition, was somewhat disappointed 
when he learned that General Connor was to command it 
in person. His position in Denver was anything but agree- 
able to himself and on the return of General Connor he made 
known his desire for more active service. Opportunity was 
soon found to place him in command of Fort Laramie and 
thus it was that Colonel Moonlight became prominent in 
military matters in Wyoming. He had long been colonel 
of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, but being assigned to the 
command of the military department of Colorado, Lieu- 
tenant Colonel Plumb was left in command of the regiment. 
Moonlight had won distinction in the service but was unfor- 
tunate in his surroundings in the west. He made himself 
unhappy in nearly every position in which he was placed 
and his assignment to the command of Fort Laramie did not 
end his tribulations, and yet he sought activity, which was 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 439 

given him in full measure before the year was out. From 
the day General Connor arrived, after his visit to the east, 
he was actively employed in carrying out his instructions 
regarding the numerous small posts along the route. He 
suffered considerable annoyance from the non-arrival of 
troops which were reported sent from Leavenworth, some 
of the regiments being more than two months on the road, 
On April 20th he announced the following officers as mem- 
bers of his staff: Captain M. G. Lewis, Assistant Adjutant- 
General U. S. Volunteers, Assistant Adjutant-General; 
First Lieutenant Oscar Jewett, First Battalion Nevada 
Cavalry, aid-de-camp; Major George Armstrong, First 
Nebraska Veteran Cavalry, chief of cavalry; Major J. 
H. Peabody, surgeon U. S. Volunteers, medical director; 
Captian Parmenas T. Turnley, Assistant Quartermas- 
ter U. S. Army, chief quartermaster; Captain Will- 
iam R. Irwin, commissary of subsistence, U. S. Vol- 
unteers, chief commissary; Captain George F. Price, 
Second California Cavalry, district inspector; Captain 
E. B. Zabriskie, First Battalion Nevada Cavalry, 
judge advocate; Captain John C. Anderson, Veteran 
Battalion First Colorado Cavalry, assistant commis- 
sary of musters at Denver, Colorado Territory; Captain 
John A. Wilcox, First (Fourth) U. S. Cavalry, assistant 
commissary of musters at Fort Kearney, Nebraska Terri- 
tory; First Lieutenant S. E. Jocelyn, Third Battalion Cali- 
fornia Infantry, assistant commissary of musters at Camp 
Douglas, Utah; First Lieutenant Charles C. Hawley, 
Veteran Battalion First Colorado Cavalry, acting ordnance 
officer for the South and West Sub-Districts of the Plains, 
station at Denver, Colorado Territory; First Lieutenant 
William H. Northrop, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, acting ord- 
nance officer for the North and East Sub-Districts of the 
Plains, station at Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory. 

Major N. A. Adams of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, 
with a detachment of thirty-five men, left Deer Creek Station 
April 22nd in pursuit of a war party of Sioux and Chey- 
ennes numbering from fifty to a hundred, who had been 



440 History of Wyommg. 

committing depredations on La Prelle Creek. The detach- 
ment marched twenty miles and went into camp on Sage 
Creek at sundown. About nine o'clock that evening the 
camp was attacked from a high point by a well armed band. 
The fight only lasted a few minutes, the soldiers succeeding 
in driving off the warriors. Major Adams, in reporting 
the affair, said that the Indians were well posted and had 
a large number of guns and revolvers but being on higher 
ground most of their shots passed over the soldiers. The 
troops lost five of their cavalry horses but none of the men 
were injured. The next day Major Adams called for rein- 
forcements and on their arrival pursued the Indians for two 
days, when it was found that they had scattered in small 
bodies among the hills. The command then returned to 
Deer Creek station. 

Colonel Thos. Moonlight, who had been placed in com- 
mand of Fort Laramie, organized an expedition on May 
3rd for the Wind River country, on receipt of the informa- 
tion that 300 Cheyenne lodges were concentrated in the 
Wind River Valley. Colonel Moonlight had under him 
500 cavalry composed of the Eleventh Ohio, Seventh Iowa, 
and Eleventh Kansas regiments. The command marched 
by night, the moon being favorable, and on the 12th they 
reached the vicinity of Wind River, from which point scouts 
were sent out in every direction and brought back informa- 
tion that the hostiles had made a circuit, going as far south 
as the Sweetwater Mountains and from there had turned 
north toward the Powder River country. The command suf- 
fered greatly from the cold, as they had encountered a 
heavy fall of snow and consequently were unable to pro- 
cure feed for their horses. The expedition returned by way 
of Platte Bridge, having accomplished nothing. Colonel 
Moonlight in his report said that his command had traveled 
450 miles and the Indian scouts must have kept watch of 
them, for no sooner had they returned to Fort Laramie than 
their war parties were harassing the stations at all points. 
Jim Bridger was the guide for this expedition. Lieutenant- 
Colonel Preston B. Plumb, who later was for many years 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 441 

a United States senator from Kansas, was in command of 
the Eleventh Kansas on this occasion. 

On May 13th Indians attempted to run off some stock 
near Julesbnrg and at the same time made an attack on 
Captain Porter's post wagon and wounded two of his men. 
Troops from Fort Sedgwick went to the rescue and killed 
three of the Indians. Captain O'Brien sent out a small force 
but they failed to come up with the hostiles. On the 18th 
of the same month Indians attacked a detachment of men 
enroute to Fort Kearney, Two of the soldiers were killed 
and six wounded. These men were sent forward from Fort 
Leavenworth unarmed and were intended for service in 
Wyoming. The commander at Fort Leavenworth directed 
the sergeant in charge to procure arms at Fort Kearney. 
General Connor instituted an immediate and searching in- 
vestigation with a view to properly punishing the oflBcer 
who would send an unarmed force through a region known 
to be infested by savages who were on the war path. There 
was an investigation at Fort Leavenworth but what came 
of it I am unable to find out from any papers on file in the 
War Department. On the same date as the above, an 
event of considerable importance occurred at Fort Laramie. 
It was the capture of Two Face and Black Foot, Sioux 
chiefs of the Ogalalla tribe, together with their warriors. 
To tell of this circumstance I will quote the report of 
Colonel Thos. Moonlight, the commander of the post. 

''About the 18th instant some Indians were discovered 
on the north side of the Pltate near the Indian villiage, en- 
camped ten miles east of Laramie. Mr. Elston, in charge of 
the Indian village, took a party of Indian soldiers and cap- 
tured what was found to be Two Face, having a white 
woman prisoner (Mrs Eubanks) and her little daughter^ 
whom he had purchased from the Cheyennes. During the 
same evening and next morning early the other Indians 
who were with Two Face, and who had fled on approach of 
Elston's party, were also captured and all lodged in the 
guard house here. Mrs. Eubanks gave information of the 
whereabouts of Black Foot and the village, and a party of 
Indian soldiers started to bring them in, dead or alive. The 
village was found about 100 miles northeast of here, on 



442 History of Wyoming. 

Snake Fork, and compelled to surrender without any flght. 
Black Foot and his companions were placed in the guard 
house with the others, making six men in confinement. 
Both of the chiefs openly boasted that they had killed white 
men and that they would do it again if let loose, so I con- 
cluded to tie them up by the neck with a trace chain, sus- 
pended from a beam of wood, and leave them there without 
any foothold. The property captured was as follows: Six 
U. S. mules, 3 U. S. horses, 5 mules not branded, but T 
believe claimed by some party down the river; 15 ponies 
in miserable condition, which I left in charge of Mr. Elston 
for the use of the Indian soldiers in scouting. The other 
animals were turned in to the acting assistant quarter- 
master, to be taken up on his return. On the person of Two 
Face was found $220 in greenbacks which I gave to Mrs. 
Eubanks; Also |50 taken from another of the band. This 
lady was captured by the Cheyennes on Little Blue Creek 
last fall, where her husband was killed along with several 
others. She was treated in a beastly manner by the Chey- 
ennes, and purchased from them during the winter by Two 
Face and Black Foot, who compelled her to toil and labor 
as their squaw, resorting in some instances to lashes. She 
was in a wretched condition when she was brought in, hav- 
ing been dragged across the Platte with a rope. She was 
almost naked, and told some horrible tales of the barbar- 
ity and cruelty of the Indians." 

The execution of these two Indian chiefs caused quite 
a sensation at Fort Laramie at that time. There was much 
comment on the proposed execution, by army officers and 
civilians connected with the post. Colonel Bullock, the 
post trader, was particularly outspoken in condemnation 
of such a proceeding and he visited headquarters to remon- 
strate with Colonel Moonlight and in courteous language 
said to the post commander that in his judgment the exe- 
cution of these two chiefs could not serve any good purpose, 
but on the contrary he believed that it would so aggravate 
the combined hostile tribes as to induce them to seek a 
favorable opportunity and then in overwhelming numbers 
attack the garrison of Fort Laramie and carry the place 
by assault, and then would follow a massacre of so barbar- 
ous and inhuman a character as had never been witnessed 
in the west. The commander heard Colonel Bullock with 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 443 

great courtesy, never once interrupting him in his plea, not 
for mercy for the savages but for the adoption of a policy 
which would serve better the purposes of the government 
in its war against the Indians. When the plea was finished 
the post commander very quietly remarked: 

"Well, Colonel Bullock you think there will be a mas- 
sacre? Let me tell you that there will be two Indians who 
will not take part in it. Good day, sir." The post com- 
mander followed his dismissal of the post trader by po- 
litely bowing him out of the door of his quarters. 

On May 20th 200 Indians attacked Deer Creek station 
and after a vigorous fight on the part of the detachment 
in charge of the station, the Indians were repulsed; seven 
of their number were killed and others wounded. No one 
at the station was injured. The hostiles succeeded in driv- 
ing away twenty-two horses which were in a herd a short 
distance from the station. Lieutenant-Colonel P. B. Plumb 
of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, with thirty men, gave 
chase and succeeded in killing one Indian and wounding 
several. One soldier of Plumb's command was killed. The 
Indians, it was said, were in command of a man named 
Bill Comstock, formerly of Fort Laramie. The horses were 
not recaptured. No trains were allowed to pass up or down 
the Platte that year without an escort. 

During the early part of the summer of 1865 a distin- 
guished party consisting of the Hon. Schuyler Colfax, 
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Lieutenant Gov- 
ernor Wm. Bross of Illinois, Albert D. Richardson of the 
New York Tribune, and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Spring- 
field Republican, passed west in an Overland coach for Cal- 
ifornia. Fortunately the party was not molested by the 
Indians. Mr. Bowles wrote a book covering the incidents 
of the trip. Mr. Richardson also published a volume, giving 
the incidents of his journey, which was very popular for 
many years, being entitled "Beyond the Mississippi. Mr. 
Colfax was one of the best friends the west ever possessed. 
During his long and brilliant service in Congress he never 
lost an opportunity to champion any cause that was in- 



444 History of Wyoming. 

tended to help the country west of the Missouri. President 
Lincoln was assassinated only a few weeks before Mr. Col- 
fax came to the Rocky Mountains. A few days before the 
assassination he called on the President to inform him that 
he was expecting to leave for the Pacific coast, overland, 
almost immediately. In reply Mr. Lincoln said, "I have 
been thinking of a speech I want you to make for me. I 
have," said he, "very large ideas of the mineral wealth of 
our nation. I believe it is practically inexhaustible. It 
abounds all over the western country, from the Rocky 
Mountains to the Pacific, and its development has scarcely 
commenced. During the war, when we were adding a 
couple of millions of dollars to our national debt every 
day, I did not care about encouraging the increase in the 
volume of the precious metals. We had the country to save 
first. But now that the rebellion is overthrown, and we 
know pretty nearly the amount of our national debt, the 
more gold and silver we mine makes the payment of that 
debt so much the easier." "Now," said he, speaking with 
much emphasis, "I am going to encourage that in every 
possible way. We shall have hundreds of thousands of dis- 
banded soldiers and many have feared that their return 
home in such great numbers may paralyze industry by fur- 
nishing suddenly a greater supply of labor than there will 
be a demand for. I am going to try to attract them to the 
hidden wealth of our mountain ranges, where there is room 
for all. Tell the miners for me that I shall promote their 
interests to the utmost of my ability because their prosper- 
ity is the prosperity of the nation and we shall prove in a 
very few years that we are the treasury of the world." 

Mr. Colfax delivered this posthumus speech of Presi- 
dent Lincoln wherever there was an opportunity to talk 
to western men and its delivery was listened to with pro- 
found attention on every occasion. In this far-ofif wilder- 
ness it fell on the ears of men as a voice from the grave of 
the martyred president. Verily this was the first full and 
complete recognition of the west by a president of the 
United States. It convinced western men that Abraham 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 445 

Lincoln was entitled to be called the president of the whole 
country. His words cheered many a weary miner by increas- 
ing his faith in the minerals of the Rocky Mountains. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE BLOODY YEAR ON THE PLAINS— [Continued.] 

Headquarters Removed from Denver to Julesburg — Colonel Moon- 
light Places Additional Troops on the Telegraph Line — Dis- 
trict Inspectors Appointed — Commanders of the Different 
Posts — Indians Attack Rock Ridge and Sweetwater Stations — 
Attack and Burning of St. Mary's Station — Affair at Platte 
Bridge — Trouble at Sage Creek, Pine Grove and Bridger Pass 
Stations — Second Attack on Sage Creek Station — The Stage 
Company Refuses to Run Coaches — Soldiers Mutiny — So-Called 
Friendly Indians Mutiny — Colonel Moonlight's Troubles — 
General Connor Getting Ready for a Campaign on Powder 
River — Troops Delayed by Bad Roads — Additional Troubles on 
the Telegraph Line and the Stage Route Across Laramie 
Plains — Niobrara and Montana Wagon Road. 

On May 4th, General Connor moved his headquarters 
from Denver to Julesburg, so as to be nearer the scene of 
active operations, and on the following day telegraphed 
General Dodge for permission to visit headquarters for the 
purpose of consultation. The request was granted and the 
visit to St. Louis was made, but before going he directed 
Colonel Moonlight, the commander of Fort Laramie, to dis- 
tribute two companies of the Third U. S. Volunteers along 
the North Platte, Sweetwater, and as far west as South 
Pass. One company was to make headquarters at the Three 
Crossings and the commanding oflScer was instructed to 
detail one or two non-commissioned officers and twelve men 
for each of the following telegraph stations: South Pass, 
Saint Mary's and Sweetwater. The headquarters of the 
other company was to be at Camp Marshall, with similar 
details posted at Horse Shoe, Deer Creek and Platte Bridge, 



446 History of Wyoming. 

and besides this a squadron of cavalry was ordered on the 
line and four troopers were to be detailed at each station 
to assist the telegraph operators in repairing the line when 
required. The saw mill near Fort Laramie was ordered to 
be kept running night and day to furnish lumber needed at 
the various stations. The following officers were announced 
by General Connor as sub-district inspectors : Captain J. S. 
Cochrane, Third U. S. Volunteers, for service in the South 
Sub-District of the Plains; Captain John H. Dalton, First 
Battalion Nevada Cavalry, for the West Sub-District of the 
Plains; First Lieutenant Edward Donavan, First Nebraska 
Veteran Cavalry, for the East Sub-District of the Plains. 

Brigadier General Guy V. Henry was placed in com- 
mand at Denver, -which department was then styled the 
South Sub-District of the Plains. Henry was a good soldier 
and thoroughly qualified for an important command. He 
conducted the affairs of his district in such a manner as to 
give confidence to the people of Colorado, but it was found 
necessary to send him elsewhere, when Colonel C. H. Potter 
of the Sixth V. S. Volunteers was assigned to the command. 
At this time. Captain J. L. Humf reville of the Eleventh Ohio 
Cavalry was in command of Fort Halleck. This post was 
made prominent by events which had transpired around it 
since the spring of 1863. The troops had beeen required to 
operate both east and west for a long distance and conse- 
quently troops stationed there had seen hard service. Fort 
Bridger, that summer, was in command of Major Noyes 
Baldwin, an oflScer with a splendid record, and a man of 
ability. The War of the Rebellion being over, there was 
soon to be available troops for service on the plains, but it 
required time to transfer this force to the far west. The 
spring was far advanced and the Indians were beginning to 
leave their winter camps in large numbers, and there not 
being sufficient force in Wyoming to operate against roving 
bands, traffic on the Overland had to be conducted by the 
use of military escorts. There seemed to be no way of pro- 
tecting the telegraph line; the best that could be done was 
to repair it whenever broken. During 1865, there was but 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 447 

one line of telegraph across our state, and this was the one 
built by Creighton in 1861. At the time the stage line was 
removed from the Sweetwater and the South Pass route, 
the government had to protect the stages on the new route 
across the Laramie Plains and at the same time to maintain 
the telegraph up the North PJatte, along the Sweetwater, 
and across South Pass. This necessitated a large number 
of troops and it should not have been undertaken. Ben Hol- 
liday argued, when he wanted to change the line, that the 
Indians would not trouble the mail route from Denver west, 
and consequently the government would be at little or no 
additional expense. It was true there were no hostilities on 
the Laramie Plains previous to the location of the mail 
route in 1862, but there was a very good reason for this ; as 
there had been no traffic on that line — no people to rob or 
kill on the Laramie Plains or in Bridger Pass, but as soon 
as the mail, express and passenger business was transferred 
to that route, Indian depredations followed and the govern- 
ment was called upon for protection and tried to furnish it. 
The emigrant trains preferred the old Overland road, be- 
cause it was shorter, and so they kept going up the North 
Platte. Troops had to be maintained on that road to pro- 
tect the telegraph system and the emigrants. Had all the 
protection been given to the North Platte route it would 
have been much easier for the government and better for 
the mail business west of the mountains. Leaving Jules- 
burg, the new route went south eighty-four miles before it 
reached Denver, and then in returning to the west by way of 
Laramie Plains and Bridger Pass it had all this distance 
to work back, and this increased the length of the road more 
than 150 miles to all passengers who had come by the Platte 
route. 

I have found it very diflScult to confirm the reports of 
many old timers regarding Indian attacks on Overland sta- 
tions. Too often it has occurred that two or three individu- 
als told as many different stories regarding the same inci- 
dents, and consequently for the sake of accuracy I have 
been obliged to depend largely on official reports made by 



448 History of Wyoming. 

oflBcers at the time to the War Department. These were at 
least accurate and formed a basis upon which to construct 
the history of those times. The events of the spring and 
summer of 1865 commenced on the Sweetwater and are re- 
corded by Lieutenant-Colonel Plumb, who with his com- 
mand, the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, was operating along 
the line from Fort Laramie west. In an oflScial report dated 
June 1st, at Camp Dodge, which was located a short dis- 
tance above Platte Bridge, he says: 

"I have the honor to report that on the morning of last 
Saturday the Indians in considerable force attacked Rock 
Ridge Station and ran off what stock remained, and soon 
after cut the telegraph line. No further information was 
received from there until yesterday, when a messenger ar- 
rived from Sweetwater Station, bringing intelligence that 
on Sunday night Lieutenant Collins, Eleventh Ohio Volun- 
teer Cavalry, with two men, started from Three Crossings 
for Rock Ridge, and, arriving within a short distance, dis- 
covered that the station was in flames. Not considering it 
prudent to venture farther, he returned to Three Crossings. 
The fate of the garrison at Rock Ridge is unknown, but the 
worst is feared. It numbered four men, all of the Eleventh 
Ohio Cavalry. Monday afternoon about forty Indians ef- 
fected a stampede of the herd of mules and horses belonging 
to the Sweetwater garrison, and succeeded in getting away 
with four horses and six mules. One Indian was killed. 
Yesterday I sent Lieutenant Bretney, with eight men of his 
â– company, to Sweetwater, then to proceed to Rock Ridge if 
deemed safe. He will be at the latter place tomorrow. I 
also sent Captain Green, with sixty men of the Eleventh 
Kansas, provided with twenty days' rations, to go up the 
road as far as Rock Ridge, with instructions to repair the 
telegraph line and take the necessary measures for the im- 
mediate rebuilding of the station at Rock Ridge. I also 
turned over to Captain Lybe five of the government teams 
that came up with my regimental train, and ordered him to 
proceed at once to his station at Three Crossings and dis- 
tribute his company according to orders from you, and also 
to submit to the order and direction of Captain Oreen in 
reference to repairing the telegraph, and re-erection of sta- 
tion at Rock Ridge." 

Lieutenant Bretney proceeded up the road as ordered 
and investigated the condition of the various stations, and 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 449 

his report shows that on May 26th three Indians made an 
attempt to take the herd at Sweetwater Station, but were 
repulsed by the garrison, who killed one hostile and wound- 
ed another. Fortunately none of the small force was in- 
jured. Two days later the Indians returned in force and 
succeeded in stampeding four horses and two mules. The 
little garrison fired at the hostiles and wounded one of them. 
On June 1st, the Indians again returned and made a des- 
perate attempt to run off the balance of the horses, but the 
soldiers, being on the watch, opened a vigorous fire and 
drove them off. This party cut the telegraph wire and car- 
ried off about 100 yards of it: Lieutenant Bretney also re- 
ported that on the 27th of May, about 150 savages made a 
furious attack on Saint Mary's Station and in a short time 
succeeded in setting fire to the buildings. The garrison, 
consisting of five men, retreated to an old well outside of 
quarters, where they remained until the night of the 28th, 
when they escaped to South Pass. The operator. Private 
Chavil St. Clair, took precaution enough to secure a relay, 
sounder and a coil of fine wire, and was thus enabled to 
communicate with Fort Bridger. The garrison lost every- 
thing but the firearms and the clothes on their backs. Their 
horse equipments were burned. There were but two horses 
kept at the station; one of these the Indians captured and 
the other was shot to prevent its falling into their hands. 
They cut about 400 yards of telegraph wire and burned the 
poles. When the Indians left they moved to the south, pass- 
ing up the valley of Sage Creek. The garrison did as well 
as could be expected under the circumstances. When the 
Indians came within proper distance they fired upon them 
briskly. Several were known to have been wounded. None 
of the garrison was injured. 

The Indians were active along the telegraph line at 
this time. A little affair occurred at Platte Bridge on the 
morning of June 3rd which made something of a stir but 
did not result very seriously. Six Indians appeared on the 
river bank, opposite the post, and it was thought their ob- 
ject was to draw the men across the river and lead them into 

-{29) 



450 History of Wyoming. 

an ambush prepared. As soon as the alarm of "Indians" 
was given, First Sergeant Samuel B. White, Eleventh Ohio 
Cavalry, who was in charge, dispatched a messenger to 
Colonel Plumb of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, who was at 
Camp Dodge, informing him of the appearance of the hos- 
tiles. As soon as this messenger had gone. Sergeant White 
ordered a twelve-pound howitzer trained on the Indians 
and the first fire resulted in crippling two of their ponies 
but inflicted no injury on the savages, who quickly took ref- 
uge behind the rocks. The sergeant then mounted ten men 
and sent them to the bluffs on the North Platte to watch 
the movements of the enemy, and followed these by ten 
soldiers on foot in the rear to prevent the mounted men 
being cut off by a superior force. One Indian was seen go- 
ing toward the telegraph line with the evident intention of 
cutting it. He was pursued and fired upon, but only the 
horse was hit. As soon as Colonel Plumb received the 
message from Platte Bridge, he mounted ten men of Com- 
pany B, Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and hastened with all 
possible speed to the scene of hostilities. Arriving at Platte 
Bridge, he took ten men of Company G, Eleventh Ohio Cav- 
alry, all mounted, and proceeded in pursuit of the Indians. 
On leaving Camp Dodge, he had ordered twenty more men 
of his own regiment to mount as soon as possible and fol- 
low him. The pursuit of the Indians led Colonel Plumb and 
his command across to the north side of the Platte and then 
over some rough country directly north of the post. A hard 
chase of five miles brought them within shooting distance 
of the hostiles and a running fight ensued which resulted in 
one Indian pony being killed and two Indians wounded. 
One-half of Colonel Plumb's force had fallen behind on ac- 
count of their horses being unable to keep up. The Indians, 
aware of the situation, now turned and made a vigorous 
charge on their assailants, but Colonel Plumb and his ten 
troopers received them by showing a compact front and de- 
livering a galling fire. The Indians now turned and fled. 
Shortly after, about sixty Indians charged down the bottom 
of Dry Creek, a half a mile to the left of the command, with 



The Bloody Tear on the Plains. 451 

the evident purpose of cutting them off from Platte Bridge. 
The little party now realized that they were in a dangerous 
position, but fortunately the twenty who had been ordered 
to follow from Camp Dodge appeared in sight and the In- 
dians turned and fled. Six or seven of the soldiers started 
in pursuit of some hostiles who had turned to the right. The 
soldiers pressed them closely and were led into ambush 
by about thirty Indians in front and rear. At the time of 
this attack the soldiers found themselves with empty re- 
volvers and were unable to hold their ground until assist- 
ance could arrive. In this affair Private Bonwell, Company 
F, Eleventh Kansas, and Private Sahlnecker, Company G, 
Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, were killed. Night coming on, the 
troops returned to Platte Bridge Station. On the same day 
as the above, Lieutenant James A. Brown of the Eleventh 
Ohio Cavalry reported from Fort Halleck the result of an 
effort to open the mail route west to Fort Bridger. He had 
under his command a force of thirty men and was accompa- 
nied by Captain Lewis of General Connor's staff and R. I. 
Spotswood, the division agent of the Overland Stage Com- 
pany. He says that he found the station at Sage Creek de- 
serted and four miles beyond, lying by the roadside, were 
two dead emigrants, one of whom had been scalped. The 
next two stations, Pine Grove and Bridger Pass, were also 
found deserted. At the fourth station. Sulphur Spring, 
were the stock tenders and drivers from the above named 
stations and also the stock belonging to Sage Creek and 
Pine Grove. It was learned here that the stock at Bridger's 
Pass Station had been driven off by the Indians. Having 
ascertained that the depredations extended no farther west, 
Lieutenant Brown remained at Sulphur Spring Station un- 
til 4 p. m. next day, when detaching three men he sent them 
to Washakie (next station west) and leaving five men for 
the protection of Sulphur Spring, started for Fort Halleck, 
accompanied by the two division agents of the Overland, 
two coaches and stock for the line, camping that night at 
Bridger's Pass. Next morning they left, leaving a corporal 
and four men at the station; from thence to Pine Grove 



452 History of Wyoming. 

station, leaving five men there; they then came on to Sage 
Creek Station, where they left a corporal and four men; 
from thence to the North Platte crossing, and camped for 
the night. The next day they returned to Fort Halleck. 

Lieutenant Brown had scarcely left Sage Creek Station, 
where he had stationed four men and a corporal, when 100 
well armed Indians attacked the place. After an hour's se- 
vere fighting, the ammunition gave out, which compelled 
the little garrison to abandon the station. They were well 
mounted and were accompanied by the two stock tenders, 
also mounted. The moment they left the station they were 
completely surrounded by the savages, and then ensued a 
desperate fight, the white men retreating toward Pine Grove 
Station. The Indians followed them for eight miles, killing 
George Bodine and Perry Stewart, wounding and capturing 
Orlando Ducket, wounding Corporal W. H. Caldwell and 
Private William Wilson, all of Company K, Eleventh Ohio 
Volunteer Cavalry. The two citizens were also missing. 
Corporal Caldwell and Private Wilson escaped to Pine 
Grove Station. They and the detachment then retreated to 
Sulphur Spring Station, taking the detachment at Bridger's 
Pass with them. Next morning they started back, com- 
manded by Sergeant McFaddin, who was up the road on 
escort duty with ten men of Company K, Eleventh Ohio 
Volunteer Cavalry. They found the bodies of Perry Stew- 
art and George Bodine lying in the road, horribly mutilated, 
the latter scalped. They also found one citizen. The other 
citizen and Private Ducket of Company K could not be 
found. 

Simultaneously with this trouble west of Fort Halleck, 
the Indians made an attack east of that place. A dispatch 
from Virginia Dale from Major Norton of the Sixth U. S. 
Volunteers to General Connor says: 

''The stage from the west has just arrived at this sta- 
tion, having made but one change of horses from Fort Hal- 
leck. All stations have been abandoned by the stage com- 
pany except Big Laramie. Their stock has been concen- 
trated at that place and Halleck. I learn from the passen- 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 453 

gers that fourteen horses were stolen from the latter place 
on the 4th instant. Unless the stage company re-occupy 
their stations, I shall be obliged to make a different dispo- 
sition of the escort for self -protection, if nothing else. There 
are large bodies of Indians on the road ; the lowest accounts 
place them at from 600 to 800. I am on my way to Fort Hal- 
leck with Captain Wilson and an escort of ten men. Should 
anything special occur, I will inform you by messenger." 

Major Norton had two days before ordered Company F 
of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, to relieve some Ohio troops 
serving on the Laramie Plains, but the company to a man 
refused duty, alleging that their time of service had ex- 
pired. Company B of the same regiment offered to assist 
them in their mutiny. Finally Company F was persuaded 
to go, but they threatened to return in two weeks. 

On the 10th, Captain Wilson, commanding the post at 
Fort Collins, reported that Indians had robbed the station 
at Willow Springs and that he had started out in pursuit 
with a force of twenty-five men, but owing to a bad storm 
coming on he was unable to get farther west than Virginia 
Dale, but that he had sent word to Sergeant Linnell, com- 
manding detachment at Big Laramie, to send five men to 
guard Willow Springs station. 

General Connor had hastened to Fort Collins, where 
he found matters in even a worse condition than he sup- 
posed. Robert Spotswood, the superintendent of the stage 
line, had withdrawn all the stage stock east of Fort Halleck 
and declined to put it on again unless there was a guard of 
thirty men placed at each stage station. This was out of the 
question, so General Connor sent the mails through by wag- 
ons in charge of soldiers. 

It has been mentioned that a large number of what were 
styled "friendly Indians" had been fed at Fort Laramie 
during the winter of 1864-5. Some of the officers had ques- 
tioned the good faith of these savages, but as they put on 
the appearence of peace and good will, they and their fami- 
lies w^ere fed and allowed to remain. They were composed 
of Sioux, Cheyennes and Arapahoes. Under instructions 
from General Dodge, an attempt was made to use these na- 



454 History of Wyoming. 

tives as scouts. A company of them was organized, uni- 
formed and armed at the expense of the government, and 
one Charles Elston was intrusted with the command of 
these very questionable soldiers. He was also in charge 
of the Indian encampment. During the spring and early 
summer members of this Indian company were sent out to 
scout the hills and locate the hostiles. It afterwards turned 
out that these scouts were in the confidence of the enemy 
and made such reports to the commander at the fort as were 
desired by the hostile chiefs. The scouts were well posted 
as to what was going on in military circles and also under- 
stood the purposes of the government. Early in June it was 
•decided to send these hangers-on across to Julesburg, so as 
to remove them from the influence of the hostile bands 
which were in the hills around Fort Laramie. The leading 
Indians were consulted and agreed to the removal, and con- 
sequently on June 11th, 185 lodges of these people were 
started for that place, with an escort of 135 enlisted men 
-under command of Captain W. D. Fonts of the Seventh 
Iowa Cavalry and four other commissioned officers, Captain 
Wilcox and Lieutenants Haywood, Smith and Triggs. The 
escort was made up of Company D, Captain Fonts' company, 
and detachments from Companies A and B from the same 
regiment. The Indians numbered in warriors, squaws and 
papooses, about 1,500. The cavalcade proceeded slowly on 
its way and nothing occurred to arouse the suspicion of 
Captain Fonts for three days, except signal smokes by hos- 
tiles north of the Platte and reputed conferences by night 
between the so-called friendly Indians and the other class 
across the river. On the afternoon of the 13th, the party 
went into camp on Horse Creek and the Indians proceeded 
to give a dog feast. Late in the evening 382 of the warriors 
congregated in secret council. The officers were a little cu- 
rious to know what was going on and yet their best efforts 
failed in finding out. What followed is told by Captain Wil- 
cox in a very clear and concise manner. He says: 

"On the morning of the 14th, reveille was sounded at 
3 a. m., and the order of march announced to be at 5. At 



The Bloody Year on the Plains. 455 

sunrise I was ordered by Captain Fonts to proceed with the 
advance guard (Companies A and B, detachments) two 
miles on the route of march, then halt and wait till the 
wagou train closed up and the Indians closed up on the rear 
wagons, then to move forward in column of march. Just 
as the wagons were closing up I heard the rapid report of 
firearms to the rear. Believing it to be a revolt and attack 
by the Indians, and knowing the great disparity in numbers 
against us, as well as the fact that the family of Captain 
Fonts, the family of Lieutenant Triggs, and Mrs. Eubanks 
and child (late rescued Indian captives) being with us, I 
determined to prepare for defensive warfare, and had the 
wagons corraled in the best possible shape, the teams un- 
hitched and put inside the corral and securely fastened, 
and the men in line outside, ready for action (it would not 
do to leave the train unprotected.) In this condition I 
awaited orders from Captain Fonts. A messenger coming 
up shortly after, reported that Captain Fonts had gone 
across the creek to hurry up the Indians, and was shot and 
killed by them, and that the Indians were then fighting 
among themselves. I immediately dispatched a messenger 
on the fleetest horse to communicate with Fort Mitchell and 
the telegraph office, eighteen miles distant. The messenger 
was closely pursued by Indians. 

"The rear guard (Company D) coming up, I demanded 
of Lieutenant Haywood why he did not stand and fight the 
Indians instead of retreating. He replied that his men had 
no ammunition, and that the Captain (Fonts) had refused to 
have cartridges issued to the men of his company; that he 
(Lieutenant Haywood) had urged the issuing of cartridges 
the night before and that the captain said they would not be 
needed. I ordered the filling of the cartridge boxes immedi- 
ately, and ordered Lieutenant Smith, in command of Lieu- 
tenant Triggs and sixty-five men, to keep in line outside the 
corral, dig rifle pits defensible against all approaches, and 
to hold the corral, while I with Lieutenant Haywood and 
seventy men mounted on the best horses (the horses were 
all very poor from hard service; but few were really ser- 
viceable, a