Personal recollections of pioneer life on the mountains and plains of the great West

:

Personal
Recollections

of

Pioneer Life

on the

Mountains and Plains

of

The Great West

By LUKE VOORHEES

"3 ^ ( •? 6~
Bancroft Ijbiwy

IN APPRECIATION

TO my old associates, living and dead, who braved
the perils and hardships of the Frontier when it
was practically a wilderness, and whose life on
the mountains and plains was full of interesting
adventures and thrilling incidents; and to all the pio-
neers of our early history, whose rugged virtues, reso-
lute courage and cheerful endurance laid the founda-
tions of this( great Western Empire, I dedicate this
book as a simple tribute of my esteem and affection,
thankful that I have the honor of being a ' l comrade ' '
of that noble band.

LUKE VOOEHEES.

Cheyenne, Wyo., July 1, 1920.

v

LUKE VOORHEES

Personal Recollections

of

Luke Voorhees

Early Life and Wanderings

I was born in Belvidere, New Jersey. Parents moved to
Oakland County, Michigan, when- 1 was two years old. Resided
there during childhood and boyhood days. The last schooling
was at a small academy at Pontiac, Michigan. Left home
March, 1857, for Kansas and the Great Plains. The summer
of 1857, made a trip from Lawrence, Kansas, out in the Smoky
Hill and Republican River country, hunting buffalo. Killed
some buffalo, but had no Indian fights on that trip. Spent the
winter of 1857 and 1858 south of Lawrence, Kansas. Remained
there until April, 1859.

Outfitted for Pike's Peak

Outfitted with four other young men for Pike's Peak. Our
outfit consisted of five yoke of oxen and a Murphy wagon,
with grub enough to last us one year. Our objective point was
Pike's Peak gold mines — there being great excitement about
the streams and rivers of what is now Colorado being lined with
gold dust and nuggets. Our route was over the old Santa Fe
Trail via Council Grove, Great Bend of the Arkansas River,
Bent's Port, up the river to Pike's Peak, thence to the head of
Cherry Creek, down the creek to Denver, or where Denver now
stands, camping there the 3rd day of June, 1859, then going to
the gold diggings up Clear Creek to Black Hawk, or what was
then Gregory Diggings.

i

Indians and Buffalo

As to the trip across the plains : while the country was full
of Indians and buffalo, we encountered no Indians that were
on the war path against the whites. "We passed through a
large party of Comanches who were said to be on the war path
against the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux Indians north

8 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

towards the South Platte River. When we arrived at the big
bend of the Arkansas River, we were swamped with buffalo so
mu,;ch that we had to keep guards or herders out with our
oxen as' the danger was so great that they would stampede our
cattle when we turned them loose for grazing. On May 25,
1859, we camped at some springs, now called Manitou. Little
did we ever expect to see the cities that are now built at Mani-
tou and Colorado Springs.

Mining in the Mountains

I followed mining through the mountains of Colorado until
the spring of 1863. On April 23, left the Territory of Colorado
for the territory, then, of Washington, now the State of Mon-
tana. The trip from Denver was an eventful and exciting
trip, with Indians and the high waters of the rivers that had
to be crossed in some improvised way as there were no ferry
boats or bridges to cross on. I arrived at Alder Gulch July
4, 1863. Gold had been discovered in great quantities. I took
a claim from which, when drained by hard work, T could take
out three and four ounces of gold each day, valued at $18 per
ounce. March 10, 1864, some French breeds, or half-breeds,
that is, half Indian and half French, came from the northwest
in British Columbia, near the Saskatchewan country, or Koo-
tenai River. The half-breeds showed me some large nuggets
of pure gold. They seemed to be anxious to have me go with
them, where they said they could show me "heap gold." I at
once enlisted three men who had crossed the plains with me,
and men that I knew to be good and true. We outfitted with
provisions, ammunition and two good cayuses (horses) each,
leaving Alder Gulch the last of March, 1864. Although there
were deep snows to encounter, we successfully made the trip.
On the fourth of April, we camped on a creek which emptied
into the Kootenai River. Although we had about two days'
travel to make the stream the half-breeds were leading us to,
I liked the appearance of wash of the gravel, although ice still
partly covered the creek.

Discovers the Kootenai Diggings

I managed, by building a fire, to thaw the ice and warm
some water, in which I put a shovelful of gravel, which I
panned and washed, and I found much gold. That, of course,
made me the discoverer of the Kootenai Diggings. After work-
ing there during the summer and late in the fall, I returned
to Virginia City, Montana. Was engaged in mining in Montana
until 1868, as a business. Was passing back and forth from
Montana to the states. Spent considerable time in Utah during

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 9

the winter months. Made a trip to Nevada during 1868 and
1869.

At the Driving- of the Spike

Was at the driving of the last spike and connecting rail of
the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads on May 10, 1869,
at a station called Promintory, in western Utah. "Was passing
back and forth over the Union Pacific from Cheyenne to Salt
Lake City. Made a trip to Texas in 1871. Bought a herd of
cattle, trailed them to Utah and put them on a ranch. Was
married to Florence Celia Jenks on April 16, 1874, by Bishop
Daniel S. Tuttle at the Episcopal Cathedral in Salt Lake City.
In March, 1876, came to Cheyenne for the purpose of organiz-
ing a stage and express line to the gold diggings in the Black
Hills (Cheyenne to Deadwood Line).

Organized the Deadwood Stage Line

Organized and operated the Cheyenne-Deadwood lines with
several mail, stage and express lines in other territories. Tn
1882, went into the live stock business, buying about 12,000
head of mixed cattle and putting them on the range at Rawhide
Buttes. This caused me a very heavy financial loss. Prom
1889 to 1898, followed mining, more or less.

Early Cheyenne Enterprises

I have always taken a great interest in the upbuilding of
Cheyenne. Organized and built the gas works throughout the
city; also, organized and built a street railway through most
of the business streets, including a line over the viaduct to the
South side of Cheyenne, the cemetery and then to Camp Carlin,
towards Fort Russell. Our company operated at a loss for
some considerable time. It became necessary to take up the
track over the city and turn the whole business into the junk
pile. Was one of a company of Cheyenne men who built an
iron foundry and operated it for a time, when it, too, went
into the junk pile on account of dull times.

Appointed Territorial Treasurer

Was appointed territorial treasurer, being the first officer
to occupy the then new Capitolv building. Served for some
.time after the territory became a state. Served on the school
board for nine years, being president of the board during the
entire term of nine years. Served as cpunty treasurer for four
years. Was appointed by President Wilson, in May, 1913, as
Receiver of Public Moneys and Disbursing Agent of the United
States Land Office, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

10 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

Explorers and Missionaries As Related to Bishop Thomas

Cheyenne, Wyoming, December 12, 1918.
The Right Reverend N. S. Thomas,

Cheyenne, Wyoming.
My dear Bishop :

I have from memory and memorandum, also have quoted
from various articles by more competent writers than I, given
you a few pages, mostly gathered from old mountaineers dur-
ing the years 1857 to 1880, and from such writers as Mr.
Goldthwaites, in some of the well-published magazines — The
Century, Harpers, etc. Having had the experience of the over-
land trail from old Westport, Missouri, to Walla Walla, Oregon,
I know I have described the trail correctly in its correct course
across the continent. I have also of Lewis and Clark given the
most authentic details from personally having .traveled over
their circuitous meanderings to explore a then unknown coun-
try. These few pages you can peruse at your leisure.

In 1810-11, Wilson P. Hunt, Ramsey Crooks, Robert McClel-
lan and Donald McKenzie, with a party of trappers, voyagers
and Indian traders left Missouri for Astor's trading post at the
mouth of the Columbia River. Their course was in a north-
westerly direction crossing the Big Blue River, bearing west
to the Platte River, crossing the Platte, then up the north side
of that river to the Sweetwater to Browns Park, Green River,
Hams Fork, Soda Springs, Fort Hall — then only a rendezvous
for the trappers — Snake River, or Lewis and Clarks Fork, of
the Columbia River, thence westward as best they could to
Astor's trading post.

In 1832, four chiefs of the Flathead tribe arrived in St.
Louis from what is now known as Idaho and Washington.
The chiefs went to General William Clark (Lewis's old com-
rade, then Superintendent of Indian Affairs), and asked him
to send the Bible to their people, with men to interpret it.
There were two brothers, Daniel and Jason Lee, with three
young men as lay readers, all going with Mr. Samuel J. Wyeth
on his expedition in 1834, in response to the call of the Metho-
dist Church, made by the request of the Flathead chiefs' appeal,
and of which the entire country heard. The Lees were the
first missionaries from the United States to the Pacific slope of
the Rocky Mountains. They established posts on the Willam-
ette River and other parts of Oregon. These posts became
rallying points for immigrants, who were then beginning to
cross the continental divides and who made the first overland
trail.

In 1835, the Reverend Samuel Parker and Doctor Marcus
Whitman (a physician), were sent out by the Presbyterian

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 11

society to look over the field as missionaries. In 1836 Whitman
returned overland. These parties, both the men and their
wives, were later massacred by the Cayouses (Indians).

The missionary who did more to civilize the Flathead, Pond-
relies and other Indians, than any other one missionary, was
Father Peter John De Smet, a Jesuit. He established and built
churches and schools among the Indians of the Northwest.
On my trip in 1863, through that great Northwestern country,
I found many little buildings and missions established and
constructed of logs with a cross over the doors.

John C. Fremont in 1842 was sent out to explore the coun-
try of both the Missouri River and Rocky Mountains. Fre-
mont's published work in 1843, pointed out the best camping
places, etc., which were followed by later immigrants. In the
spring of 1943, a large party of men gathered at the mouth of
the Kansas River. Their names were James "W. Nesmyth,
Jesse Applegate, David Waldo, John G. Baker, Thomas G.
Naylor and Peter Burnett. They were the real leaders of the
party who left that point on June 1, 1843. These pioneers were
the builders of the great West, especially the great states of
Oregon and Washington, then territories, or rather the Terri-
tory of Oregon. In many places along the route traveled by
these men and their party, their names were carved on various
bluffs, rocks and trees and there are places at this date where
these can be seen. In the party were many women and chil-
dren, two hundred wagons, seven hundred head of the finest of
cattle and horses, household furniture, plows, seeds, etc. It
was, in fact, the segment of a great nation moving, and such
men never retreat. The gravest of the many dangers in making
such a trip was the great "Bugaboo," the American Desert,
and the fear of suffering for water ; consequently, the route
from their starting point was for the first 100 miles on the
old Santa Fe Trail to a point called Council Grove. From thence
across to the Big Blue River, then to the Platte River, northerly
up the Platte and North Platte to Courthouse Rock, Chimney
Rock, old Fort Laramie, then following up the Platte to the
mouth of Sweetwater River to Independence Rock, bearing
north again of Bear Lake to the mouth of Port Neuff
to Soaake River, and Fort Hall, th£n across the lava beds to
the Boise River and down the 'Columbia to the Willamette
River. That was really the marking of the Overland Trail,
which was followed — and no other — until 1857.

In 1844 the immigration was very great to the Oregon
country. Points of leaving the Missouri River had changed

12 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

from the mouth of the Kaw River — Kansas City now — to Coun-
cil Bluffs. From there they followed the Platte until striking
the trail of the Nesmyth-Baker trail, then following their road
to Blacks and Hams Pork west of Green River. At that point
there were trappers who informed them that by going west-
wardly the road could be shortened ; consequently, many times
trains of wagons would divide up, taking different routes, some
going to Fort Hall trading post, others leading around the
north of the great Salt Lake to the Humboldt, thence northerly
again. As late as 1863, I saw many places where the immi-
grants had been attacked by Indians ; such evidences as graves
with headboards of pine wood giving names of persons and
cause of death, etc. ; old rusted iron of wagons such as the
tires and bolts, and broken guns, etc. These battles had evi-
dently many times been fought off of the trail, showing that the
immigrants had by getting in the timber and fortifying, made
a great fight until death, and then by the Indians were scalped,
skeletons usually showing arrow wounds, as the . weapons
of the Indians at that date (1844), were mostly the bow
and arrow. Many dangers that beset the immigrants other
than Indians were the immense herds of buffalo constantly
crossing the trail, stampeding their stock. This occurred 011
the plains. The ferrying of the large rivers in time of high
water was all done by removing the wagon boxes, calking them,
then loading every man, woman and child into them and rowing
them across, which was very dangerous. Live stock were all
compelled to swim.

When England abandoned the territory below the 49th
parallel the trail had done the work which its founders had
contemplated. Such men as Baker, Nesmyth, Naylor and Peter
H. Burnett, and before them Wyeth, won Oregon to us and for
us. Parties of immigrants in largely increasing numbers in
1845-46 (many of them in '46 Mormons), and 1847, then crossed
the Missouri at St. Joseph and Council Bluffs and other points.
From that time on there was a constant line of prairie schooners
during the summer months up to 1858-59, when Ben Holliday
took the contract of the United States government of trans-
porting the United States mail from St. Joseph, Missouri, to
Salt Lake City three times a week. Later it was increased
to daily. It was operated on the Oregon Overland Trail prac-
tically following it to Fort Bridger, sweeping past the stream of
wagons, which averaged about 15 miles a day ; the stage coach
averaging 120 miles every 24 hours.

There is no question as to the line of the old Overland Trail.
In 1862, during the months of September, October and Novem-

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 13

ber, Mr. Holliday had the stock and equipment of the stage
line moved from the North Platte to the South Platte to Denver,
then via Fort Collins, Fort Halleck, Dale Creek, Laramie Eiver,
Cooper Creek to North Platte, crossing thence over Bridger's
Pass, Barrel Springs, Bitter Creek, Green River, Hams Fork,
where it connected with the old North Platte-South Pass Trail.

In the month of September, 1840, Captain Howard Stans-
burg, who was sent out by the government in an effort to learn
the best and most feasible, safest and shortest route for the
great immigration then certain to leave the states for the Pacific
Coast territories, left the Platte River at the mouth of Lodge
Pole Creek, following it to Chugwater Crossing near Iron
Mountain, making from there to the Laramie River on to Salt
Lake. Stansburg did not recommend in his report to the gov-
ernment that this was a route which immigrants should under-
take in crossing the continent, consequently there was 110
attempt to make this route a practicable immigrant road. In
1857 some venturesome immigrants left the main Overland
Trail on account of scarcity of grass on that route, caused by
the great numbers of immigrants with their livestock having
camped at every available camping place where there was water
and grass on the old North Platte-Sweetwater-South Pass
Route. The 1849 California rush to the gold excitement fol-
lowed the old trail to the great Salt Lake, usually keeping north
of the lake to the Humboldt, across the Sierra Nevada range
to the Sacramento River.

Any arrangements that are, or may be made, to raise funds
to erect markers or monuments along this old national highway
by the government or the state of Wyoming, or any association
attempting to mark the old Overland Route in the state, could
not but agree that the North Platte, Courthouse Rock, Chimney
Rock, Fort Laramie, Independence Rock, Sweetwater, South
Pass, Green River, Hams Fort, Fort Hall to the Columbia
River, is the only route generally used and known over the
world as the old Overland Trail.

Such heroic men and women who from 1806 to 1869 trav-
ersed this great trail, deserve a name on the monuments of
fame for great deeds. Few people at this date can realize the
dangers and hardships which the pioneers endured, that did
more for our great empire than any class of men since that
time. In a larger measure than any other thoroughfare in
the United States, the Oregon Trail from the mouth of the
Kansas or Kaw River (old West Port) to the mouth of the
Columbia River: was the trail the immense stream of immi-
grants made in their march to the Western Empire.

14 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

A question that has many times been printed and is being
asked as a matter of history, is the question as to who was
the first white man to cross the Rocky Mountains, the great
American Desert, over the Sierra Nevada Range to the Pacifis
Coast. Many names have been mentioned by various writers
and men who claim that distinction. From all I have ever been
able to learn from men, who in the earliest of pioneer times,
such as Kit Carson, Jim Bridger, Jim Baker and Jim Beck-
wourth, who had talked with traders and trappers on the sub-
ject as to who was the first white man to penetrate the moun-
tains, that man was Jeldiah Smith, who in 1792 made the trip
alone across that great unknown at that time. If prior to that
time anyone other than natives had made the trip, it is not
known. Smith was a man of the Daniel Boone, Davey Crockett
type, and relied on his safety from his own courage.

Yours trulv,

LUKE VOORHEES.

Reminiscences of Pioneer Days As Published From Time to
Time in Wyoming Newspapers

Cheyenne from November 13, 1867, the date the track of the
Union Pacific Railroad was completed and trains running to
the town, during the winter of 1868, was one of the toughest
places on the railroad. Being the point that Denver and most
of the Territory of Colorado received their goods and supplies,
which were unloaded for the Colorado mines. All passengers
for Denver were transported from here by six-horse Concord
stages, from two to four departing and arriving daily, loaded
to the guards with passengers, baggage and express. There
were also hundreds of mule and ox trains hauling freight to
Denver. The mule skinners, bull-whackers and stage drivers,
together with all kinds of the very worst sort of sports and
gamblers, followers of the building of the railroad, made Chey-
enne a wild west town, with all that the wild west implies. It
was practically devoid of all law and order.

The temporary government and the appointed officers of
the territory, who were appointed by the president after the
organic act creating a territorial government, left Cheyenne
as a town in the hands of the roughs and toughs, until the best
citizens and business men took it upon themselves to form a
committee of safety or vigilance committee. This committee
suppressed to a certain extent the lawlessness of the thieves
and murders by seeing that a number were hung or run out of
town. There not being any jails or place constructed to confine
a criminal, the best way was to deal out immediate punishment
by giving the toughts a trial and execution without any inter-

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 15

mission, which had a good effect on the bunco and three-card
monte gentry.

A Talk by Hon. Luke Vorhees to the Old Pioneers of Wyoming
Delivered at the State Fair, Douglas, Wyo., Sept. 30, 1915.

(Republished by request.)

The many immigrants, from 1810-11 up to recent years,
with their teams of oxen, were not exactly the type that some
great poet or some great man has said: "Westward the Star
of Empire takes it way." This has ever been the history of
the early immigrant, who with his one yoke of oxen, turned
his face toward the great western plains and mountains. The
natural conditions in the East soon became crowded, or at least
many of us felt that we should know something of the oppor-
tunities that were so alluringly described by what Fremont and
other mountaineers and men had written of the plains, deserts
and mountains. To me there was something fascinating about
the West, that created in me a feeling of unrest. Often the
pioneer endured hardships and privation — yet it is an experi-
ence he rather enjoys, he likes to be put to the test, and while
we are helping make the West, the West is helping to make men
of us. A man likes to be a creator of circumstances, not alto-
gether a creature of circumstances. He likes to lay his own
foundation to his own liking.

In quoting the old saying, "The Star of Empire moves
westward, ' ' if the Star of Empire did not move westward,
stagnation would be the result and decay would be inevitable.
One very good reason why the new is built better than the
old is, it has as a rule better material — only the best come West.
The idle and shiftless are not found among the earlier builders
of the great Western States. It has been the history of the
Western Pioneers — they built better than they knew. In look-
ing over what has been done in our state and country, we are
astonished at the great progress that has been made. You who
are here today, in ten years from now those that may be
alive, and who I hope of you that are alive at that time, may
meet here — you can call the attention of the newcomers to the
great changes made in ten years. Lands that can now be
bought for $25.00 per acre will be selling at from $100 to $500
per acre. Much of this modern talk and the notoriety some
persons who are placing monuments over the Oregon Trail to
perpetuate the memory of the old California-Oregon broad road
are instead attempting to call your attention to the fact that the
makers of the great Overland were merely plodders and their
memory should be forgotten, so that these sentimentalists can

16 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

make a name for themselves — not for you nor your memory.
You, that with your ox teams, made it possible for a few who
at this date can in a Pullman car move over what they imagine
w*as the Oregon Trail in 1842, erecting some markers in-
scribed thereon, erected by the G. O. P. or D. A. R. or some
such society, so that the ceremonies are conducted by some
would-be hero, so that his or her name may appear in modern
history. Does it not appear to you old plainsmen and moun-
taineers present here today, who have suffered all the privations
and hardships that early immigrants had to endure in the
fifties, I say, don't you think this momument business at the
expense of taxpayers of this state is a lot of sentimental rot?
The many immigrants who lost their lives by starving for want
of food, water — murdered, many of them, by Indians, names
many of them that history has not — on the trail they helped to
make the tablets or stones erected should read to their memory,
not those that are inscribing their names on these shafts, as
having, as they imagine, achieved great and lasting glory.

I know and I believe a few of you who are here today
know, that a trail made by the Indians, who inhabited this
part of Wyoming long before the year 1800; at least we are
all, I believe, well satisfied that conditions of, and the forma-
tion of, the ground over which the would-be famous historians
dedicate and consecrate. What was here thousands of years
before the hardy immigrants, who risked their lives in making
Oregon and California and enlarging the trail to these terri-
tories and by the risk of their all, caused historians to write
of and advertise the great West. It would be just as consistent
a proposition for some member of the Wyoming legislature to
ask for an appropriation, get it passed — the governor oppoint
a committee to build, erect, dedicate and consecrate a spire,
shaft, or great monument pointing to the heavens for the great
benefit and good of the present and recent results of electricity.
You know that it has existed here since the creation of the
heavens and the earth. I say, it would be just as consistent
to ignore Benjamin Franklin, Mr. Edison and others, who have
harnessed electricity, made it so useful and beneficial to man-
kind. Dedicate to electricity, not to the great men that made
it possible for use.

I visited the Panama Exposition in April 16, 17, 18 and 19,
1914, at San Francisco; a group of statuary that impressed
me most was the one standing in the California building. In
the center of the group stands a yoke of oxen, representing a
fine type of the immigrant with his old-fashioned wagon and
the man and team resting in the road. The man leaning up

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 17

against the oxen, which men who crossed the plains in the fifties
have seen, I presume, hundreds of times, when after making
a hard pull up a hill or through a stretch of sand while the
oxen were resting the drivers would lean up against their
team.

I quote you Secretary of the Interior Lane, in his speech at
the opening of the Panama Exposition :

"The sculptors who have ennobled these buildings with
their work have surely given full wing to their fancy in seeking
to symbolize the tale which this exposition tells. Among these
figures I have sought for one which would represent to me the
significance of this great enterprise.

"Prophets, priests and kings are here, conquerors and mys-
tical figures of ancient legend ; but these do not speak the word
I hear.

My eye is drawn to the least conspicuous of all — the modest
figure of a man standing beside two oxen, which look down
upon the court of the nations, where East and West come face
to face.

Towering above his gaunt figure is the canopy of his
prairie schooner.

"Gay conquistadores ride beside him, and one must look
hard to see this simple, plodding figure.

"Yet that man is to me the one hero of this day. "Without
him we would not be here.

"Without him banners would not fly, nor bands play.

I 1 Without him San Francisco would not be today the gayest
city of the globe.

"Shall I tell you who he is, this key figure in the arch
of our enterprise?

"That slender, dauntless, plodding, modest figure is the
American pioneer.

" To me he is, indeed, far more ; he is the adventurous spirit
of our restless race.

"Long ago he set sail with Ulysses. But Ulysses turned
back.

"He sailed again with Columbus for the Indies and heard
with joy the quick command, 'Sail on, sail on and on.' But
the westward way was barred.

"He landed at Plymouth Rock and with his dull-eyed oxen,

18 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

has made the long, long journey across our continent. His way
has been hard, slow, momentous.

"He made his path through soggy, sodden forest, where the
storms of a thousand years conspired to block his way.

"He drank with delight of the brackish water where the
wrild beasts wallowed.

"He trakked through the yielding, treacherous snows j
forded swift-running waters; crept painfully through rocky
gorges where Titans had been at play ; clambered up mountain
sides, the sport of avalanche and of slide; dared the limitless
land without horizon ; ground his teeth upon the bitter dust of
the desert; fainted beneath the flail of the raw and ruthless
sun ; starved, thirsted, fought ; was cast down but never broken ;
and he never turned back.

"Here he stands at last beside this western sea, the incar-
nate soul of his insatiable race — the American pioneer.
"Pity? He scorns it. .
"Glory? He does not ask it.

"His sons and daughters are scattered along the path he
has come.

"Each fence post tells where some one fell.

* ' Each farm, brightening now with the first smile of spring,
was once a battlefield, where men and women fought the chok-
ing horrors of starvation and isolation.

"His is this one glory — he found the way; his the adventure.

"It is life that he felt, life that compelled him.

"That strange, mysterious thing that lifted him out of the
primeval muck and sent him climbing upward — that same
strange thing has pressed him onward, held out new visions to
his wondering eyes, and sung new songs into his welcoming
ears.

"And why?

' l In his long wandering he has had time to think.

"He has talked with the stars, and they have taught him
not to ask why.
'"He is here.

"He has seated himself upon the golden sand of this distant
shore and has said to himself that it is time for him to gather his
sons about him that they may talk; that they may tell tales
of things done.

"Here on this stretch of shore he has built the outermost
camp fire of his race and has gathered his sons that they may

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 19

tell each other of the progress they have made — utter man's
prayers, things done for man.

"His sons are they who have cut, continents in twain, who
have slashed God's world as with a knife, who have gleefully
made the rebellious seas to lift man's ship across the barrier
mountains of Panama.

"This thing the sons of the pioneer have done — it is their
prayer, a thing done for man.

"And here, too these sons of the pioneer will tell of other
things they do — how they fill the night with jewelled light
conjured from the melting snows of the far-off mountains;
how they talk together across the world in their own voices;
how they baffle the eagles in their flight through the air and
make their way within the spectral gloom of the soundless
sea; how they reach into the heavens and draw down food
out of the air to replenish the wasted earth.

"These things and more have they done in these latter days,
these sons of the pioneer.

"And in their honor he has fashioned this beautiful city of
dreams come true.

"In their honor has he hung the heavens with flowers and
added new stars to the night.

' ' In blue and gold, in scarlet and purple, in the green of the
shallow sea and the burnt brown of the summer hillside, he has
made the architecture of the centuries to march before their
eyes in column, colonade and court.

"We have but to anchor his quaint covered wagon to the
soil and soon it rises transformed into the vane of some mighty
cathedral.

"For after all, Rome and Rheims, Salisbury and Seville,
are not far memories to the pioneer.

"Here, too, in this city of the nation, the pioneer has called
together all his neighbors that we may learn one of the other.

"We are to live together side by side for all time.

"The seas are but a highway between the doorways of the
nations. i

"We are to know each other.

"Perhaps strained nerves may sometimes fancy the gesture
of the pioneer to be abrupt, and his voice we know has been
hardened by the winter winds.

20 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

"But his neighbors will soon come to know that he has no
hatred in his heart, for he is without fear; that he is without
envy, for none can add to his wealth.

The long journey of this slight modest figure that stands
beside the oxen is at an end.

"The waste places of the earth have been found.

"But adventure is not to end.

' ' Here in this house will be taught the gospel of an advanc-
ing democracy) — strong, valiant, confident, conquering — up-
borne and typified by the independent, venturesome spirit of
that mystic materialist, the American pioneer.

Organization of Wyoming Territory

In October, 1859, I rode from Pawnee Buttes north a few
miles to a heavy wooded butte, now called Pine Bluffs, (now
denuded of the "pine"), which overlooked a beautiful plain
or valley. It being the time of year when the buffalo were
migrating to the south, the entire valley as far as I could see
was one continuous herd of buffalo. A most beautiful sight,
although I had for two years been almost constantly in sight
of large herds of fine buffalo. This picture seemed to be the
most perfect of all of the great plain's panoramas.

I last fall, 1912, passed over the same valley and the con-
trast was a most interesting one. Instead of the vast herds of
buffalo, the valley was much of it covered, or dotted with fields
and stacks of the finest of different kinds of grain. It seemed
to be a wonderful transformation, although fifty-three years
had elapsed, but it seemed only a few months from the time I
first viewed the buffalo, until the neat wheat fields appeared.

On July 25th, 1868, the act to provide a temporary govern-
ment for the territory of Wyoming, became a law. The area
of the territory was 97,625 square miles. Federal appointments
for nearly all offices were made during April, 1869, and on the
10th day of May following the governmental machinery was in
working order. The federal officers were: J. A. Campbell,
governor ; Edward M. Lee, secretary ; Church Howe, U. S. mar-
shal; J. M. Carey, United States attorney; John M. Howe,
chief justice ; J. W. Bingham and W. S. Jones, associate jus-
tices ; C. D. Berger, surveyor general ; Frank Wolcott, receiver
of public land office. The first legislative assembly in Wyo-
ming organized at Cheyenne, October 12, 1869, with William
Bright as president of the council and S. M. Curran speaker
of the house. The legislature adjourned sine die on the 10th
of December, after having enacted the first laws that were
considered really binding by the people of this section. The
session was a harmonious one. This was in olden days.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 21

I often heard in 1868 and 1869, claims made by various old-
timers as to who built the first house on the Cheyenne townsite.
In conversation with J. R. Whitehead, who was one of the
very first persons to settle in Cheyenne, he said :

"Well, one fine day early in July, 1867, four or five hundred
of us pitched our tents here, where there was not a sign of
civilization. About half of us woke up at daylight the next
morning, to find that the other half were living in board shan-
ties called houses."

That is about the history of one who built the first house
in Cheyenne.

Everyone of the first appointees by the president, who com-
posed the first officers of the territory of Wyoming, have all
passed to that great beyond, excepting now Governor J. M.
Carey, who was the first United States attorney for Wyoming.

Governor Carey has been appointed and elected to many
high offices in Wyoming since his coming to the territory.
After the office of United States attorney, he was appointed
one of the associate justices, later elected mayor of Cheyenne,
elected to congress, and served until the enabling act by con-
gress for a state. After it became a state, he was elected
United States senator, and in 1910 was elected governor of the
state.

Reminiscences of Old Timer

In May 10, 1869, I was at the driving of the golden spike
and laying of the last rail connecting the Union Pacific and Cen-
tral Pacific railroads at Promontory, Utah. It was a most nota-
ble gathering of great men. Men that had just completed the
greatest feat of railroad building then known in America. They
were men that did great things, workers who distinguished
themselves by their great works in the west. It seemed to me at
that time that I had never been so impressed at any gathering I
had attended as the meeting on that occasion. Oakes Ames,
Oliver Ames, Sidney Dillon, Jay Gould, General Dodge, G.
Francis Train, General Sherman and General Sheridan of the
Union Pacific, and Leland Stanford, D. 0. Mills, Crocker, Mac-
Kay, Flood and 0 'Brien of the Central Pacific, and many others
'that I had some acquaintance with in mining camps in Cali-
fornia, Montana, Nevada and Idaho. Speeches made there were
short but to the point. The builders had confidence in the
ultimate good results as to it paying the company and the
United States government, which had furnished means and
money, yet I recollect many ; in fact, a great many, who were
so skeptical that failure and abandoning the road would be
the ultimate result as they saw it at that time; I recollect of
hearing some gentlemen discussing the railroad from Omaha

22 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

to San Francisco and one remarked that within twenty years
from the laying of the last rail there would be but two streaks
of rust to show for the great work and cost to the government.
The builders were as sure of about what has since proved to
be the result as it was possible for men who look ahead and
are workers to make a great enterprise a success. Many old-
timers now are as skeptical on dry farming as they were on
the Pacific railroads, and now from long residence in the west
I believe that in twenty years the great number of disbelievers
in good farming will be as greatly surprised at the productive
possibilities of the plains between Cheyenne and Pine Bluffs.

Company Out at Pine Bluffs

In the spring of 1857 some venturesome men with good
teams and well supplied with arms and provisions for any
emergency that might come up, left the old route and followed
up the Lodge Pole Creek to where Sidney, Nebraska, now
stands and on west to the Pine Bluffs (known then as the
wooded bluffs), which are south of the town of Pine Bluffs.
This place became famous as a camping ground after the im-
migration followed Lodge Pole Creek.

The fine springs, abundant grass and pine wood enabled
them to do a month's washing, for up to this point the only
fuel they had was buffalo chips.

Thus it was that Pine Bluffs became a great continuous
encampment from about May 15th to October 1st for many
years.

Few people at the present time realize how much enjoy-
ment there was at this Pine Bluffs camping ground, with pure
water and good wood for cooking the choice cuts of young
buffalo, black tail deer and antelope all being plentiful and
very fat.

During the building of the Union Pacific railroad, more
especially the summer of 1867, Canada Bill worked up and
down the little towns which sprang up as the road progressed.
He would appear with his three dirty cards, which he would
show the lookers-on and tell them how to guess the proper
cards so as to win $20 or $50, just an easy matter, as Canada
would explain, but the card bet on by the suckers always
lost.

Bill said he would pay the management of the railroad
$5,000 a year for permission to exert himself with three cards
and would guarantee not to molest or work anyone except
ministers or Mormons.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 23

A Jail Tent Moved by Prisoners

I recollect an incident which happened in the summer of
1868. A couple of old fellows, J. W. Mclntyre and James
McNasser, from Denver, who came up to look over Cheyenne,
and being of a convivial turn of mind, imbibed pretty freely
of Missouri whiskey, which caused them to be over-boisterous ;
so much so that the acting city marshal concluded it was safer
to put them in the calaboose, which consisted of an ordinary
tent, 20 by 20, set up without anything more than the canvas.
During the night after sobering up so they could think sanely
and consider their real condition, as it was the first time either
of them had ever been in jail, they concluded to play a joke on
the city officers. They moved the tent and set it up about
a mile east of town. The city marshal upon going to where the
tent had stood the night before, was amazed to find neither
tent nor prisoners. He at once called for assistance to discover
the whereabouts of the tent and prisoners. They were finally
found near the banks of Crow Creek.

The reason they gave the city marshal for moving was that
they wanted a drink and in order not to break jail they believed
the safest way was to move the whole shooting match (as they
explained it) where there was clear water to drink, the marshal
found them in the tent with a pail of water and a tin cup,
prisoners of the city.

The fact is they were both men of prominence. Mclntyre
was a mining man and McNassar was the owner and proprietor
of the Planters House, Denver, then the best hotel in the
west.

EXPERIENCES WITH INDIANS

Attacks and Robberies On the Stage Line. General Crook

Sends Troops. Killing of Henry T. Brown and Thomas

Hunton, Military Operations, in 1876 and 1877

Among my leading experiences in the west with Indians
and stage robbers was on our Black Hills stage lines from
February, 1876, until 1882. I came from Salt Lake City to
Cheyenne, February 17, 1876, to organize the Cheyenne and
Black Hills Stage, Mail & Express Company. The excitement
being at a white heat about the fabulous gold diggings in the
Black Hills. I, with the parties interested in the enterprise,
were anxious to get the line in operation at once, which I did
as soon as possible. I had buyers out getting horses as fast
as possible, as I had to have 600 head. I ordered 30 Concord
coaches made as early as possible and shipped to Cheyenne
with all haste.

24 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

I found many rumors of Indian fights with the prospectors
and miners in the hills and on the road from Cheyenne to Dead-
wood.

New Stage Line Gets Under Way

I succeeded in getting some horses and mules with a fair
equipment, enough to start a tri-weekly line, which was inade-
quate to carry the rush of tenderfoot prospectors. I, with all
dispatch possible, succeeded in making the line a daily six-
horse Concord coach 'line. Both horses and coaches were of
the very best. I encountered all sorts of trouble with men on
account of constant reports of Indian raids on the line, and
fights that General Crook with his troops had with the red-
skins. On March 25, one of my men — Jake Harker — in carry-
ing the mail from Hat Creek to Camp Robinson, was killed
and scalped, the mail sack cut open, letters scattered around
the dead body of Harker, found by men I sent out to look for
him. This was the first one of my men that the Indians killed,
and naturally made them more cautious, some of them refusing
to take their drives over the road.

On March 22, I received the following message :

"Fort Laramie, Wyo.
"Luke Voorhees, •*•

' ' Cheyenne.

"Word was received here tonight by messenger direct from
Custer City of a fight between some miners and a band of Sioux
Indians of the tribe of Chief Crazy Horse, on Deadwood Creek,
about 60 miles northwest of Custer City. The miners, it seems,
attacked the Indians, killing 13 of the redskins. One white
miner killed. The Indians had been stealing the miners ' horses.
The advice from the north is for you to expect more trouble
on your stage line from the Indians, who are on the war-
path.

"JOHN FORD,
"Agent at Fort Laramie."

"Fort Fetterman, March 29, 1876.
"Luke Voorhees,

"Cheyenne, Wyo.

"General Crook left here for Omaha yesterday morning,
We can hardly believe that General Crook will be taken from
this department, as he is the best Indian fighter known at
this time. It is also reported that General Hazen left the
Missouri river two weeks ago with a force of cavalry for the

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 25

Big Horn country. If General Crook is left in command, the
combined forces of Hazen, Crook and General Ouster, they can
make a, goodly number of good Indians.

"FORD,
"Agent.

On April 13, 1876, I received the following message :
"Luke Voorhees, "Fort Laramie.

' ' Cheyenne, Wyo.

"A soldier who belongs to the Fourth Infantry arrived
here yesterday and reports he and five others were attacked
by a small band of Indians a few miles south of Cheyenne
River, near your station, and a man named Norman Storms,
of Iowa, was shot, killed and scalped. Another man was
wounded, but not seriously. We brought him away with us.
The Indians are very numerous, he reports, and are running
off much stock. And your men are in great danger at, all your
stations north of Fort Laramie, and we are much alarmed about
your men at the stations. "FORD,

"Agent."

Indians Always Were a Menace

After I had received word from Fort Laramie, March 22,
1876, that there would undoubtedly be more trouble along the
stage line between Cheyenne and Deadwood, from the Sioux
Indians, I addressed a letter to General Crook, asking him
when convenient to inform me so far as he could of the move-
ments of the Indians and about when and where he would
be likely to attack Spotted Tail and his band.

I, on March 23, received a copy of the following message :

"Fort Reno via Fort Fetterman, March 23, 1876.
"Lieut. Gen. Phillip Sheridan,
"Fort Laramie, Wyo.

"We arrived here today after one of the hardest cam-
paigns I ever experienced in the west. We succeeded in
breaking up Crazy Horse's band of Cheyenne and Minne-
conajos, killing more than 100 Indians and burning their village
on Little Powder River. An immense quantity of ammunition,
arms and dried meats were stored in tfheir lodges, all of which
we destroyed.

* * Our loss was four men killed and eight wounded.

"Snow has fallen every day during the campaign, the
weather being intensely cold.

"I cut loose from the wagon train on the 17th and scouted
Tongue and Rosebud Rivers.

26 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

' ' General Reynolds, with a part of the command, was pushed
forward on a trail leading to the village of Crazy Horse, at the
mouth of the Little Powder. This he attacked and destroyed.

"Crazy Horse had with him in all about one-half the Indians
of the reservation.

"I would again urgently recommend the transfer of these
Indians to the agencies on the Missouri River.

"I am satisfied that if Sitting Bull is on this side of the
Yellowstone that he is camped at the mouth of Powder River.

(Signed) "GEO. CROOK,

"Brigadier General."

My great danger was caused from the certainty that a
part of these Indians would cross our road from Cheyenne to
Deadwood on returning to Red Cloud agency. Should they
cross our road at a time when any of our stages might be in
sight or near a station, they would clean up the outfit. General
Crook was constantly after them and pushed them for all that
was out, yet there were some eastern philanthropists who were
stirring up and agitating General Crook's conduct, as it was
said by them he was killing too many Indians. That he was
not dealing kindly with them.

Loses Friend Through Work of Indians

After the Indians shot Henry E. Brown on the evening of
April 19, 1876, my men at Hat Creek stage station, waited all
night for the stage to arrive from Custer City, not hearing
any word from it, three of the men, with good guns and horses,
started out north in search of it. Knowing that Indians had
been seen on the stage road the day before, they were careful
and cautious, being men with experience in Indian warfare.
No Indians were discovered that morning. Brown was found
lying in the road but not dead at that time. They made a
litter and carried him to Hat Creek station. A messenger was
sent to Fort Laramie with a message to me to try and have a
surgeon from Fort Laramie sent to him. I wired the command-
ing officer, asking for a surgeon and escort, if possible, to go
north with all speed and try and give Brown such surgical aid
as could be rendered, but on the arrival of the surgeon he at
once, on making the examination, pronounced the wound fatal,
although Brown lived about 24 hours through great suffering.
I made an all-night ride with relays of horses every ten
miles, to try and reach Brown before he died, as he begged
the men to ride their best, regardless of the horses, but keep
going as he must see me before he died. I arrived at Fort
Laramie from Cheyenne in nine hours, changed horses and

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 27

struck out for Hat Creek. At about 1 o'clock in the morning
I met the escort with the remains of Brown at Rawhide Buttes.
I telegraphed on my arrival at Fort Laramie to Cheyenne for an
embalmer to come on to meet me so the body could be properly
cared for, to be shipped from Cheyenne to Omaha, at his
home.

Efficient General Had a Big Task

The Indian troubles on our Black Hills stage lines during
the years of 1876 and 1877 were many. General Crook, with
troops under him, had to cover the country from Cheyenne to
the Big Horn River. The greater portion of Red Cloud, Crazy
Horse and Spotted Tail bands were supposed to be under the
control of the Indian agent at the Red Cloud agency, which
at that time was about where Crawford, Nebraska, now stands.
It was impossible for the agent to control the Indians, or in
any way keep then on their reservations. General Crook had
so much territory to cover that it was impossible for him to
guard every part of the north country. All of us who knew
General Crook knew him to be one of the bravest men and
always on the watch. With such officers as Colonel Stantonr
Captain Egan and many other brave officers, and with Frank
Gruard, a half-breed, for his chief scout, caused the Indians
to move often and quickly.

Neither the severe cold weather nor the want of comfort-
able clothing and tents deterred General Crook from pushing
the Indians. There were some failures on account of an
officer not doing his whole duty, such as the failure of Cap-
tain Moore allowing the Indians to escape with their ponies
after they had (a large number of at least 700) been captured.
Moore's battalion was a strong one in numbers and brave,
only needing a brave leader. Colonel Stanton, with a small
number of troops, took up a position when the Indians made the
attack .to recover their ponies and by enfilading fire (his
bugler sounding the charge (gave the savages to understand
the whole of Moore's command was ready for them, but as
Captain Moore failed to go to Stanton 's aid, the Indians suc-
ceeded in recovering all of their ponies. Had that been pre-
vented the Indians would have been glad to make another
treaty. Captain Moore 's battalion was a part of General Reyn-
olds' command. t

Blunder Cost Troops Valuable Victory

It was a serious blunder of Reynolds and Moore, and in vio-
lation of General Crook's orders. The orders were to shoot all
ponies captured, as it was a well known fact that Indians will
not fight without ponies to ride. General Reynolds was court-

28 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

martialed for his failure to carry out orders. Another inex-
cusable blunder was when General Reynolds left the battlefield,
not even taking with him his wounded or burying his dead.
The Indians scalped and mutiliated both the dead and the
wounded. The excuse Reynolds offered was that his men were
and had been on half rations, the cold weather so severe (it
being below zero), the general saw his men freezing their hands
and feet, so he did not feel so much to blame in making camp
and preparing hot coffee for his half-famished soldiers.

All Was Not Sadness and Sorrow

Of course there were many ludicrous and funny incidents
during such times, as well as the serious features, such as hav-
ing one of your best friends killed. On my trip from Fort Lara-
mie to Cheyenne with the remains of Mr. Brown, there were
no signs of Indians on the road, yet there had been two small
bands seen the day before in the vicinity of what is now the
Wheatland settlement, but it was an old saying with the moun-
tain men, when there were no signs of Indians, was the most
imminent danger. It came very near being the case on this trip.
I had not passed Bordeau ranch (then owned by County Com-
missioner Hunton), but about four miles, when about 18 buck
Indians swooped down on a ranch in broad daylight and cut
out a fine band of horses and pushed them over in the hills.
This was done about 30 minutes after I had passed there. A
man who saw the Indians rode to the Hunton ranch, near
where a corporal and seven soldiers were stationed. I had got
permission from General Crook to have them stationed there
for a time to protect the mails and to give confidence to the
freighters and immigrants passing over the road.

Thomas Hunton, with the soldiers and such men as he could
get together quickly, well armed and mounted, hurriedly start-
ed to recover the stock. Hunton and the men with him on over-
taking the Indians found that a few of the reds were making for
Laramie Peak, while the main warriors were hid in the rocks
and bluffs awaiting the soldiers and men. The Indians knew
that the settlers along the Chugwater were men who know how
to fight Indians where the numbers were anywhere near equal.
But Hunton on getting sight of the Indians saw that they out-
numbered his crowd two to one, and the Indians being down
among the boulders, had a great advantage over the whites.
At the second fusilade by the warriors, Hunton said: "Boys,
we have to get out of this and quick, at that," as there were
two of the soldiers already killed or fatally wounded. Some of
the men were much better mounted than others, and as it
seemed to be a case to get out quick, they did their best with

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 29

spurs and quirt. One of the men, named Ash, on an old mule
which had not smelled the Indians, and was falling behind.
Ash called out frantically: "Boys, don't leave me; we can
whip them if we stick together and fight. Don't leave a fellow
to do all the fighting. ' ' But in the meantime Ash was doing all
the persuading he could with his spurs and quirt to follow
when an Indian got up with a buffalo robe over him and gave
an Indian war whoop. It was magic to the mule. He lit out,
passing all of the others. Ash, in the meantime, had changed
his idea of whipping the Indians and was willing to leave,
which he did, saying as he and his old mule were speeding:
"Come on boys; they will kill all of us; there is a million of
them-"

PERILS AND TRIALS OF EARLY STAGE

COACH DAYS AND OTHER REMINISCENCES

(Published in State Leader On Its Golden Anniversary July

15, 1917)

It is Cheyenne's good fortune to be able to number among
her best loved citizens, one whose long and useful life has been
closely interwoven for some years beyond the span of a half
century, with the many activities which have gone to aid in the
material upbuilding of the state. Here in 1857, years before
the city of Cheyenne was dreamed of; here in the days when
the trapper, the prospector and the soldier of the frontier posts
were the only white inhabitants of what is now the state of
Wyoming ; there are precious few whose store of personal rem-
iniscences of the early days can rival those of Luke Yoorhees,
at present receiver of the federal land office.

Added to a most retentive memory of the scenes and places
of the early day, Mr. Voorhees has been blessed with the ability
to transfer his impressions to writing, and has left to posterity
a most wonderful collection of short articles, depicting per-
sonal experiences of the early stage coach days. He was inti-
mately associated with the first stage coach line between this
city and the Black Hills district; he has traveled every nook
and corner of the state in the days when the Redman held
sway and history was in its infancy, and his accounts of these
early day happenings and adventures cannot but be of extreme
interest on this anniversary of the founding of this city.

Some of the sketches from the pen of Mr. Voorhees here
presented have been published before ; some have never before
been set in type; all of them are worth reading or rereading
and preserving, for they form as true a pen picture of the real

30 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

conditions of early Wyoming life as is to be found. For the
privilege of their use in this edition, The State Leader extends
to Mr. Voorhees its deepest thanks.

Organization of Overland Stage Company
(By Luke Voorhees)

The Overland Stage Company was organized in 1857 by
Majors Russell and Waddell to operate a line of tri-weekly
mail, express and passenger stage coaches, from St. Joseph,
Missouri, via Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger, to Salt Lake City,
connecting there with Well's Fargo Company, who took the
mail on through to San Francisco. The great loss by constant
raids of Indians along the line, stealing horses and mules, kill-
ing of drivers and station keepers on the stage line, heavy losses
in their great freighting contracts with the government (the
company having 38,000 head of oxen and 5,000 mules) trans-
porting supplies for the various forts on the plains and the
moving of supplies for the army distributed over the frontier
country, altogether put the great firm in straightened circum-
stances financially. They had borrowed large amounts of
money of Ben Holliday in an attempt to make the pony express
pay. But it proved a failure financially. These, with other
losses, caused the firm to offer to turn over the stage line to
Ben Holliday.

Indians United in Raid On Stage

Majors Russell and Waddell had become famous over the
western plains as well as over the entire Overland trail. The
great stream of immigrants were nearly always in sight of some
of the immense trains of oxen or mules belonging to this firm.
Ben Holliday, after taking possession of the stage and express
business, reorganized and distributed additional men and horses
(this was during the winter of 1860-61), with grain and other
supplies along the line from St. Joseph, Missouri, through
Wyoming via Fort Laramie and Fort Bridger to Salt Lake City.
In March, 1862, as if every Indian in the country had been
especially instructed (the Snoshones and Bannocks in the west-
ern mountains and the Sioux on the plains) simultaneously
pounced upon every station between Bridgers Ferry and Bear
River (about where Evanston, Wyoming, now stands). They
captured the horses and mules on that division of the Overland
route. The stages, passengers and express were left standing at
stations. The Indians did not on that raid kill anyone except
at Split Rock on the Sweetwater. Holliday, being a little sty-
lish, had brought out from Pennsylvania a colored man who had

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 31

been raised in that state and who could only talk Pennsylvania
Dutch. The Indians, when they reached Split Rock, called on
black face, as they called him, to make heap biscuit, heap coff
(meaning' coffee), heap shug. Black Face said, "Nix come
roush." They then spoke to Black Face in Mexican. The
colored man shook his head and said, "Nixey. " Whereupon
they tried a little French half-breed talk. Black Face said
* ' Nix fershta. ' ' In the meantime the colored man seemed about
to collapse. Things looked serious for him. After a consulta-
tion they concluded to skin him alive and get heap rawhide.
Then they said heap shoot. So they killed the poor fellow and
helped themselves to the grub and left.

Tells of Passing of the Buff alo

In the year of 1857, I made a trip from Lawrence, Kansas,
west up the Kansas River to the confluence of the Smoky Hill
and Republican Rivers, thence in a westerly direction towards
the Rocky Mountains about 150 miles in the then buffalo coun-
try for a buffalo hunt. Saw a great many and killed six or
eight fat ones, all and more than we needed to dry or jerk,
as the old plainsman called that way of curing the meat. The
herds I saw on that hunt surprised me as to the great numbers
(being then a tenderfoot), were nothing to compare, not even
worth mentioning, to what I saw two years later during the
spring and summer of 1859, when on my trip up the Arkansas
river via Bents old fort to Pikes Peak (or bust) to where Den-
ver no\v stands, I made a trip across the country from the
South Platte to Pawnee Buttes, and as near as I can recollect
near where the town of Kimball, Nebraska, now stands. From
the South Platte as far north as I then traveled there was one
vast herd. To estimate or comprehend the number would have
been entirely futile. I had traveled over 200 miles, buffalo
being on all sides as far as the eye could see. To say there
was millions would not express it. As near as I can now recol-
lect locations, on coming over from Pawnee Buttes to some
pine-covered bluffs which are now called Pine Bluffs, was a
most magnificent sight. It was the thickest of the great herds,
and was in the vicinity of where the dry farmers are now
raising wheat and oats. The entire country east, west and
north from the bluffs that I stood upon that bright day in
August, 1859, was one brown-colored group of buffalo cows
and calves. The bulls evidently being further north. The very
old bulls of the herds of buffalo were relegated to the rear by
the younger and more vigorous fighters, such as the three- and
four-year-olds, which were in the advance. It was quite com-
mon for those of us who had saddle ponies to ride out among

32 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

the cows and calves and by a little fast riding the cows would
wildly run off, leaving the calves behind or in the rear of the
cows, we would then ride, circling around and the calves would
follow a horseman into camp, where we would pick out the
choicest and have fine veal roasting.

The present theory that those great herds of buffalo were
mostly slaughtered for their hides until about all were extinct,
is a very great mistake. Of course many of them were wan-
tonly slaughtered for their hides, but millions of them, that
mostly wintered in the Indian Nation country, were pushed
north, remaining through the very severe winters in the great
northwest, perishing by the hundreds of thousands.

First White Boy Born in Cheyenne

A writer once said no book of western reminiscences would
be of interest if some part or chapter did not date back to a
period when it deserved more than ordinary gossip.

For instance, when the Union Pacific Railroad Company, in
the early history of Cheyenne, offered a city lot to the first boy
born there, Mr. William Wise, one bright morning in December,
1867, stepped around, to the company 's office headquarters and
informed them of the recent birth and immediate christening
of George Cheyenne Wise. The exact date was December 6,
1867, but many fine Wyoming boys immediately followed, and
the first little pioneer was soon forgotten by the public.

Coming of Railroad was Great Event

November 13, 1867, the Union Pacific track reached Chey-
enne. The event caused much enthusiasm, music and display
of flags and all sorts of bunting ; with all of the various kinds of
gambling games displayed in the open on the sidewalks and
three-card monte down on the ground in the street to make
it appear more innocent to the pilgrim or tenderfoot, who
could almost see a fortune slipping from him for want of cour-
age to put his money on the sure winner of the three-card
game or the roulette wheel.

The celebration was one of the events such as was never
celebrated before in the Rocky Mountains. It has been claimed
by various religious denominations as to whom belongs the
honor of the first sermon preached in Cheyenne. A Rev. Gil-
bert, an Episcopal minister, held service in a tent some time
during the month of June, 1867. This seems to be a matter of
record in a report made by Mr. Gilbert, although the exact date
is not known here at this time. It is sufficiently a. fact that the
first sermon was preached by Mr. Gilbert. On July 22, 1867,
a Methodist minister preached a sermon in a partly finished

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 33

frame building. On August 4, 1867, a Baptist minister preached
a discourse, which was listened to by a large crowd of bull-
whackers, mule-skinners, cowboys and gamblers.

First Postoffice in Small Shanty

The services were held in an unfinished building belonging
to Judge J. R. Whitehead. During the month of September,
1867, Thomas McLeland was appointed postmaster of Chey-
enne and commenced his official duties in a 10 by 12 board
shanty. He handled about 3,000 letters daily and received the
gratifying salary of $1 per month.

Leader Was First in Field

The first paper, the Cheyenne Leader, was issued by Mr.
N. A. Baker, on the 19th of September, 1867. In the first
few months of its publication it told of the arrival of the first
theatrical company, "The Julesburg Theatrical Troupe."

An important occurrence was the advent of a velocipede on
January 23, 1868, which the cowboys named a two-wheeled
jackrabbit. About the same time a rather impromptu wedding
occurred and it was announced in the Leader in this way :

On the east half of the northwest quarter of section twenty-
two (22), township twenty-one (21), north of range eleven .(11)
east, in an open sleigh and under open and unclouded canopy
by the Rev. J. F. Mason, James B., only son of John Cox of
Colorado, and Ellen C., eldest daughter of Major G. Harrington
of Nebraska.

Work on Black Hills Stage Line

From April 3, 1876, I was constantly moving over the Black
Hills stage line from Cheyenne to Deadwood, back and forth, in
getting stations established and built, and in trying to get the
right kind of men to look after them.

The Indians during that year were on the warpath, commit-
ting all kinds of depredations, killing men and stealing stock.
I returned from one of the trips to Cheyenne, April 18, 1876.
I came over the road from Custer City, leaving there April 15.
At Red Canon, on the morning of the 16th, I came upon one of
the most horrible sights it has ever been my misfortune to look
upon. The Metz family and a few other immigrants had
camped over night near my Red Cancan station, or about three
miles south of the station. The Indians had at daylight fell
upon the campers while they were cooking breakfast. They
succeeded in killing all but three of the outfit, who made their
escape to one of my stations on the Cheyenne river.

34 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

Horrible Massacre of Metz Family

The Metz family were all murdered. A colored woman who
was with the Metz family was taken prisoner. When I came
to where they had camped it was with horror that I saw the
beastly, mutiliating, scalping and dismembering of the dead
bodies. The breasts of Mrs. Metz had been cleaved from the
body, her arms and hands were lying around in pieces. I, with
some of my men, gathered up the fragments as best we could
and by knocking a wagon box to pieces, did the best we could
under the circumstances and excitement to bury them, as we
were looking for the Indians to pick us up any moment. I will
mention the man Stimson, who I had known very well, and
who I recognized by a mark on one of his ears. The Indians
had evidently carved him beyond any that I ever saw. Every
toe, finger, nose and ears were cut off, and he was scalped much
more than the usual scalp lock. They had pealed his entire
head. From what T learned afterAvards, Stimson had wounded
two of the Indians in the fight, the wounded Indians had the
pleasure of carving without the aid of the other Indians.

The Metz family were formerly from Laramie City, "Wyo-
ming, and had been to Custer City, but becoming home sick,
were returning when they were killed. The Indians taking all
of their stock and everything that was of any use to an Indian.
There were three men wounded who made their escape to one
of my stage stations. They could not be carried on the stages
with rapid driving. I sent or asked to have a surgeon sent to
them from Port Laramie. On April 19th, three days after the
Metz family was murdered one of my partners, Henry E.
Brown, was killed, about 18 miles north of Hat Creek station.

Indian Raids Halt Stage Operations

The Indians who had killed the colored man, Black Face, at
Split Rock stage station on the Sweetwater, left, going west-
erly, at Devil's Gate station, met Lem Flowers, Jim Reed and
Bill Brown, three of the stage company's men, who put up a
good fight, but were severely wounded. They gave up their
horses as the Indians were in such numbers that they wrere
glad to be left alive. The attacks on the stage line in the dis-
trict, which is now Wyoming, caused the stoppage of all stages
on the entire line. The war department could do nothing but
push some volunteer troops as rapidly as possible, as all the
regulars had been called to the southern states to help take care
of the rebellion. The Fourth Iowa cavalry made forced
marches and arrived on the scene of the depredations in May,
1862. They were followed by the Eleventh Ohio cavalry and
the Eighth Kansas infantry. These troops were distributed

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 35

over a wide scope of country to guard the immigrants ; escort
the coaches and repair the telegraph lines when destroyed by
the Indians. The Iowa boys did noble work against the Ban-
nocks, Shoshones and Sioux. The presence of the Iowa troops
was a guarantee that fighting was to be done. Many times
they found teams of the immigrants overloaded, the oxen given
out, lame mules, horses, etc. I have often seen cattle, horses
and mules scattered along the overland trail, having been aban-
doned and left to be gathered by any one who wanted them,
or by the Indians. Also along the road was household furni-
ture, farm and other implements of almost every imaginable
kind which had been dumped out to lighten loads. Many times
immigrants becoming alarmed by the great danger encountered
from Indians (sometimes without real danger) would divest
themselves of everything so they could travel more rapidly.
The great rush of gold seekers to Denver and Colorado to
bring all of the influence possible on the postoffice department
to permit Ben Holliday to change the overland mail and stage
line from the North Platte to the South Platte river via Jules-
burg, Denver, Dale Creek, Laramie plains due west over
Bridgers pass, Bitter Creek, Green River to Fort Bridger,
where the routes joined. The change was decided on in July,
1862.

Overland Route Is Changed

The rolling stock, horses and other property was gathered
at the station just above Devil's Gate on the Sweet water. Major
O'Farrell, in command of A company of the Eleventh Ohio
cavalry, was to be the escort at the time of the transfer. The
first day the long train of wagons, coaches, horses and mules
made eleven miles from the station where the property had
been gathered. The direction was south from Sweetwater.
The camp made the first night was in a gap in the mountains
(since that time called Whiskey gap), there being a fine spring
of water and plenty of good wood for cooking purposes. Short-
ly after going into camp the major noticed quite a number of
his soldiers were hilariously drunk. He at once sent for one
of his lieutenants (who was officer of the day) and informed
him of the condition of the men. The major was certain from
his past experience that some one was selling whiskey in the
camp. There were a number of immigrants who had availed
themselves of the protection of the command for safe conduct
to the new overland trail. Lieutenant Brown, who was the
officer of the day, received orders to search all of the immi-
grants' wagons and if he discovered whiskey, to at once destroy
it. Taking a squad of his company with him he commenced
the search for the contraband whiskey.

36 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

Bootlegging Flourished in Early Days.

After examining every wagon in the camp but one, which
they thought was too innocent looking to have whiskey aboard;
when they came to this they found a barrel of "forty-rod"
whiskey. 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 at once, but it happened that the spot where
the whiskey was emptied was just above a spring and the
firey liquid went pouring down into the water supply of the
camp. The soldiers at once saw that the precious stuff was
going to waste, and they rushed forward with cups, canteen
pails, camp kettles to save what they could of the whiskey.
Those who were without even a tin cup to hold the liquor while
it was running down the hillside, stamped holes with their boot
heels in the ground and caught the whiskey in the holes and
lying down, drank it. A half-hour later the "forty-rod" whis-
key showed its effect pretty generally through the camp; in
fact but few sober men were in the camp. One soldier who was
more lucky than some others and had succeeded in getting a
full canteen from the spring, grew good and mellow. While
in this drunken condition, he paid his respects to Major O'Far-
rell at the headquarters, assuring the major with many a "hie"
that that was the finest spring he had ever seen and the best
water he had ever tasted.

The major was very fearful of an attack from the Indians
that night. The condition of his men was most discouraging
as he was helpless from the drunken condition in his camp. He
knew a small band of Indians could make a disastrous raid
on his camp. Those of the major's men who were less intoxi-
cated were kept on the alert that night. As luck would have it,
no Indians put in an appearance and by morning the whiskey
had either soaked in the mud or been slept off by the soldiers.

The gap in the mountains at that place had never been
named by any of the old trappers, but from that event it has
been known as "Whiskey Gap." From that place to the south
stage road known as Laramie Plains overland road, the major
had no more trouble in delivering the stage company's equip-
ment on the Bitter Creek route.

Arids Favored Moving of Stage Equipment

The affair at Whiskey gap, when the soldiers got drunk on
spring water, mentioned in my last letter, endangered the
entire project. Major O'Farrel apprehended an attack from
the Shoshone Indians. And had the Indians known the con-
dition of the soldiers, they would have slaughtered or captured
the whole outfit.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 37

The major knew that with a lot of drunken soldiers he
would be helpless and would be unable to resist an attack.

But fortunately no Indians appeared that night and by
morning the drunken debauch of the soldiers had worn off. So
that a fearful massacre was narrowly averted.

"When they had escorted the stage stock to the new Bitter
Greek overland trail it was then distributed along and at the
new stage stations.

The changing of the stock and equipment was done in such
a short time that there was no trip missed nor a single mail
delayed. As I have said heretofore, the new line followed the
South Platte by way of Denver, Fort Collins, Dale Creek, Lara-
mie Plains, Bridgers Pass, Barrel Springs, Salt "Wells, down
Bitter Creek to Green River, then on to Salt Lake City. The
stations were established about ten miles apart. Home stations
where the drivers lived and changed, were about 60 miles apart.
Each of these home stations had stables for about 60 horses.

Ticket Over Route Cost Only $300

In those days, the magnificent equipment furnished by Ben
Holiday was considered more wonderfully luxurious than is
now a modern railway. The cost of a ticket via Denver to Salt
Lake City was $300.

The coaches were all made by the then famous (Concord
Coach Manufacturing Company of Concord, N. H. All the
harness was made by the Hill Harness Company of the same
place. The passenger eating stations were at the home stations,
60 miles apart. At the intermediate stations ten miles apart,
only the horses were changed, which were left in charge of two
men. Every horse had its own harness, was well fed, well
groomed and the changes were made with the very least possi-
ble delay to the coach. The horses were mostly from Kentucky.
Evry horse in each team was of the same color, and it was
the pride and boast of Ben Holliday that there never was (and
in fact there never has been since) such an elegant, high-class
outfit in any horse transportation company in the world.

Holliday Takes Golden Treasure With Him
In June, 1863, Ben Holliday concluded to make a personal
trip over the line with Mrs. Holliday from Sacramento, Cal.,
to Atchison, Kan. He telegraphed his intention to do so, with
strict orders that no one but the division superintendents
should know of his trip at that time, but to have extra horses
at the relay stations, so as to make record time.

He desired the utmost secrecy for the reason that he was
taking $40,000 in gold with him to New York (gold at that

38 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

time being worth $2.40 in greenbacks). He had a false bottom
securely built in the coach where he packed the gold, so that
should he be held up, no road agent would suspect the money
being in other place than the treasure box, which was always
carried in the front boot of the stage. The United States mail
was carried in the hind boot.

Robbers Very Kindly Scratched Ben's Nose

At that date it was a rare thing to have any of the Overland
stages held up by any one but the Indians. However, on this
special trip of Ben Holliday, it really happened, for between
Green River stage station and Salt Wells on Bitter Creek,
"Wyoming, three men suddenly sprang from a ravine, each
armed with a double barrellel shotgun and two Dragoon revol-
vers, calling to the drivers to halt, which order was quickly
obeyed. The road agents ordered all passengers' hands up
high. On seeing a lady passenger in the coach, they said she
need not get out as they (the robbers) were gentlemen of the
first water and never molested a lady. But they warned Mr.
Holliday to keep his hands above his head. During the search
through the treasure box and mail, Ben Holliday 's heavy,
bristly moustache began tickling his nose. It became so acute
and unbearable that he finally made a move to scratch it.
Instantly the road agent ordered his hands up high. "My
God," said Ben, "I must scratch my nose, I can't stand it."
"You keep your hands up where I told you," said the agent.
"I will attend to the nose business." So he proceeded to rub
Ben's nose with the muzzle of the shotgun. Thus relieved, he
held up his hands until the search was finished.

However, -the false bottom in the ceach was a success, for
it saved the gold which Mr. Holliday carried safely through
to New York, where he changed it into greenbacks, clearing
the handsome sum of $56,000.

Early Experiences in Salt Lake City

During the winter of 1866, I made the trip by stage from
northern Montana (Helena) to Salt Lake City, or Zion, as the
Mormons, or Latter Day Saints, called Utah territory at that
time. I had been gold placer mining in the northwest for
three years and had about 200 pounds of gold dust which I was
anxious to get run into ingots or bars and sell for currency.
Gold at that time was worth $2.40 in greenbacks. After finding
an assay office and arranging the gold dust business, I located
at the Salt Lake House (then kept by the Mormons and said to
be the best hotel between Chicago and San Francisco at that
tinie), at $45 per week in advance. After looking over the

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 39

tabernacle, the Lion house (Brigham Young's residence), with
his numerous wives and fifty children, more or less, I visited the
Elephant corral, where all the overland stage drivers, freight-
ers, miners, Spaniards, Mexicans, half-breeds, with a sprin-
kling of about all nationalities who would congregate at the
corral, as the boys would say, to swap lies.

An incident I remember very well — one day a man from
the desert came in riding one cayuse and leading another,
on which he had all of his worldly belongings. He and the cay-
use looked alkalied. His name was Bill Burmeister, and he was
known all over the west as Yeast Powder Bill. He said he was
both hungry and thirsty (and he looked it) and had traveled
for two days without water to drink and his grub, consisting
of a few pounds of self -rising flour, his cooking utensils, a
tin can and a frying pan.

Yeast Powder Bill Gets a Meal

He borrowed on one of the ponies of the Walker brothers,
who owned the corral, $14, so he would, as he remarked, have
capital to feed, drink and get barbered, see Zion and take a
look at the Saints, or more particularly the Saintesses, as he
called them. Of course, he was very anxious to meet the twelve
apostles, as soon as he could meet St. Peter to introduce him.
He said he and Sam Clemens had been prospecting out in
Nevada for big silver mines. Clemens, he said, claimed to be
a great pilot (sagebrush pilot). Bill said he and Sam got lost
on their prospecting trip and Sam was not the pilot he had
been bragging about, so he quit Twain and came to Zion. He
invaded the barber shop and by paying $2 got a hair cut and a
shave. Upon inquiring for a place where spirits were sold, he
was directed across the street to a building with a sign over
the entrance, which read: "Zion's Co-operative Mercantile
Institution. Holiness to the Lord." Yeast Powder, upon
entering, found what he thought he was most in need of—
whiskey. The holiness to the Lord fellows had learned to
make or brew a native drink out of wheat and potatoes, called
valley tan. I never tried it, but those who did said it was the
stuff. It would make a man fight a Sierra grizzly bear or his
grandmother. Bill bought one drink fpr 50 cents and it created
such an increase in his estimate of the mines that he and
Clemens didn't discover, that he bought another. The world
looked brighter after taking the second drink and he wanted
a square meal. He was directed to the Salt Lake House. Bill
laid off his belt and two navy revolvers so he could eat com-
fortably. The landlord said the dinner was $3, pay in advance.

40 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

Yeast Powder said it seemed steep, but he always tried to
play the game to the limit, so he paid the $3 and entered the
dining room. The menu was not a printed one, but verbal.
Little Mollie, the waitress, or head waitress, was a very good
looking little English (Mormon) girl. Bill told her to call
the roll for $3 worth of grub, as he wanted to chaw worse than
a Caifornia grizzly wanted to chaw a Digger Indian. Mollie
called over the grub as she thought of it. She said : ' ' Carrots,
biled beef, cabbage, taters, turnips, tea, hog meat and beans
(Brigham Young cautioned his people to say hog meat, not
pork), dried apple pie, stewed calves' liver and curlew."

' * Curlew ! What in the h 1 is curlew ? ' ' Mollie said it was

a bird that could fly away up and whistle. Well, Bill said any

d d thing that could fly and whistle and would stay in

this country, he did not want to tackle, so he took tea, hog meat
and beans, taters, calves' liver and dried apple pie.

Officers Were Men of Highest Type

Before closing events that occurred, as my recollection
serves me, in the early days of the overland stage companies,
I wish to state that all the officers connected with the operating
department, and there were many of them, were men of the
highest type of gentlemen, with one exception — J. A. Slade —
and he, when not drinking, was an excellent superintendent to
look after a line that had to be conducted through an Indian
country with the various tribes who were on the war path
most of the time from 1862 to 1868. I speak of Slade, as much
has been said about him that was not true, such as his being
connected with thieves and murderers, pillaging immigrants,
stealing horses and mules and other crimes that he was not
guilty of. He was guilty of one or two crimes which I will
mention, that was enough to be charged up to him, which made
him one of the most notorious of men on the overland trail.
Prior to the moving of the stock and equipment from the
North Platte-Sweetwater line to the South Platte Eiver, Den-
ver, Laramie Plains, Bridger Pass and Bitter Creek route,
Slade had made his headquarters at Fort Laramie (at that time
a large government post) from 1859 to 1862, and on the south-
ern route at Virginia Dale after moving from Fort Laramie.
It was rumored that he killed a man named Andy Farrar, a
man connected with a bull train, both men being drunk or
drinking. Farrar dared Slade to shoot him, which Slade
promptly did, wounding Farrar dangerously. Horrified at
what he had done, he expressed great sorrow (this occurring
at Green River), and he hired the best horse that could be

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 41

got and sent a man with all haste to Fort Bridger for a sur-
geon. The doctor came promptly, but Farrar died. This was
Slade 's,first shooting incident. As superintendent of the stage
company, Slade had many adventures. He conducted business
that pleased, or at least, was satisfactory to the stage company,
being always prompt and vigilant night and day. All agreed
he was a good man when not drinking, but dangerous when
in liquor.

Blade's Fight With Jules Rani

The most noted of his fights was with Jules Rani, a Canadian
Frenchman, who owned and conducted a ranch, sold bad whis-
key, etc., where Julesburg now is located. Slade and Eani
often met and about as often quarreled. Slade drank himself,
but he was down on any one of his employes that did, or
any one who sold whiskey to his employes. Slade and Jules,
is one of their disputes, Jules getting the drop on Slade, fired
with a double barrel shotgun, putting fifteen buck shot in
Slade 's body. Jules cooly said to some one who witnessed
the shooting, "When he is dead, put him in one of these old dry
goods boxes and bury him." Slade was apparently mortally
wounded, but was live enough to hear Jules make the remark.
Slade said, with an oath, that he would live long enough to wear
one of Jules' ears on his watch chain. The overland stage
came up before Slade was moved and the superintendent
ordered the men to arrest Jules, which they did, and proceeded
to hang him. After they pulled him up until he was black
in the face, they let him down, and, on his promise to leave
the country and never return, they let him go. Jules did not
do as he agreed to. Slade was sent to St. Louis to have the
buck shot removed. He had seven taken out, the balance he
carried in his person to remind him of eternal vengeance;
and, on his return on the stage line, sent word to Jules that he
would kill him on sight. Rani, on receipt of Slade 's message,
made it his business to put himself in Slade 's way with the
purpose of doing Slade up. Slade sent four men to Bordeaux's
ranch on the Platte River, where he heard Jules was stopping,
but, not finding him there, they then went to Chausau 's ranch,
where they found their man. They captured him, bound his
hands and feet and placed him in a corral. Slade, on his
arrival, went to the corral, and with his dragoon revolver,
shot Jules in the mouth but did not kill him. A second shot
went through his brain, instantly killing Jules. Slade went
then to Fort Laramie and offered to give himself up, but the
commanders of the fort discharged him, as they thought he
was justified in killing Jules. There were many stories reported

42 Personal Recollections of Pianeer Life

about the way Slade did the killing. I was not present, but
talked at different times with several of the stage drivers. One
said Slade had Jules placed in a standing position and then
Slade fired repeated shots at Jules ; between each shot he would
ask all hands to go into the ranch and take a drink. Then he
would tell Jules he was going to shoot him in the breast or in
the side of the head, etc. ; finally he was shot through the
head. Slade then cut off Jules' ears, and put them in his
pocket, where he carried them for a long time, and when on
one of his drunks, he would show the ears and ask the by-
standers if they needed any souse.

A Three-Card Sharp

During the building of the Union Pacific railroad, more
especially the summer of 1867, Canada Bill worked up and
down the little towns which sprang up as the road progressed.
He would appear with his three dirty cards, which he would
show the onlookers and tell them how to guess the proper
card so as to win 20 or 50 dollars, just an easy matter, as Canada
would explain, but the card bet on by the suckers always lost.

Bill said he would pay the management of the railroad
$5,000 a year for permission to exert himself with three cards
and would guarantee not to molest or work anyone except min-
isters and Mormons.

Prospecting for Gold

I have been asked many times in the last forty years what
I thought as to the truth of the old stories of placer gold dig-
gings in the Big Horn and Wind River mountains in Wyoming.
From the time of my first trip on the plains in 1857, being one
year before gold was discovered on Cherry Creek, Colorado,
1858, by Green Russel and his company of prospectors, which
caused the great stampede in 1859 to Pikes Peak, all of the
talk I had with mountaineers (and some of them were monu-
mental liars) was that there existed on the head waters of
the Wind River and Big Horn mountains great placer deposits
of gold. Indians and old trappers who had traversed the entire
Rocky Mountains country would declare that they knew of
heaps of gold (as they would say in their bragging way). It
had been talked about by California miners, Idaho prospectors
and Pikes Peakers, that as soon as it was safe to go into this
country and do prospecting they were for that country.

Three different parties in each of which I had friends,
made the attempt to get into the Big Horn and Wind -River
country in the spring of 1863. About the 10th of May, Bill

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 43

Fairweather, Tom Daily and twelve others left the Boise Basin
for the Big Horn. They reached the head waters of the Gallatin
River, crossed over the divide to the headwaters of the Big
Horn. The first night camping and campfires attracted a band
of Blackfeet Indians. A fight ensued. One of the company
being slightly wounded. They believed from signs and smokes
over the valley below that the safest thing to do was to return
west. They crossed over the main range to the headwaters of
the Jefferson River, where camping one day at noon to make
some coffee and slapjacks, while preparing for their dinner,
Fairweather said he would do a little prospecting. He dug up a
pan of dirt from the grass roots, went to the creek, washed
it out and had three pennyweight of nice gold worth $3. They
named the gulch or creek Alder Gulch. Millions of dollars'
worth of gold has been taken out of that stream. In June of
the same year (1863) another party, Sam T. Houser, Grantville
Stuart, George Ives, John Vanderbilt and several others left
East Bannock, Idaho, to prospect in the Wind River moun-
tains. They were supplied with good saddle and pack animals,
the best rifles and revolvers with plenty of cartridges. On
getting over on the headwaters of Wind River they encoun-
tered a band of Sioux Indian warriors. From that time until
arriving at Soda Springs where I met them they had one
continuous fight with the Indians. Two of the party being
killed. When they came into my camp I thought they were
the most tired and wretched Indian fighters I had ever met.
They had been unable to get either sleep or rest. We fixed
them up with a good camp dinner and they felt better.

Indians Barred Early Prospector

They were firm in the belief from traditions told them that
great quantities of placer gold existed in the Wind River
mountains and streams. From that time until 1867 the Indians
did not allow a white man to show his scalp in the Big Horn
or Wind River range. Jeff Stanifer, his brother Jim, and
three others, all good mountaineers, were determined to do
some prospecting in the Sioux country. But after three weeks
continuously being harassed by the Snake, Sioux and Chey-
enne Indians they gave up and came ^nto where Green River
station is now located. They were a sorry looking outfit.

The great excitement over Nevada and Colorado about great
silver mines and the danger of meeting the Sioux warriors in
the Big Horn, stopped all prospecting in that part of Wyo-
ming. Of late years nearly all of the old prospectors and those
who have gone over the divide in early years believed that

44 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

great placer gold mines would be found in the western moun-
tain ranges of our state. I myself have firm faith that there
will yet be great diggings discovered in Wyoming. If I was
a younger man with the experience I have had, I would
organize a party and put in a season of prospecting, as I am
so confident that Wyoming contains millions of the precious
metals vet undiscovered.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 45

Miscellaneous Selections

The Death of Meriweather Lewis

(From Everybody's Magazine)

A century ago there was no more promising youth in
America than Meriweather Lewis. After a brilliant career as
a soldier, he had been appointed private secretary to Presi-
dent Jefferson, and had shown himself so trustworthy, so ener-
getic, so resourceful, that when Jefferson determined to make
an exploration of the great territory he was just purchasing,
he selected Lewis as the one to accomplish it, knowing how
thoroughly he could rely on his accuracy and his truthful-
ness.

Six years later, in 1809, his brilliant feat accomplished —
he was even then but 35 years old — Lewis left his beloved
west for the last time and set out for Washington to confer
with the president. He crossed the Mississippi at the Chicka-
saw Bluffs, where Memphis now stands, and taking Indian
trails southeasterly, struck the Trace at the crossing of the
Tennessee River, in Lauderdale County, Alabama. Turning
toward Nashville, he came alone, on the night of October
llth, to the "stand" or tavern of Robert Grinder above the
crossing of Little Swan, 72 miles from Nashville. Accommoda-
tions were rude, and Lewis wrapped himself in his buffalo
robe and slept on the ffoor. A heavy storm was raging. In
the night the women in an adjoining building heard a shot.
In the morning Lewis was found dying, a pistol beside him.

Grinder circulated the report that Lewis had shot himself,
and the explorer was buried beside the road close to the
tavern. At Washington then, and by many historians since,
Grinder's story has been believed; but by the settlers of that
vicinity and by the women who lived at Grinder's, only one
opinion was ever entertained — that Grinder had murdered him
for his money. Grinder, at any rate, w#s known to have money
in his possession after Lewis's death. He sold out his place
and moved away. But the fame of Lewis has been blotted to
this day by the story that he took his own life in a fit of
melancholia. For forty years his grave remained unmarked.
Then the Tennessee legislature appropriated $500 for a monu-
ment; the bones were dug up and identified; an irregular

46 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

county, having the grave as its approximate center, was named
Lewis, and a few acres about the monument set aside for a
park. Since then nothing has been done to care for it, but
the broken column stands as it was placed, beside the for-
saken road.

So on that breathless afternoon my pilgrimage had its end.
I had come to find this traditional shaft to a traditional man,
whose traditional murder marked the center of a county. But
I found his monument was greater than that, for it was the old
road itself over which he had traveled, and the hilltop on which
he died, and the forest which still covers it. Into them all his
soul has entered.

I think he would not have ordered his burial in any other
place.

THE OUSTER MASSACRE
None Was Left to Tell the Story

In a recent dispatch, the thirty-eighth anniversary of the
annihilation of Ouster's command by the Sioux, an account of
the events leading up to the battle, was given by George H.
Welch, a farmer who in 1876 was a trooper in the Seventh
cavalry. In the dispatch it was said that only one man who
participated in the Custer fight survives — Curley, a Crow
Indian, who was one of Ouster's scouts.

The story that Curley the Crow participated in the battle
on the Little Big Horn has been told many times, and just as
often denied. As far as history records, only one living mem-
ber of Ouster's squadron survived the fight. The survivor was
a horse, which was wounded many times, but which recovered
and was cared for tenderly by the men of the Seventh until it
died of old age. If the scout Curley had been an actual par-
ticipant in the battle, the war department would have some-
thing definite today about the fight for its records. Every effort
has been made to get the true story of that day's conflict, and
every effort has failed.

Cyrus Townsend Brady probably has spent more time than
any other man in trying to get at the truth of what is known
as the Custer massacre. "The Yellow Haired Chief tian,"
General Custer, before advancing into the valley, where he
met his death with all his followers, had detached Majors
Reno and Benteen, each with a squadron, to advance by the
flanks. Benteen 's force was turned back by impassable coun-
try, and it joined the force of Reno just in time to save the lat-
ter from Ouster's fate. Custer went to his death with 225
men, which were all the men General Custer had on that day.
Chief Rain-in-the-Face had 2,500 of Sitting Bull's warriors. No
one knows to this day the true story of how it all happened.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 47

The Disappointed Tenderfoot

(Author Unknown)

He reached the West in a palace car
Where the writers tell us the cowboys are,
With the redskin bold, and the centipede,
And the rattlesnake and the loco weed.
He looked around for the Buckskin Joes
And the things he 'd seen in Wild West shows •
The cowgirls gay and the broncos wild,
And the painted face of an Injun child ;
He listened close for the fierce warhoop,
And his pent-up spirits began to droop,
And he wondered then if the hills and nooks
Held none of the sights of the story books.

He 'd hoped he would see the marshal pot

Some bold, bad man with a pistol shot ;

And entered a low saloon by chance,

Where the tenderfoot is supposed to dance

While the cowboy shoots at his boot heels there,

And the smoke of powder begrims the air.

But all was quiet, as if he 'd strayed

To the silent spot where the dead are laid ;

Not even a faro game was seen

And no one flaunted the long, long green.

'Twas a blow for him who had come in quest

Of a touch of the real, wild, woolly west.

He vainly sought for a bad cayuse

And the swirl and swish of the flying noose,

And the cowboy's yell as he roped a steer,

But nothing of this fell on his ear.

Not even a wide-brimmed hat he spied,

But derbies flourished on every side ;

And the spurs and chaps and flannel shirts,

The high-heeled boots and the guns and quirts,

The cowboy saddles and silver bits,

And fancy bridles and swell outfits

He'd read about in the novels grim,

Were not on hand for the likes of him.

48 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

He peered about for the stage coach old,
And the miner-man with his bag of gold,
And a burro train with its pack loads which
He 'd read they tie with a diamond hitch.
The rattler's whirr and the coyote's wail,
Ne 'er sounded out as he hit the trail,
And no one knew of a branding bee,
Nor a steer roundup that he longed to see ;
But the oldest settler, named Six-Gun Sim,
Rolled a cigarette and remarked to him, -
* * The west hez gone to the East, my son,
And its only in the movies sich things is done. ' '

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 49

Appendix

THE VOORHEES FAMILY INHERITS THE FAMOUS
LEWIS & CLARK MANUSCRIPTS

New Material Discovered in Captain Clark's Diary

Note. — The documents and illustrations herewith were taken
from the originals in the possession of Mrs, Julia Clark Voorhees
and Miss Eleanor Glasgow Voorhees of New York. I have, in
copying from the original, endeavored to make the characters,
abbreviations, spelling and punctuations, as exactly as possible
to correspond with the original letters and papers so long held
by relatives of Lewis and Clark. It will be noticed that many
sentences commence not with a capital letter, but small letters.

During the preparation for the Centennial Exposition held
at St. Louis, 1904, a mass of manuscript material was discov-
ered in New York city, which throws much new light on what
is generally regarded as the most romantic chapter in the records
of American exploration ; the Trans-continnetal Expedition made
by Lewis and Clark in 1803-06. To convey an adequate idea of
the significance of those documents, it will be necessary briefly
to review the curious history of the official journals of that hardy
enterprise, planned by President Jefferson, who had for twenty
years been eager to learn something definite of the far west and
an exploraiton toward the Pacific between the Missouri and Pa-
cific was one of his most ardent schemes. Three previous projects
with George Rogers Clark in 1783, John Ledyard in 1786, and
Andrie Michaux in 1793, had from various causes proved a fail-
ure. Being now president as such he was able to induce congress
to grant the necessary aid to a new expedition. At that date,
1802-3, it was very difficult to get a man with some knowledge of
science who had, besides, "scholarly ability, the necessary cour-
age, good habits, good health & somewhat adapted to the woods
& what was considered most essential, a man in a measure fa-
miliar with western Indians. ' ' Not being able to find such a man
who had his confidence, the President recognized in his private
secretary, Meriweather Lewis, who had fought so well in western
Indian campaigns with General Anthony Wayne who as history
says was prudent but severe. Meriweather Lewis possessed all the
traits of General Wayne with a cooler head and more reserve. He
was not regularly educated in the highest terms of university edu-
cation but possessed a great amount of accurate observation on

50 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

all the subjects of the wild west that would be likely to confront
him in his trip to the then great unknown west. Lewis in March
1803 made a trip to Philedalphia to take a short course of scien-
tific study with men residing there which better qualified him
for those observations of the longitude and latitude necessary
to fix the points of the route he will travel over. Early in the
course of his preparations Lewis determined with Persident Jef-
ferson's consent to secure a companion who should share his
honors and responsibilities. Lewis chose William Clark who was
four years his senior, but who had been his boyhood friend in
Virginia.

The Clark family preceded several years by the eldest son,
George Rogers Clark, moved to Kentucky in 1784. When Meri-
weather Lewis was ten years old and William Clark fourteen.
Young Clark had entered upon military service in the west in his
21st year. As the result of exceptional valor and the execution
of several difficult missions which involved the exercise of con-
siderable diplomacy he won a captaincy under General Wayne —
at one time being in command of a detachment in which his old
friend Lewis served as ensign.

The interesting correspondence which passed between these
two fast friends incidental to the noted transcontinental expedi-
tion, with which their names must always be linked, will be given
with this paper.

President Jefferson, with the true instinct of a scholar, was
very much interested regarding the official records of this great
enterprise, which he had inaugurated. In his remarkable letter
of instructions to Captain Lewis (June 20, 1803), the President
desires that " Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri River
you will! take observations of latitude and longitude at all re-
markable points and especially at the mouth of rivers, at rapids,
at islands and other places and objects distinguished by such
natural marks and characters of a desirable kind as they may
with certainty be recognized hereafter. ' ' The courses of the riv-
ers and variations of the compass are also to be noted" with
great pains and accuracy " as a ' * knowledge of these people is im-
portant. ' ' A long and carefully enumerated variety of data are
to be accumulated regarding the Indian tribes ' ' also notes regard-
ing the geology, fauna, flora and meteorology of the region — all
of which is particularly desirable. It is especially required that
several copies of your notes should be made at leisure time 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. I remind you also that in the loss of your-
selves we will lose also the information you will have acquired
and as further precaution is required, to communicate to us at
reasonable intervals a copy of your journal notes and observa-

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 51

tions of every kind putting- into cypher whatever might do in-
jury if betrayed. ' '

(Note. — At the time of these instructions, the country to be
explored and thus opened to the American fur trade, was in the
hands of the Spanish.) For at that time France had not yet
resumed control of the trans-Mississippi after the recession of
1800, and their suspicions must not be aroused. (Note Journal
news of the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon had not yet
reached Washington, but that Jefferson had secretly obtained
some inkling of this event is evident from Lewis ' letter to Clark,
written the day before these instructions are dated and given at
length. Possibly the instruction^ were actually written before
Lewis's letter.)

Lewis left Washington on the morning of July 5, 1803, a
few days after the receipt from Paris of the Louisiana purchase.
These circumstances had in no way altered his arrangements,
save that it was unnecessary further that secrecy as to the pur-
pose of the exploration which had hitherto been enjoined upon
him. The expedition was of a military detachment of about
thirty persons, besides several French Canadians and half-breeds,
hunters, trappers, interpreters and boatmen.

The first winter camp at River Dubois in Illinoise opposite
the Missouri where the men rigorously drilled both as soldiers
and frontiersmen. the long and painful upstream journey
during the Spring, Summer and Autumn of 1804 followed by
the Winter among the Mandan Indians at Mandan which was
about or near the present town of Bismarck, North Dakota, the
difficult journey in 1805 to the head waters of the Missouri River.
Having ascended the very head waters of the Missouri with their
boats Lewis and Clark realized that they must obtain some other
mode of carrying their equipments than by boat in order to reach
the mouth of the Columbia River, as they had not met any In-
dians having ponies up to the time of their reaching the head
waters of the Mo. River Lewis himself left the party making a
dangerous journey of three days travel on foot over! and into
an unexplored country to try and find some tribe of indians who
had horses to sell or trade. On the third day he succeeded in
finding a tribe of Snake Indians who had numbers of ponies which
he bargained for returning to camp with ponies and Indians in
almost a starved condition, living a part of the time on some in-
ferior berries, roots &c. On getting the ponies they cached their
boats and some of their equipment to bg used on their return trip.
Preparing pack saddles which they had got of the Indians to
transport their goods and such provisions as they had they suc-
ceeded in reaching the mouth of the Columbia River in November
1805. In April 1806 they left Fort Clapstop on their return to
St. Louis in the trip from St. Louis to the Pacific was consumed
two years, four months and nine days. There is no room to doubt

52 Personal Recollections of Pio^wer Life

that each of the two men Lewis & Clark kept his required diary
with perfect fidelity excepting the few closing weeks of the ex-
pedition Lewis was disabled from a gunshot wound. There are
now original notebooks by Clark covering all but ten days of the
period; but unfortunately Lewis's' diaries lack four hundred
days exclusive of his sickness from a gunshot wound. Floyd
Gass and Ordway sergeants also it has been published that at
least three of the privates (soldiers) kept diaries. Gass's journal
has been published, but I have never been able to get it so I could
peruse it. Joseph Whitehouse's journal was published and I
have been told could be found in the National Library Washing-
ton D. C. It has been said that it was the habit of Lewis and
Clark eachj night or while resting in the boats to make rough
notes in pocket field books many of whose pages bear rude out-
line maps, plans and miscellaneous sketches.

When encamped for a protracted period, these fieldbooks
were developed into more formal records; the note-books kept
at Fort Mandan and Fort Clapsop were particularly well done,
for here there was leisure to make exhaustive inquiries among
Indian neighbors and to set forth the results with proper care.

When developing their field-notes into better form, each
appears to have often borrowed freely from the other. Lewis,
the more scholarly of the two, generally re-wrote, in his own
manner, the material obtained from Clark ; but the latter not in-
frequently copied Lewis practically verbatim, although with
phonetic spelling. Clark was, however, not only the better fron-
tiersman, but served as the engineer of the detachment. Lack-
ing formal instruction in draughtsmanship, he nevertheless made
numerous and excellent maps, and upon the pages, both of his
own and Lewis's note-books, drew sketches of birds, fish, leaves,
native implements, and the like, with much exactness; some of
his small colored maps would have been worthy of a skilled en-
gineer. Upon arriving at St. Louis the individual journals were
for the most part transcribed by their authors into neat blank-
books, bound in red morocco, with brass clasps, and gilt-edged,
with the thought of preparing them for early publication. After
this process, the original field-books must have been cast aside,
and in large measure destroyed.

From the inception of the enterprise, it had been intended
by Jefferson that the results should be published ; but a curious
chain of circumstances, needless to relate here in detail — although
their recitation would make an entertaining chapter in Biblio-
graphical history — delayed this consummation until seven and a
half years after the return. Gass's journal, originally rude notes,
but moulded into presentable form by a West Virginia school-
•master, had promptly appeared in 1807. In that year, urged by
Jefferson, Lewis himself issued a prospectus announcing the
speedy publication of the official narrative.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 53

The first volume was to contain the " narrative of the voy-
age," the second to be devoted chiefly to an account of "the In-
dian nations distributed over that vast region." and the third
"exclusively to scientific research." Apart from this was to be
published "Lewis and Clark's Map of North America, from
longitude 9° west to the Pacific Ocean, and between 36° and 52°
north latitude, with extensive marginal notes, dimensions five feet
eight inches by three feet ten inches, embracing all their late dis-
coveries, and that part of the continent hertofore the least
known." Unfortunately for this project, the two captains had
soon after their return received, together with commissions as
generals, important government appointments — Lewis being
made governor of Louisiana Territory, and Clark its Indian agent
and brigadier general of militia, their official residences being St.
Louis. The onerous duties appertaining to these offices, in the
new and vast territory through which they had explored, were
necessarily absorbing ; and neither being a literary man, the task
of publication was under such circumstances easily deferred.

In October, 1809, Lewis, heeding Jefferson 's continued nudg-
ing— for the great man was visibly fretting under the delay —
was proceeding to Washington and Philadelphia, incidentally on
government business, but chiefly to get his work under way, when
he was murdered some 60 miles southwest of Nashville. Clark,
as the surviving commander, was at once approached by the in-
defatigable Jefferson, with the result that Nicholas Biddle, of
Philadelphia — then well known as a young man of letters, a law-
yer, and a publicist — was engaged to edit the journals. With the
Lewis and Clark journals and maps before him, and further aid-
ed by the printed account of Gass and the manuscript journals
of Ordway and Pryor, together with the verbal testimony of
Clark and Private George Shannon, Biddle, at the close of a year,
reported to Clark (July 8, 18110 that he had "completed the
work according to our agreement, ' ' and was ' ' ready to put it to
the press." There was, however, considerable difficulty in pro-
curing a publisher, for business was stagnant because of the war
of 1812-15. Bradford and Inskeep were finally induced to un-
dertake the responsibility; but before the work was issued (Feb-
ruary, 1814) the publishers were in the bankruptcy court, the
result being that less than 1,500 copies were actually sold ; while
the net profits were estimated at only $154.10, of which neither
Clark nor Biddle appeared to have received a penny.

The amount of manuscript material handled by Biddle in
the editing of the journals, must have Aggregated about a million
and a half words. From this he constructed a narrative of some
three hundred and seventy thousand words. A large portion of
the scientific matter had, however, been eliminated, an arrange^-
ment having been made by Clark for its editing and publication
by Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton, an eminent Philadelphia scien-

54 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

tist ; but this plan fell through, owing to Barton 's illness and sub-
sequent death. Thus, while the Bicldle narrative contains a pop-
ular account of some of the principal discoveries, very little of
the great mass of scientific data so laboriously noted by Lewis and
Clark, has thus far been given to the world.

Says R. G. Goldthwaites, ' * The narrative by Biddle is emi-
nently readable, possessing both unity and a simple and forceful
literary style. The first person plural is used, save where the
captains are individually mentioned, and then we have the third
person singular. So skillfully is the work done that probably
few readers have realized that they had not before them the veri-
table journals of the explorers themselves, written upon the spot.
The result will remain one of the most digested and most interest-
ing books of American travel, comparable in many respects with
"Astoria" and " Booneville 's Adventures" — of course, lacking
Irving 's charm of style ; but possessing what Irving 's two western
classics sometimes do not, the ring of truth, which never fails to
appeal to those who love a tale of noble adventure in the cause of
civilization. ' '

But Jefferson, having impatiently awaited the publication
of the records, for nearly eight years after the return of the ex-
pedition, appears not unnaturally to have been dissatisfied with
the result. That the scientific material should thus be laid aside,
particularly annoyed him. His correspondence with learned
friends in Europe was burdened with laments over the unfortu-
nate literary finale to the expedition concerning which he had
long cherished such high hopes.

In 1816 we find him instituting a search for the manuscript
journals of the explorers, with, a view of placing them in the
archives of the American Pholosophical Society, of which he had
for several years been president. These had become widely scat-
tered, and he was obliged to exercise great pressure in inducing
Clark and Biddle to bestir themselves in the matter; indeed, he
plainly threatened the intervention of the War Department, by
which the expedition was set forth, and insisted that the records
were "the property of the government, the fruits of the expedi-
tion undertaken at such expense of money and risk of valuable
lives. " " They contain exactly the whole of the information which
it was our object to obtain for the benefit of our own country and
of the world, but we were willing to give to Lewis and! Clark
whatever pecuniary benefits might be derived from the publica-
tion, and therefore left the papers in their hands, taking for
granted that their interests would produce a speedy publication,
which would be better if done under their direction." But
' * From the mortification of not having succeeded in giving to the
world all the results of that expedition," he proposed now to
place them where at least scholars can have access to them, and
possibly some time arrange for their publication in full.

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 55

Convinced, at last, that he had found all he sought, or at least
all that was obtainable, Jefferson arranged with Biddle (April 6,
1818) to deposit the documents with the American Philosophical
Society. For nearly seventy-five years this important material
remained unnoticed and forgotten in the vaults of the society at
Philadelphia, until, in December, 1892, Dr. Elliott Coues acci-
dentally learned of its existence. He was at the time engaged in
editing a reprint of the Biddle text, and enriched his notes with
a number of citations from the originals — unfortunately freely
modernizd, as was his custom with the western manuscripts which
he edited. These modified excerpts but served to wet the appe-
tites of historical students, and thus led to the project for their
eventual publication in extenso and with literal accuracy.

In the spring of 1901, the American Philosophical Society
arranged with a New York house for the publication of the Lewis
and Clark journals, direct from the original manuscripts in their
custody — the present writer being engaged as the editor of the
work — R. G. Goldthwaite. Biddle 's letter accompanying the de-
posit of the note-books with the Philosophical Society, stated that
the journal of Ordway was excepted, because Clark had asked for
its return to him as his private property. As the journal of
Floyd had been loaned by its owner, the Wisconsin Historical
Societjr, for the purpose of insertion in this publication, and the
publishers had secured the hitherto unknown journal of White-
house, it seemed desirable to add the Ordway journal, if in ex-
istence.

The several descendents of General William Clark were at
once applied to, for permission to use the journal, in case it could
be found among the family papers. As the result of protracted
negotiations, an unexpected situation was revealed. The third
son and fourth child of General Clark and his first wife, Julia
Hancock, was George Rogers Hancock Clark, born at St. Louis in
1816. This son was his father's executor, and as such came into
the possession of the explorer's papers and numerous other fam-
ily relics, many of which he appears to have arranged and la-
belled with some care. Upon his death, in 1858, they descended
to his eldest child, now Mrs. Julia Clark Voorhees of New York
City, whose proprietary rights are at present shared with her
daughter, Miss Eleanor Glasgow Voorhees.

Some six or seven years ago, Mrs. Voorhees permitted the
publisher's of Scribner's Magazine to use certain of the Clark
relics for illustrating an historical publication of the time, and
had promised to the magazine the privilege of using such literary
material in her collection as might be selected for its pages,
Later, Miss Voorhees began the selection, for a projected work of
her own, of certain documents which appertained to the public
careers of various members of the Clark family, particularly
William and George Rogers.

56 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

Such was the situation when the present writer, R. G. Gold-
thwaite, came upon the scene, with his application for the Ord-
way journal; unconscious of the other historical manuscripts
which, still unknown to students of American history — although,
as we have seen, a few publishers had general knowledge of it —
lay in the possession of the Voorhees family. Indeed, the ladies
themselves were as yet unaware of the full significance of their
treasures, especially these appertaining to the great expedition.
In the autumn of 1903 the writer was informed by Mrs. and Miss
Voorhees that search for the Ordway journal, among the papers
left by General Clark, while unsuccessful as to that document,
had revealed the existence of other material presumably of inter-
est in connection with the journey of Lewis and Clark. Several
visits were made to New York, for the purpose of carefully ex-
amining the family papers thus suddenly revealed, at each of
which fresh " finds" were made, of manuscript records, maps and
letters, mostly by Clark, much of which evidently had not been
opened within the fifty years or more which had elapsed since
George Rogers Hancock Clark, with filial regard, classified and
labelled them. The Clark- Voorhees collection, as we may for con-
venience term it, is of surprising richness, and proves to be of the
utmost importance in a study of the famous expedition whose
centennial we are now observing.

There are, in this interesting collection, four red morocco
note-books, written up in St. Louis after the return of the expedi-
tion, and similar to those in the collection of the American Philo-
sophical Society ; three of these are diaries by Clark, covering the
dates April 7 to July 3, 1805, January 30 to April 3, 1806, and
April 4 to June 6, 1806 ; the fourth is a brief record of weather,
distances, and astronomical and ethnological data, together with
four colored maps. There is also one of Clark 's pocket field-
books, with his diary for September1 11 to December 31, 1805,
amply illustrated by about twenty sketch maps of the trail over
the mountains, and two rude plans of Fort Clatsop, most of these
interwoven with the badly blurred text. This book consists of
small sheets of poper rudely sewn together, being evidently made
up enroute, as necessity demanded, and wrapped about a soft
piece of elk-skin. It is the only actual field-book by the captains,
now known to be in existence. Another valuable document is the
detachment's orderly book, runnirg from April 1 to October 13,
1804, with separate sheets covering a few earlier and later dates,
as revealing the methods of disciplining the party, these orders
are of some value. Theer are ten letters (some of them drafts),
exhibiting for the first time the relations between the two com-
manders— one of Lewis, offering Clark an equal partnership in
the enterprise; Clark's letters of acceptance, addressed both to
President Jefferson and to Lewis; Lewis to Clark, expressing
gratification at the latter 's decision, and others — all of them to

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 57

be quoted either in full or in substance below. Among the mis-
cellaneous letters and memoranda are the original copy of Jeffer-
sons' famous (but useless) letter of credit, which was carried by
Lewis -throughout the journey — Jefferson's copy being preserved
at the State Department in Washington ; Clark's various military
commissions, issued before and after the expedition ; fragmentary
records of courses and distances, Indian tribes, weather data,
and the like ; and notes on the Assiniboine country, obtained from
British traders at Fort Mandan. But still more important to the
historian and the geographer — because, unlike the other papers,
they are for the most part absolutely new material, not covered in
any of the Philadelphia documents are the sixty or more maps
discovered in the Clark- Voorhees collection. These, all of them
by Clark, vary in size from eight inches square to irregularly
shaped charts consisting of sheets of letter paper gummed togeth-
er, a few instances attaining a combined length of eight feet.
Collectively, the maps illustrate the greater part of the journey
both going and returning ; and upon them are not only accurate-
ly noted the camping places, but occasionally there are interest-
ing marginal comments on the country and the Indians, and ref-
erences to some of the incidents of the day.

A query arises in this connection ; why did not General Clark
surrender this wealth of manuscripts either to the American
Philosophical Society or to Jefferson, when the latter was eagerly
searching for all the documents in the case, claiming them as the
undoubted property of the government? The probable answer
is, that Biddle found the four Clark morocco note-books of no
service to him ; for practically all of the facts contained in them
are noted either in Lewis's journals of similar dates, or in later
drafts by Clark as a rule, fuller, and in better form. He there-
fore probably returned the books to Clark, in the early stages of
the work, keeping only those which later were placed in the so-
ciety's archives. It is probable, also, that the engraver having
completed the few maps whcih he deemed necessary for the pub-
lication, all of the charts made upon the expedition were return-
ed to Clark. As for the skin-bound field-book, this having al-
ready been transcribed into a red morocco note-book, very likely
the original did >not go to Biddle at all ; the orderly book, the
various fragments, the Lewis-Clark correspondence, and the let-
ter of credit, were doubtless also kept at St. Louis as being deemed
for Biddle 's purpose of a popular narrative, unusable material.

On his part, it is possible that Clark had either forgotten the
existence of these documents, or, like Biddle, considered them
as of relatively slight historical value. His seemingly careless
treatment of them would appear to bear out the last conclusion.
In all events, they remained among his papers until arranged
by1 his son and executor, George Rogers Hancock Clark. There-

58 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

after, many were unopened until a full half-century later when
the ladies undertook to search among them for the missing jour-
nal of Ordway, which still eludes them.

For the first time since the return of the expedition in Sep-
tember, 1806, it has at last become possible, through the discovery
of the Clark- Voorhees collection, to publish to the world prac-
tically all of the literary records now extant, of one of the most
notable enterprises in the history of civilization. When publish-
ed without elimination, as they bid fair to be within the present
year, the original journals will create a new interest in the deeds
of Lewis and Clark. Not only do they much more than quad-
ruple the number of words in the Biddle narrative, and the volu-
minous scientific data in botany, zoology, meteorology, geology,
astronomy and ethnology — constitute an almost entirely new con-
tribution, but we obtain from the men's note-books, as written
from day to day, and the allied manuscripts which are at last
available, a far more vivid picture of the explorers and their life,
than can be seen through the alembic of Biddle 's impersonal
condensation.

There is certainly nowhere obtainable a more charming pic-
ture of man's love for man, than is revealed both in the affection-
ate letters betwen Lewis and Clark prior to the expedition — and
herewith published for the first time — and in the pages of their
private manuscript journals which are soon to appear in book
form. Although Lewis was chosen by Jefferson as the official
leader, he persisted in selecting Clark not only as a companion,
but in all respects his equal in rank. Dividing between them the
control of the party through practically three years, and often
confronted by situations in which the greatest possible tact was
essential to the harmony of such a relation, we find the two
friends true to the end ; nowhere is there evident a single note
of discord, and no1} infrequently do they exhibit in their diaries
a mutual attachment of that tender sort seldom seen among men.

The following letter of Lewis, proposing the project to Clark
is from various points of view an interesting contribution to the
history of the expedition :

Washington, June 19th, 1803.
Dear Clark:

Herewith inclosed you will receive papers belonging to your
brother Genl. Clark, which sometime since you requested me to
procure and forward to you ; pray excuse delay which has taken
place, it has really proceeded from causes which I could not con-
troll ; Mr. Thompson Mason, the gentleman in whose possession
they were, is a member of the Virginia legislature, and was ab-
sent of course from his residence untill March, previous to his ,
return I was compelled to leave this place on a matter of business,
which had detained me in Lancaster & Philadelphia until the day

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 59

before yesterday and since my return having possessed myself of
the papers I seize the first moment to forward them to you ; in this
claim I wish you success most sincerely.

From the long and uninterrupted friendship and confidence
which has subsisted between us I feel no hesitation in making to
you the following communication under the f ulest impression that
it will be held by you inviolable secret untill I see you, or you
shall hear from me again.

During the last session of Congress a law was passed in con-
formity to a private message of the President of the United
States, intiled "An Act making an appropriation for extending
the external commerce of the United States. ' ' The object of this
Act as understood by its framers was to give the sanction of the
government to exploring the interior of the continent of North
America, or that part of it bordering on the Missourie & Colum-
bia Rivers. This enterprise has been confided to me by the Presi-
dent, and in consequence since the begining of March I have been
engaged in making the necessary preparations for the tour, these
arrangements being now nearly completed. I shall set out for
Pittsburg (the intended point of embarcation) about the last of
this month, and as soon after as from the state of the water you
can reasonably expect me I shall be with you, say about the 10th
of August. To aid me in this enterprise I have the most ample
and hearty support that the government can give in every pos-
sible shape. I am armed with the authority of the government of
the U. States for my protection, so far as its authority or influ-
ence extends ; in addition to which, the further aid has been given
me of liberal passports from the Ministers both of France and
England ; I am instructed to select from any corps in the army a
number of noncommissioned officers and privates not exceeding
12, who may be disposed voluntarily to enter into this service ; and
am also authorized to engage any other. men not soldiers that I
may think useful! in promoting the objects or success of this ex-
pedition. I am likewise furnished with letters of credit, and
authorized to draw on the government for any sum necessary for
the comfort of myself and party. To all the persons engaged
.in this service I am authorized to offer the following rewards by
way of inducement — 1 the bounty (if not a soldier) but in both
cases six months pay in advance ; 2 to discharge them from the
service if they wish it, immediately on their return from the ex-
pedition giving them their arrears of pay clothing &c. & 3 to se-
cure to them a portion of land equal to^that given by the United
States to the officers and soldiers who served in the revolutionary
army. This is a short view of means with which I am intrusted
to carry this plan of the Government into effect. I will now give
you a short sketch of my plan of opperation ; I shall embark at
Pittsburg with a party of recruits eight or nine in number, in-
tended only to manage the boat and are not calculated on as a

60 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

permanent part of my detachment; when descending the Ohio
it shall be my duty by enquiry to find out and engage some good
hunters stout, healthy, unmarried young men, accustomed to the
woods, and capable of bearing bodily fatigue in a pretty consid-
erable degree; should any young men answering this description
by found in your neighborhood I would thank you to give infor-
mation of them on my arrivall at the falls of the Ohio; and if
possible learn the probability of their engaging in this service,
this may be done perhaps by holding out the idea that the direc-
tion of this expedition if up the Mississippi to its source, and
thence to the lake of the Woods, stating the probable period of
absence at about 18 months ; if they would engage themselves in
a service of this description there would be but little doubt that
they would engage in the real design when it became necessary to
make it known to them, which I should take care to do before I
finaly engaged them : — The soldiers that will most probably an-
swer this expedition best will be found in some of the companies
stationed at Massac, Kaskaskias & Illinois ; pardon this digression
from the description of my plan : it is to descend the Ohio in a
keeled boat of about ten tons burthen, from Pittsburg to its
mouth, thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Missourie,
and up that river as far as its navigation is practicable with a
boat of this description, there to prepare canoes of bark or raw-
hides, and proceed to it's source, and if practicable pass over to
the waters of the Columbia or Origan River and by descending it
reach the Western Ocean ; the mouth of this river lies about one
hundred and forty miles South of Nootka-Sound, at which place
there is a considerable European Trading establishment, and
from which it will be easy to obtain a passage to the United
States by way of the East-Indies in some of the tradeing vessels
that visit Nootka-Sound annually, provided it should be thought
more expedient to do sor than to return by the rout I had pur-
sued in my outward bound journey. The present season being
already so far advanced, I do not calculate on getting further
than two or three hundred miles up the Missourie before the com-
mencement of the ensuing winter. At this point wherever it may
be I shall make myself as comfortable as possible during the win-
ter and resume my journey as early in the spring as the ice will
permit: — should nothing take place to defeat my progress alto-
gether I feel confident that my passage to' the Western ocean can
be effected by the end of the next Summer or the beginning of
Autumn. In order to subsist my party with some degree of com-
fort dureing the ensuing winter, I shall engage some French
traders at Illinois at attend me to my wintering ground with a
sufficient quantity of flour, pork &c. to serve them plentifully
during the winter, and thus be enabled to set out in the Spring
with a healthy and vigorous party. So much for the great out-
lines of this scheem, permit me now to mention partially the ob-

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 61

jects which it has in view or those which it is desirable to effect
through it's means, and then conclude this lengthy communica-
tion. You must know in the first place that very sanguine expec-
tations' are at this time formed by our Government that the whole
of that immense country watered by the Mississippi and it's trib-
utary streams, Missouri e inclusive, will be the property of the U.
States in less than 12 months from this date; but let me again
impress you with the necessity of keeping this matter a perfect
secret. In such a state of things therefore as we have every rea-
son to hope, you will readily concieve the importance to the U.
States of an early and intimate acquaintance with the tribes that
inhabit that country, that they should be early impressed with
the just idea of the rising importance of the U. States and of her
friendly dispositions towards them, as also her desire to become
useful! to them by furnishing them through her citizens with such
articles by way of barter as may be desired by them or usefull to
them. The other objects of this mission are scientific, and of
course not less interesting to the U. States than to the world gen-
erally such is the ascertaining by celestial observation the geog-
raphy of the country through which I shall pass; the names of
the nations who inhabit it, the extent and limitts of their several
possessions, their relation with other tribes and nations; their
language, traditions, and monuments ; their ordinary occupations
in fishing, hunting, war, arts, and the implements for their food,
clothing and domestic accommodation ; the diseases prevalent
among them and the remedies they use ; the articles of commerce
they may need, or furnish, and to what extent ; the soil and face
of the country; it's growth and vegetable productions its ani-
mals ; the miniral productions of every description ; and in short
to collect the best possible information relative to whatever the
country may afford as a tribute to general science.

My instruments for celestial observation are an excellent set
and my supply of Indian presents is sufficiently ample.

Thus my friend you have so far as leasure will at this time
permit me to give it you, a summary view of the plan, the means
and the objects of this expedition, if therefore there is anything
under those circumstances, in this enterprise, that would induce
you to participate with me in its fatiegues, it's dangers and it's
honors, believe me there is no man on earth with whom I should
feel equal pleasure in sharing them as with yourself ; I make this
communication to you with the privity of the President, who ex-
presses an anxious wish that you woulcj consent to join me in this
enterprise ; he has authorized me to say that in the event of your
accepting this propositiion he will grant you a Captain's com-
mission which of course will entitle you to the pay and emolu-
ments attached to that office and will equally with myself entitle
you to such portion of land as was granted to officers of similar
rank for their Revolutionarv services ; the commission with which

62 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

he proposes to furnish you is not to be considered temporary but
pernament if you wish it; your situation if joined with me in
this mission will in all respects be precisely such as my own. Pray
write to me on this subject as early as possible and direct to me
at Pittsburg. Should you feel disposed not to attach yourself to
this party in an official character, and at the same time feel a dis-
position to accompany me as a friend any part of the way up the
Missourie I should be extremely happy in your company, and will
furnish you with every aid for your return from any point you
might wish it.

With sincere and affectionate regard
your friend & Humb sev.

Meriwether Lewis.

We have not the original of Clark 's reply ; but he preserved
this rough draft :

Clarksville 17th July 1803
Dear Lewis

I received by yesterday 's Mail your letter of the 19th. ulto ;
the contents of which I received with much pleasure. The enter-
prise & Mission is such as I have long anticipated & am much
pleased with and as my situation in life will admit of my absence
the length of time necessary to accomplish such an undertaking,
I will cheerfully join you in an "official character" as mentioned
in your letter and partake of all the Dangers, Difficulties &
fatigues, and I anticipate the honors & rewards, of the result of
such an enterprise should we be successful in accomplishing it.
This is an immense undertaking fraited with numerous diffi-
culties, but my friend I can assure you that no man lives with
whom I prefer to undertake and share the difficulties of such a
trip than yourself. I reserve nothing from you that will add
either to my profit or satisfaction and shall arrange my matters
as well as I can against your arrival here ?

It may be necessary that you inform the president of my
acceding to the proposals, so that I may be furnished with such
credentials, as the nature of the Tour may require, which I sup-
pose had best be forwarded to Louisville. The objects of this
Plan of Government's are great and appear nattering the means
with which we are furnished to carry it into effect, I think are
sufficiently liberal. The plan of operation which you inform me
you intended to pursue (with a small addition as to the outfit)
I highly approve of.

I shall endeavor to engage temporarily such men as I think
may answer our purpose but, holding out the Idea as stated in
your letter — the subject of which has been mentioned in Louis-
ville several weeks ago .

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 63

Pray write to me by every post, I shall be exceedingly anx-
ious to know where you are and how you proceed ?

With every assurance of sincerity in every respect, and with
aff y f & H.Srv.

W. C.

Following is the rough draft of a memorandum, by Clark,
evidently the scheme of a letter to the President, under date of
July 24th :

I had the Honor of receiving thro' Cap. Lewis an assurance
of your approbation and wish that I would join him in a N. W.
Enterprise.

Altho' a Tour of this kind is (two words illegible) difficulties
and dangers I will chearfully join my F. Lewis in the accom-
plishment of them, and shall arrange my business so as to be
in readiness to set out in a short time after he arrives here. May
I request the favor of you to forward the inclosed letter to Cap.
Lewis should he not be with you? May I have the pleasure of
hering from you ?

I am with resp.

Interior mails moved slowly in 1803. Lewis had grown un-
easy over Clark's delay in answering. Fearing that his friend
could or would not go, he opened tentative negotiations with
Lieutenant Moses Hooke, of his own regiment, who was then in
charge of military stores at Pittsburg; a young man "about 26
years of age, endowed with a good constitution, possessing a sen-
sible well -informed mind, is industrious, prudent and persevering
and withall intrepid and enterprising," Lewis described him in
a letter to Jefferson (July 26). Lewis had, however, apparently
once more written Clark, and their letters had crossed. In the
following Clark reiterates his favorable reply, which we obtain
from the rough draft :

Louisville 24th 1803
Dear Lewis

I wrote you in answer to your letter of the 19 ulto; by the
last Mail, the contents of which as I before informed you were
truly pleasing to me and such as I heartily join you in. I am
arranging my matters so as to detain but a short time after your
arrival here, well convinced of the necessity of getting as far as
possible up the - - this fall to accomplish the object as

laid down by yourself and which I highly approve of.

(Paragraph in draft, which was erased : "My friend I join
you with hand and Heart and anticipate advantages which will
certainly accrue from the accomplishment of so vast, Hazidous
& fatiguing enterprize. You no doubt will inform the president
of my determination to Join you in an 'official Character' as men-
tioned in your letter.

64 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

The Credentials necessary for me to be furnished with had
best be forwarded to this place, and if we set out before their ar-
rival to Kaskaskies.")

I have temporarily engaged some men for the enterprise of a
discription calculated to work & go thro' those labours & fatigues
which will be necessary. Several young men (gentlemen's sons)
have applyed to accompany us. As they are not accustomed to
labour and as that is a verry essential part of the services re-
quired of the party, I am cautious in giving them any encourage-
ment. The newspaper accounts seem to confirm the report of war
in Europe and the session of Louisiana to the United States, and
I think it possible that a confirmation of the session of Louisiana
may have detained you at the city longer than you expected, I
have enclosed a letter to you under cover to Mr. Jefferson. Pray
let me hear from you as aften as possible.

Yr. W. C.

Lewis's enthusiastic and almost boyish reply to his friend
was written at Pittsburg, where he was impatiently waiting for
dilatory boat-builders to complete the craft which they had prom-
ised to have ready by midsummer.

Pittsburg August 3rd 1803
Dear Clark :

Yours of the 19th & 24th Ul. have been duly received, and be
assured I feel myself much gratifyed with your decision; for I
could neither hope, wish, or expect from a union with any man on
earth, more perfect support or further aid in the discharge of the
several duties of my mission, than that, which I am confident I
shall derive from being associated with yourself.

The articles of every description forming my outfit for this
expedition have arrived in good order ; my boat only detains me,
she is not yet completed tho' the workman who contracted to build
her promises that she shall be in readiness by the last of the next
week. The water is low, this may retard, but shall not totally
obstruct my progress being determined to proceed tho' I should
not be able to ma.ke greater speed than a boat's length pr day.

I am. pleased to heare that you have engaged some men for
this service, your contract with them had better be with the con-
dition of my approval, as by the time I shall arrive more will have
offered themselves and a better selection may of course be made ;
from the nature of this enterprise much must depend on a judi-
cious selection of our men ; their qualifications should be such as
perfectly fit them for the service otherwise they will greatly clog
than further the objects in view; on this principle I am well
pleased that you have not admitted or encouraged the young gen-
tlemen you mention, as we must set our faces against all such
applications and get rid of them on the best terms we can, they

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 65

will not, answer our purposes ; if a good hunter or two could be
conditionally engaged, I would think them an acquisition, they
must however understand that they will not be employed for the
purposes of hunting exclusively but must bear a portion of the
labour in commen with the party.

Sometime in the month of February last a young man by
the name of John Conner residing among the Delleware Indians
on White River offered himself, by letter, to accompany me in the
capacity of Interpreter ; I wrote him in answer accepting his serv-
ices and giving him some instruction relative to the; points at
which I wished him to join me as also to engage one or two In-
dian hunters for the service — of this letter I forwarded tripli-
cates by different routs but have never received an answer ; I am
personally acquainted with this man and think that we could not
get a person better qualfyed in every respect than he is, and that
it will be advisable to spare no pains to get him. If you can not
learn that Conner has gone on to Massac Kaskaskais or Illinois,
(which are the places I appointed for his joining me) I think it
will be best for you to hire a man to go to the Deleware Town and
enquire after him, you may offer him 300 dollars a year and find
him provisions and clothing — should he be at the Delleware Town
and be willing to engage on these terms he had better come on im-
mediately and join us at Louisville. He is a trader among the
Indians and I think he told me he lived on White River at the
nearest Delleware town to Fort Hamilton and distant from that
place about 24 miles.

The session of Louisiana is now no (word illegible) on the 14th
of July the President received the treaty from Paris, by which
France has ceded to the U. States, Louisiana according to the
bounds to which she had a wright, price 11*4 millions of dollars,
besides paying certain debts of France to our citizens which will
be from one to four millions ; the Western people may now esti-
mate the value of their possessions.

I have been detained much longer than I expected but shall
be with you by the last of this month.

You sincere friend & Ob. Sevt.

NOTE— Write & direct to me at Cincinnati.

In the same collection of letters is one by Clark to John Con-
ner (August 20), seeking to engage that person as Indian inter-
preter, and offering him "300 dollars a year and find you provi-
sion & clothing. ' ' But the negotiations with Conner fell through.

We next have a hurried note fi*om Lewisf to Clark, dated
September 28th, notifying his friend, who was waiting for the
flotilla at Louisville, that the expedition had reached Cincinnati
"After a most tedious and laborious passage from Pittsburg."
It was delayed by the ' ' unpardonable negligence and inattention
of the boat builders who, unfortunately for me, were a set of most

66 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

incorrigible drunkards, and whom, neither threats, intreaties nor
any other mode of treatment which I could devise had any ef-
fect." He tells Clark that "your ideas in the subject of a judi-
cious scelection of our party perfectly comport with my own ; ' '
and adds, ' ' I do not much regret the loss of Mr. Conner for sev-
eral reasons which I shall mention to you when we meet ; he has
deceived me very much. ' '

A letter by Lewis, dated Cahokia, December 17th, addressed
to Clark, who is drilling to men at Camp River Dubois, states
that recruits are coining in. "Drewyer (Droullard) arrived
here last evening from Tennessee with eight men. I do not know
how they may answer our experiment but I am a little disappoint-
ed, in finding them not possessed of more of the requisite qualifi-
cations; there is not a hunter among them." Suggestions are
given relative to corn for the horses, and the building of huts for
the party wintering ' ' on Morrison Js farm. ' '

From Camp River Dubois (February 18, 1804), Lewis writes
to Clark, who is at St. Louis, saying that he is "disappointed in
getting down to the ball 011 the 14th," and giving news of the
camp, which has been visited by "a principal chief of the Kick-
apoo nation."

Another note from "M. Lewis in haist" to Clark, dated May
2, 1804 — twelve days before the start — informs him of the ship-
ment to camp of "19 small flaggs, 16 musquetoe nets and our
shirts;" gives directions relative to the men's pay, which "will
commence from the dates of their last inlistments ; ' ' and reports
that "Mr. (Pierre) Chouteau has procured seven (French voy-
ageurs) engaged to go as far as the Mandans — but they will not
agree to go further. ' '

These documents well exemplify the habits and character-
istics of the two men — Clark expressing himself sententiously,
with Doric simplicity and vigor of phrase ; Lewis in more cor-
rect diction, inclined to expatiate on details, especially with re-
gard to Indians and natural history, and frequently revealing a
considerable fund of sentiment and humor. The following en-
tries for July 4, 1805, are fairly characteristic — although not sel-
dom Lewis gives us pages of interesting circumstances, where
Clark turns off the incidents of the day with a blunt paragraph :

(Lewis) our work being an end this evening, we gave the
men a drink of Sperits, it being the last of our stock, and some of
them appeared a little sensible to it's effects the fiddle was plyed
and they danced very merrily untill 9 in the evening when a heave
shower of rain put an end to that part of the amusement tho'
they continued their mirth with songs and festive jokes and were
extreemly merry until late at night, we had a very comfortable
dinner, of bacon, beans, suit dumplings & buffaloe beaf &c.' in
short we had no just cause to covet the sumptuous feasts of our

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 67

countrymen on this day. one Elk and a beaver were all that was
killed by the hunters to-day; the buffaloe seem to have with-
drawn themselves from this neighborhood; the men inform us
that they are still abundant about the falls.

(Clark) : A fine morning, a heavy dew last night ; all hands
employed in Completing the leather boat, gave the Party a dram
which made several verry lively, a black Cloud came up from the
S. W., and rained a fiew drops I employ my Self drawing a Copy
of the river to be left at this place for fear of some accident in
advance. I have left, buried below the falls a Map of the coun-
trey below Fort Maiidan with Sundery private papers. The
party amused themselves danceing untill late when a shower of
rain broke up the amusement, all lively and Chearfull, one Elk
and a beaver kill 'd to day.

Here is a graphic picture by Clark (April 9, 1806) who
dwells upon the incident at unwonted length :

last night at a late hour the old amsiated Indian who was
detected in stealing a Spoon yesterday crept upon his belley with
his hands and feet, with a view as I suppose to take some of our
baggage which was in several defferent parcels on the bank, the
Sentinel observed the motions of this old amcinated retch until
he got with (in) a fiew feet of the baggage at (which) he hailed
him and approached with his gun in a possion as if going to shote
which allarmed the old retch in such a manner that he ran with
all his powers tumbleing over bush and everything in his way.

The following account of Christmas at Fort Clatsop (1805),
from the Clark field-book, shows the poor fellows seeking to make
a brave show under dolefull conditions :

Some rain at different times last night and showers of hail
with intervales of fair starrlight. This morning at day we were
saluted by all our party under our winders, a Shout and a Song
after brackfast we divided our tobacco which amounted to 2 Car-
rots, one half we gave to the party whot used Tobacco those who
did not we gave a Handkerchief as a present, The day proved
showery all day, the Ind. left! us this evening, all our party
moved into their huts, we dried some of our wet goods.

I reved a present of a Fleeshe Hoserey (fleece hosiery) vest
draws & socks of Capt Lewis p Mockersons of Whitehouse, a
small Indian basket of Guterich (Goodrich) & 2 Dox weasels tales
of the Squar of Shabono, & some black roots of the Indians Our
Diner to day consisted of pore Elk boiled, split fish & some roots,
a bad Christmass diner worm day.

"Ticks and Musquiters" are "Verry troublesom" through
much of tha journey; on the upper Missouri, "eye knats and
prickly pears, equal any three curses that ever poor Egypt laib-
oured under, except the Mahometant yoke. ' ' Grizzly Bears great-
ly annoy them east of the mountains ; Lewis gives many thrilling
experiences with this bulky and ferocious beast, and writes: "I

68 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

find that the curiossity of our party is pretty well satisfyed with
rispect to this anamal * he has staggered the resolution

of several of them * * * I comfess I do not like the gentle-
men and had reather fight two Indians than one bear. ' ' One has
frequent glimpses, on the deeply gullied plains, of buffalo heards,
often enbracing several thousands, and antelopes, deer, bighorns,
and other game in astonishing numbers. In crossing the divide,
we are closely in touch with a sad dearth of food ; and upon the
Columbia and at Fort Clatsop find the adventurers obliged to ex-
ist on horses, dogs, dried fish, and roots, until the human system
sometimes revolts — Clark never could accustom himself to dog
flesh; although Lewis, in several facetious references, promesses
to regard it as equal to beaver-tail. Storms by day and night, the
shelving banks of the Missouri, the toil of towing line and kedge
anchor, the misery of wading rapids, the dangers of crossing
snow-clad mountains, constant peril from prowling grizzlies, buf-
falo stampedes or crafty Indians whose machinations require the
equal exercise of diplomacy and courage — incidents like these, al-
though often but casually alluded to, are sufficient to give us a
vivid conception of the sore trials which beset the path-finders,
and the wide range of qualifications necessary to the leadership
of an expedition which was to overcome both untamed nature and
savage men.

By means of the diaries we also constantly obtain side-lights
on the personnel' of the party, other than the captains, which
Biddle's literary paraphrase quite neglects. Besides the volun-
teers from Ohio River garrisons, were several young Kentucky
woodsmen and mechanics, also a small group of French Canad-
ians who served as interpreters, hunters and boatmen. The Ken-
tucky wood-rovers were at first restive under the strict discipline
which Lewis and Clark had found it essential to mainfain. The
orderly book, already alluded to, reveals numerous instances
wherein corporal punishment — in one case, four hundred lashes
on the bare back — was administered to refractory privates ; while
in a case of mutiny during the first summer, resulted in two cul-
prits being drummed out of camp, after the usual flogging, and
then kept imprisoned until the following spring, when they were
sent back in irons to St. Louis.

The four sergeants appear to have been equally trusted, and
not infrequently receive commendation in the journals. Floyd's
death (August 20th, 1804), calls forth especial praise from
Clark: "This Man at all times gave us proofs of his firmness
and Determined resolution to doe Service to his Countrey and
honor to himself. ' ' Ordway was first sergeant, and his penman-
ship appears frequently in the orderly book. Pryor, in particu-
lar, was on several occassions given the care of difficult special
enterprises. Among the privates, Joseph and Reuben Fields, as
hunters for the party, receive frequent mention, Clark thinking

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 69

them remarkable shots; but his highest praise in this regard is
for the Frenchman, Drouillard (Drewyer, as the journals phone-
tically spell his name), who is a mighty hunter and abundant in
resour'ce.

There were many times upon the journey when it was nec-
essary to entertain their numerous savage visitors, concerning
whose intentions the captains had good reason to be suspicious.
Lewis's air gun, which would discharge a dozen or more shots
without re-loading, was a never-ending source of wonder to the
simple natives ; so also, the sagacious dog which accompanied him
throughout the expedition, and whose simple tricks immensely
pleased the tribes-men. Clark's compass and magnet were in fre-
quent demand, also his spy-glass — magic, in the truest sense of the
word. Kentuckians and voyageurs fiddled, sang and danced,
often until sheer exhaustion caused them to desist; sometimes
they served in relays, to keep their guests continually amused.
On such occasions, we read much of the acrobatic performances
of Clark's burly and good-natured negro servant, York, whose
facial and bodily contortions occasionally so alarmed the Indians
that his master would cause him to stop " making himself too
Terribull."

Prominent among the party were Charbonneau, one of the
French interpreters — a loutish, brutal fellow, whose loyalty was
more than once suspected — and his squaw, Sacajawea (or Sah-
cahgarweah), the only woman in the party. Sacajawea was a
young Shoshoni who had, five years previous, been captured near
the Three Forks of the Missouri, by a band of Minitaree and car-
ried to the lower reaches of the Missouri, where, on regaining her
freedom, she fell in and consorted with Charbonneau. A son
was born to her on the journey, and, with the papoose strapped
on her back, she .accompanied the expedition to the Pacific and
back again to Fort Mandan. As the only member of the detach-
ment who had been up the Missouri to the mountains, and who
knew the native dialects of the Far West, her presence was deem-
ed invaluable ; many of Charbonneau 's shortcomings were on this
account forgiven. Once, when the principal boat was nearly up-
set by a squall on the Missouri, Sacajawea 's coolness alone saved
valuable instruments and papers, the loss of which might, the
captains tell us, have necessitated the return of the expedition.
Nearing the mountains, the river frequently forked, and her
memory of geographical points, while apparently weak, never-
theless materially assisted in decisions* as to the proper stream to
follow ; and when at last it was necessary to cache the canoes, and
seek Indians horses with which to cross the far-stretching divide,
the village chief who finally assisted them with men and beasts,
was Sacajawea 's brother, Cameawhait. Lewis had once com-
plained of the woman 's indifference to sentiment, saying * ' If she
has enough to eat and a few trinkets to wear I believe she would

70 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

be perfectly content anywhere.'' But her meeting with Camea-
whait, he declares to have been ' ' really affecting1. ' ' The women
of Oregon are preparing to erect a bronze statue to Sacajawea, in
the capacity of guide to the expedition, and propose to unveil it
during the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland.
in 1905.

But thd limitations of space forbid further description of
this newly found mine of documentary material. Enough has
been written to show that the pages of these manuscripts jour-
nals are aglow with human interest. The quiet, even temper of
the camp ; the loving consideration that each of the two leaders
felt for each other ; the magnanimity of Lewis, officially the lead-
er, in equally dividing every honor with his friend and making
no move without the latter 's consent ; the poetic temperament of
Lewis, who loved flowers and animals, and in his notes discoursed
like a philosopher who enjoyed the exercise of writing; the rug-
ged character of Clark, who wrote in brief, pointed phrase,
spelled phonetically, capitalized chaotically, and occasionally
slipped in his grammar — all these and more are evident on every
page ; causing the reader deeply to admire the men, and to follow
them in their often thrilling adventures with the keenest sym-
pathy and anticipation. We shall hereafter know Lewis and
Clark and their bronzed companions as we never knew them be-
fore.

Letters of General Clark

The letters among the papers of General William Clark, are
of special interest to the people of the great west and always
should be of the great expedition of over one hundred years ago.
The letters herewith given from William Clark to his brother,
General George Rogers Clark (of Revolutionary fame) and the
second one to the husband of Sacajawea, the French half-breed
interpreter Charbono. The letters throws a very interesting
light on the true character of William Clark. These letters are
the property of Mrs. Julia Clark Voorhees, granddaughter of
General William Clark, and of her daughter, Miss Eleanor Glas-
gow Voorhees of New York, in whose possession they have by in-
heritance for many years remained.

William Clark to George Rogers Clark, St. Louis, September
24, 1806 :

Dear Brother :

We arrived at this place on the 23 inst. from the Pacific
Ocean, where we remained during the last winter near the en-
trance of the Columbia River. This station we left on the 27th.
of March last and should have reached St. Louis early in August
had we not been detained by the snow which bared our passage
across the Rocky Mountains until the 24th of June. In returning
through those mountains we divided ourselves into several parties

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 71

digressing from the rout by which we went out in order the more
effectually to explore the country and discover the most prac-
ticable rout which does exist across the continent by way of the
Missouri and Columbia Rivers, in this we were completely suc-
cessful and have therefore no hesitation in declaring that such
as nature has permitted it we have discovered the best rout which
does exist across the continent of North America in that direc-
tion. Such is that by way of the Missouri to the foot of the rap-
ids below the great falls of that river, a distance of 2575 miles,
thence by passing the Rocky Mountains to a navigable part of
Kooskee 340 and with the Kooskooskee 73 miles Lewis's river
154 miles and the Columbia 413 miles to the Pacific Ocean, mak-
ing the total distance from the confluence of the Missouri and
Mississippi to the discharge of the Columbia into the Pacific
Ocean 3555 miles, the navigation of the Missouri may be deemed
good ; its difficulties arise from its falling banks, timber embeded
in the mud of its channel its sandbars and steady rapidity of its
current all which may be overcome with a great degree of cer-
tainty by using the necessary precautions. The passage by land
of 340 miles from the Missouri to the Kooskooskee is the most
formidable part of the tract proposed across the continent of this
distance 200 miles is along a good road and 140 over tremendous
mountains which for 60 miles are covered with eternal snow, a
passage over these mountains is however practicable from the lat-
ter part of June to the last of September and the cheep rate at
which horses are to be obtained from the Indians of the Rocky
Mountains and west of them reduce the expenses of transporta-
tion over this portage to a mere trifle, the navigation of Koos-
kooskee, Lewis's R. and the Columbia is safe and good from the
first of April to the middle of August by making portages on the
latter river, the first of which in descending is 1200 paces at
the falls of the Columbia 261 miles up that river the second of 2
miles at the long narrows 6 miles below the falls and a third also
2ms at the great rapids 65 miles still lower down, the tide flows
up the Columbia 183 miles and within 7 miles of the great rapids,
large sloops may with safety ascend as high as tide water and
vessels of 300 tons burthen may reach the entrance of the Mul-
tnomah R. a large southern branch of the Columbia which tak-
ing its rise on the confines of Mexico with the Colorado and
Apostles rivers discharges itself into the Columbia 125 miles from
its mouth. I consider this tract across the continent of immense
advantage to the fur trade as all the\furs collected in 9/10ths. of
the most valuable fur country in America may be conveyed to the
mouth of the Columbia and shipped from thence to East Indies
by the first of August in each year and will of course reach Can-
ton earlier than the furs which are annually exported from Mon-
treal arrive in Great Britain.

72 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

In our outward bound voyage we ascended to the foot of the
rapids below the great falls of the Missouri where we arrived
on the 14th. of June 1805. Not having met with any of the na-
tives of the Rocky Mountains we were of course ignorant of the
passes by land which existed through that country to the Colum-
bia River and had we even known the route we were destitute of
horses which would have been indispensibly necessary to enable
us to transport the requisite quanity of ammunition and other
stores to ensure the success of the remaining part of our voyage
down the Columbia. We therefore determined to navigate the
Missouri as far as it was practicable or until we met with some
of the natives from whom we could obtain horses and information
of the country, accordingly we undertook the most laborious
portage at the falls of the Missouri of 18 miles, which we effected
with our canoes and baggage by the 3rd. of July, from hence
ascending the Missouri we entered the Rocky Mountains at the
distance of 7 miles above the upper part of the portage and pen-
etrated as far as the three forks of that river a distance of 181
miles further here the Missouri divides itself into three nearly
equal branches at the same point, the two largest branches are
so nearly of the same dignity that we did not conceive that either
of them could with propriety retain the name of the Missouri and
therefore called these three streams Jefferson, Madison and Galli-
tan. The confluence of these rivers is 2848 miles from the mouth
of the Missouri ; by the meanders of that river.

We arrived at the 3 forks of the Missouri the 27th. of July.
Not having yet been so fortunate as to meet with natives although
I had! previously made several excursions for that purpose we
were compelled still to continue our route by water, that to
which we had given the name of Jefferson River was deemed the
most proper for our purposes and we accordingly ascended it 249
miles to the upper forks and its extreme navigatable point making
the total distance to which we had navigated the waters of the
Missouri 3096 miles of which 429 lay within the Rocky Moun-
tains, on the morning of the 17th. of August 1805 I arrived at
the forks of Jeffersons River where I met Captain Lewis who had
previously penetrated with three men to the waters of the Colum-
bia and discovered a band of Shoshones and had found means to
induce thirty-five of them, chiefs and warriors, to accompany him
to that place, from these people we learned that the river on
which we resided was not navigable and that a passage through
the mountains in that direction was impracticable ; being unwill-
ing to confide in this unfavorable account of the natives it was
concerted between Capt. Lewis and myself that I should go for-
ward immediately with a small party and explore the river while
he in the interior would lay up the canoes at that place and en-
gage the natives with their horses to assist in transporting our
stores and baggage to their camp. Accordingly I set out the next

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 73

day passed the dividing mountains between the waters of the
Missouri and Columbia and descended the river which I have
since called the East Fork of Lewis's R. about 70 miles finding
that the Indian account of the country in the direction of this
river was correct. I returned and found Captain Lewis on the
29th of August at the Shoshone camp — excessively fatigued hav-
ing been compelled to subsist on berries during the greater part
of the route. We now purchased 27 horses of these Indians and
hired a guide who assured us that he could in fifteen days taks
us to a large river in an open country west of these mountains by
a rout some distance to the north of the river on which they lived
and that by which the natives west of the mountains visited the
plains of the Missouri for the purpose of hunting buffaloe. ev-
ery preparation being made was set forward with our guide on
the 31st. of August through those tremendous mountains in
which we continued until the 22nd. of September before we
reached the level country beyond them. On our way we met the
Ootolashshoot, a band of the Tushipahs from whom we obtained
an accession of several horses and exchanged eight or ten others.
This proved of infinite service to us as we were compelled to sub-
sist on horse beef about eight days before we reached Kooskooske.
During our passage over these mountains we suffered everything
which hunger, cold and fatigue could impose; nor did our diffi-
culties with respect to provisions cease on our arrival at the
Kooskooske for although the Pallopepallers numerous nation in-
habiting that country were extremely hospitable and for a few
trifling articles furnished us with an abundance of roots and
dried salmon, the food to which they were accustomed we found
that we could not subsist on those articles and almost all of us
grew sick on eating them, we were obliged therefore to have re-
course to the flesh of horses and dogs as food to supply the defi-
ciency of our guns which produced but little meat as game was
scarce in the vicinity of our camp on the Kooskooske where we
were compelled to remain in order to construct our perouges to
descend the river, at this season the salmon are megre and form
but indifferent food. While we remained here I was myself sick
for several days and my friend Capt. Lewis suffered a severe in-
disposition. Having completed 4 large perouges and a small
canoe we gave our horses in charge of the Pallopepallers until we
returned and on the 7th of Oct. re-embarked for the Pacific
Ocean. We decided by the rout which I have already mentioned,
the water of the rivers being low at {his season we experienced
much difficulty in descending. We found them obstructed by a
great number of difficult and dangerous rapids in passing of
which our perouges narrowly with their lives, however this dif-
ficulty does not exist iii high water which happens within the
period which I have previously mentioned. We found the na-
tives extremely numerous and generally friends though we have

74 Personal Recollections of Pioneer Life

on several occasions owed our lives and the fate of the expedition
to our number which consisted of 31 men. On the 17 of Novem-
ber we reached the Ocean where various considerations induced
us to spend the winter. We therefore surchecl for an eligible
situation for that purpose and selected a spot on the E. side of
a little river called by the Natul which discharges itself into a
small bay on the S. E. side of the Columbia and 14 miles within
point Adams, here we constructed some log houses and defend-
ed them with a common stockade work ; this place we called Fort
Clatsop after a nation of that name who were our nearest neigh-
bors in this country. We found an abundance of elk on which
we subsisted principally during the last winter on our homeward
bound voyage being much better acquainted with the country we
were enabled to take such precautions which have in a great meas-
ure secured us from the want of provision at any time and great-
ly lessened our fatigue when compared with those to which we
were compelled to submit in our outward bound journey. We
left Fort Clatsop 011 the 23th. of March. We have not lost a man
since wei left the Mandans a circumstance which I assure you is
a pleasing consideration to me. As I shall shortly be with you I
deem it unnecessary to have to attempt minutely to detale the
occurances of the last eighteen months.

Adieue &c William Clark.

William Clark to Toussaint Carbono on board the Perouge
near the Ricara Village August 20th, 1806.

Charbono,

Sir: Your present situations with the Indians gives me
some concern. I wish now that I had advised you to come with
me to Illinoise where it most probably would be in my power to
put you in the way to do something for yourself. I was so en-
gaged after the Big White concluded to go down with Jessomme
as his interpreter that I had no time to talk to you as much as I
had intended to have done. You have been a long time with me
and have conducted yourself in such a manner as to gain my
friendship. Your woman who accompanied you on that long dan-
gerous and fatiguing route to the Pacific Ocean and back de-
serves a greater reward for her attention and services on that
rout than we had in our power to give her at the Mandans.

As to youij little son (my boy Pomp) you well know my
fondness for him and my anxiety to take and raise him as my
own child. I once more tell you if you will bring your son Bap-
tiest to me I will educate him and treat him as my own child. I
do not forget the promise which I made to you and shall now re-
peat them that you may be certain. Charbono, if you wish to live
with the white people and will come to me I will give you a piece
of land and furnish you with horses, cows and hogs, if you wish
to visit your friends in Montreal I will let you have a horse and

On the Mountains and Plains of the Great West 75

your family shall be taken care of until you return, if you wish
to return as an interpreter Monetears when the troops come up
from the establishment, you will be with me ready and I will pro-
cure you the place — or if you wish to return to trade with the
Indians and will leave your little son Pomp with me I will assist
you with merchandise for that purpose and become myself con-
cerned with you in trade on a small scale that is to say not ex-
ceeding- a perouge load at one time. If you are disposed to accept
either of my offers to you and will bring down your son your fam-
ily Janey had best come along with you to take care of the boy
until I get him. Let me advise you to keep your bill of exchange
and what furs and peltrees you have in possession and get as
much more as you can and get as many robes and big horn and
Cabbra Skins as you can collect in the course of the winter and
take them down to St. Louis as early as possible in the spring.
When you get to St. Louis inquire of the Governor of that place
for a letter I shall leave for you. in the letter I shall leave with
the Governor I shall inform you what you had best do with your
furs peltree robes &c and direct you where to find me. If you
should meet with any misfortune on the river &c when you get
to St. Louis write a letter to me by the post and let me know your
situation. If you do not intend to go down either this fall or in
the spring write a letter to me by first opportunity and inform
me what you intend to do that I may expect you or not. If you
intend to come down this fall or the next spring will be best time.
This fall would be best if you could get down before winter. I
shall be found either in St. Louis or in Clarksville at the falls of
the Ohio.

Wishing you and your family great suckess & with enxious
expectations of seeing my little dancing boy Baptiest I shall re-
main your friend,

William Clark.

Keep this letter and let no more than one or 2 persons see
it and when you write to me seal your letter.

I think you best not deturman which of my offers to accept
until you see me. Come prepared to accept of either which you
may chuse after you get down.

Mr. Toussaint Charbono,

Meneterras Village.

THE END