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BEYOND THE OLD FRONTIER
* * * * * *
IN THE SAME SERIES
PUBLISHED BY CHARLES SCRIBNER’S SONS
=Beyond the Old Frontier.= Adventures of Indian Fighters,
Hunters, and Fur Traders. By GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL.
=Missionary Explorers Among the American Indians.=
Edited by MARY GAY HUMPHREYS.
=True Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World.= By
A. W. GREELY.
=The Boy’s Catlin.= My Life Among the Indians, by
GEORGE CATLIN. Edited by MARY GAY HUMPHREYS.
=The Boy’s Hakluyt.= English Voyages of Adventure and
Discovery, retold from Hakluyt by EDWIN M. BACON.
=The Boy’s Drake.= By EDWIN M. BACON.
=Trails of the Pathfinders.= By GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL.
=Zebulon M. Pike.= Edited by MARY GAY HUMPHREYS.
_Each Volume Illustrated. 12mo. Net $1.50_
* * * * * *
BEYOND THE OLD FRONTIER
[Illustration: AMONG THE BUFFALO]
BEYOND THE OLD FRONTIER
Adventures of
Indian-Fighters, Hunters, and
Fur-Traders
by
GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL
Author of
“Trails of the Pathfinders,” “Blackfeet Indian Stories,” etc.
Illustrated
New York
Charles Scribner’S Sons
1913
Copyright, 1913, by
Charles Scribner’S Sons
Published September, 1913
[Illustration]
PREFACE
To-day the vast territory lying between the Mississippi River and the
Pacific Ocean is occupied by many millions of people. Fifty years ago,
except on the Pacific slope, it had few white inhabitants. Then it was
the Far West, beyond the frontier, the Indian country--the unknown. A
journey into it was believed to be full of peril. In the minds of the
general public it was as far away as Central China is to-day.
Beyond the great river which bounded it on the east was a fringe of
settlements. Scattered through the more distant country were the
trading-posts to which the trapper brought his furs. Forts Garry,
Benton, Union, Laramie, Bridger, and Bent were some of these. There
were a few army posts, and as time went on others were established.
Gold had been discovered in California, and a wild rush of people
anxious to better their condition had started across the plains, bound
for the distant Eldorado. It was a curiously mixed population that
set out on this long journey. Farmers from New England, business men
and clerks from the Middle States, planters and younger sons from the
South; on foot and on horseback, carrying their possessions, large
or scanty, in vehicles drawn by horses, mules, oxen, and cows, they
struggled westward. They endured enormous toils; perpetually in fear of
attacks by Indians, meeting the dangers, delays, and perplexities of
wild men, strange surroundings, rough travelling, swollen streams, and
exhausted live-stock.
For many years the roads over which they had passed were marked by the
skeletons of animals, by broken-down wagons, by furniture and household
goods, thrown away to lighten the loads dragged by their feeble teams.
Along these deep-worn roads were the graves of those who had perished
on the way; sometimes mere mounds of earth, hardly showing on the level
prairie, or perhaps marked by a bit of board thrust in the ground,
bearing a pencilled name and date, which the winter’s storms would soon
obliterate.
Gold was discovered in the Rocky Mountains. The village of Denver was
established, and along the mountain streams the prospector worked with
pick and shovel and pan, and wore away his strength and his courage in
hunting for the gold that often he did not find. Montana also began to
yield gold, and Salmon River and Alder Gulch were at the beginnings of
their fame. Steam-boat traffic on the upper Missouri River, at first
established for the transportation of furs, gave easy access to the
Montana mines. Stages were running across the continent, and the pony
express had been established.
Between 1853 and 1863 the plains and mountains of the West began to
receive a sedentary population and to prepare for that startling
development which began about a generation later.
To most people who now inhabit the Western country the struggles of
those early years are still unknown. Industrious, energetic, fertile in
resources, they live their lives without a thought of the distant past,
without considering the conditions which made possible existence as it
is to-day. They are sturdy Americans absorbed in the diverse problems
which they have to meet, and, with astonishing success, devoting
themselves to the solution of those problems. This is as it should be,
yet it is worth while from time to time to take a look backward, and to
consider what those endured who went before us. To most of us our own
life is almost the only struggle worth considering, and wrapped up in
our personal affairs, we do not remember the stupendous difficulties
faced by our forebears, who conquered this country and made possible
its development, and the ease and luxury in which we to-day have a part.
Not many years ago a change began to take place in the view-point of
many Americans. Far-sighted men and women came to feel that the history
made by their fathers and mothers was worth preserving, and they began
to write and talk about this. What they said fell on sympathetic ears,
and interest was easily aroused, so that before long in many of the
Western States historical societies were established, and earnest men
gave time and effort to the work of inducing the early settlers to set
down their recollections--to describe the events in which they had
taken part. Later came the marking of historic spots and trails by
monuments.
To-day the historical societies of many Western States issue each year
a volume filled with material of great interest--matter that will be
of enormous value to the historian who shall set down the story of the
development of the West.
Since the accounts which appear in the following pages have to do
with a country then unknown, the explorers who penetrated it faced
new conditions and met new and primitive peoples. To subsist in these
unknown lands they were forced to hunt its animals, and the purpose
which led them so far afield was the trading for furs. The book thus
deals with a number of cognate subjects, with exploration, hunting, the
taking of fur, and Indians in peace and war; and in any or all of these
there is excitement and interest enough.
Let us look back at some of the happenings in this forgotten West,
which is now again being remembered.
CONTENTS
PAGE
AN EARLY FUR TRADER 1
FUR HUNTERS OF THE FAR WEST 39
WHEN BEAVER SKINS WERE MONEY 125
GEORGE FREDERICK RUXTON, HUNTER 191
A BOY IN INDIAN CAMPS 235
THE SOLITARY HUNTER 275
THE COUNCIL AT FORT BENTON 323
INDEX 365
ILLUSTRATIONS
AMONG THE BUFFALO _Frontispiece_
FACING
PAGE
ASTORIA 12
ASSINIBOINE-PIEGAN BATTLE BEFORE THE WALLS OF FORT MACKENZIE 34
BLACK BEAVER, DELAWARE SCOUT 130
GEORGE BENT 130
PLAN OF BENT’S OLD FORT 134
GENERAL S. W. KEARNY 162
KIT CARSON 164
INDIAN SIGNALLING “BUFFALO DISCOVERED” 222
SKINNING A BUFFALO 232
BUFFALO HERD NEAR LAKE JESSIE, UPPER MISSOURI RIVER 244
A CHEYENNE INDIAN CAMP 258
“BISON AND BULL, NOW IN MORTAL COMBAT, MET MIDWAY WITH A
SHOCK THAT MADE THE EARTH TREMBLE” 294
ISHMAH, THE TRAVOIS DOG 302
“JUST AS HE WAS PUTTING A COPPER CAP ON THE NIPPLE THE BEAR
ROSE ON HER HIND LEGS” 316
WILLIAM T. HAMILTON 326
A DISTRIBUTION OF GOODS TO THE GROS VENTRES 356
_MAP_
THE FRONTIER COUNTRY 2
AN EARLY FUR TRADER
[Illustration]
One hundred years ago little more was known of the Pacific coast than
that the land ended at the edge of the wide ocean, already furrowed by
the keels of explorers, whalers, and traders.
On the north, Alexander McKenzie had reached the salt water, and
a dozen years later Lewis and Clark had come to the mouth of the
Columbia. A few years after that came the Astor settlement at Astoria,
soon--in 1813--to be handed over to the British, to the Northwest
Company, which remained in control there until its consolidation with
the Hudson Bay Company in 1821.
One of the first commercial adventurers to the Columbia River, and
one of the first men engaged by John Jacob Astor for his far western
fur-trading expeditions, was Alexander Ross, a Scotchman, who came
to Canada in early life, spent more than forty-four years in the fur
trade, and finally died in the Red River settlement in 1856. Unlike
most fur traders, he had the energy and the interest, in the later
years of his life, to set down an account of what he had seen and
done during those early years of anxiety, hard work, and success.
His story “is not an arm-chair narrative derived from hearsay tales,
but the result of practical experience on the spot.” During most of
the time while engaged in trading with the savage tribes west of the
Rocky Mountains he was a leader; and the success or failure of his
expeditions--often the lives of his men and himself--depended on what
he thought, did, and said. He was a man of high courage, unfailing
energy, and close observation. His was serious work, yet he possessed
some sense of humor, which, however, he allows to appear only now and
then in his books. As a close observer stationed in the midst of things
and admirably acquainted with conditions, he saw the blunders made by
Mr. Astor and criticised them freely; yet he was always loyal to his
chief, and speaks with apparent contempt of those other men of the
north, hired by Mr. Astor for their great experience in the fur trade,
who, when the War of 1812 broke out and the Northwesters descended
on Astoria, seemed glad to desert their employer and to renew their
allegiance to the company that they had left for Astor’s higher pay and
greater privileges.
Ross wrote three books which are extraordinarily full of information,
and most useful as accurate descriptions of early conditions in
the country which is now the Northwestern United States. These are
_Adventures on the Oregon or Columbia River_, _Fur Hunters of the Far
West_, and, finally, an account of _The Red River Settlement_. These
three books give us in more or less connected form a history of the
Columbia River and the region about Old Fort Garry--now Winnipeg--a
history far better than anything that has ever been set down.
The first book deals chiefly with the history of Mr. Astor’s enterprise
from its beginning in 1809 until the taking over of the trading-post by
the Northwest Company, the change of name to Fort George, the sale of
the property of the Astor Company, and the departure on April 3, 1814,
of Mr. Hunt, Astor’s representative, and the few men that went with
him. After this, the Pacific Fur Company now being at an end, Ross,
Cox, and McLellan entered the service of the Northwest Company.
The American Fur Company, established by Mr. Astor, began operations
in 1809. One after another, other fur-trading companies were absorbed,
until Astor saw himself at the head of all the fur trade south of
Canada, with the possible hope of reaching out for the trade of the
northern country east of the Rocky Mountains. West of that range
was a vast field as yet almost untouched. True, the Russians had
trading-posts in what was then Russian America, and sent the furs
gathered there direct to China. True, also, that some American
coasting vessels on the Pacific secured a few furs which they took to
China, but this hardly touched the possibilities of half a continent.
Astor clearly saw that, if systematized and carefully managed, this
desultory traffic would be enormously profitable, and this led him to
organize the Pacific Fur Company, the chief station of which was to be
at the mouth of the Columbia River. That station might be connected
with others on the Atlantic water-shed by a chain of trading-posts
across the continent, and such a combination, he believed, would
control the whole American fur trade. Furs could be shipped in either
direction--down the Missouri, eastward; or to the west, down the
Oregon, to go to China.
Understanding the wide experience of the northern fur traders, and
with a view also to lessening the friction which might exist between
the British and the American governments along the border, Astor
engaged as field-workers for this far western service a number of the
retired partners of the Northwest Company. Such men as McKay, McKenzie,
McDougall, and Stuart were glad to become interested with him in the
enterprise. Astor furnished the capital, amounting to two hundred
thousand dollars; there were ten partners. The agreement was for a
period of twenty years, with the proviso that if the project proved
impractical or unprofitable after five years it might be dissolved. For
these first five years, however, Astor was to bear all the expenses and
losses, the other partners furnishing only their time and labor. The
nine partners outside of Mr. Astor and Mr. Hunt each held four shares
of the stock of two thousand dollars each, while Astor held fifty, and
Hunt, as his representative and chief manager, five. The remaining
shares were reserved for such clerks as might join the concern as
adventurers, without other remuneration than their chances of success
at the end of five years’ trial. As was natural, Astor controlled the
enterprise. His manager was Wilson Price Hunt, a man wholly without
experience in the Indian trade, but energetic, active, and persevering.
Ross learned of the project from Mr. McKay, who asked him to go
to Montreal to talk about the matter. Ross was asked to join the
expedition, and was the first one to do so, and with Robert Stuart made
so good a bargain that these two were promised their promotion at the
end of three years. Soon after the arrangements were completed a party
under Mr. Hunt started across the continent overland, while another
party headed by McKay sailed, September 10, 1810, for the mouth of the
Columbia River.
The sorrows of that voyage have often been described. Captain Thorn,
in command of the “Tonquin,” appears to have been a man impossible to
get along with. They went around the Horn, touched at the Sandwich
Islands, and at last reached the mouth of the Columbia River. There had
been continual quarrels between the captain, his passengers, and the
officers of the ship.
At last, however, the “Tonquin” was off the mouth of the Columbia
River, a rough and stormy spot, of many sand-bars and high surf, and
the weather was worse in spring than at any other time of the year. It
was now March or April. Here there was constant mismanagement; boats
were sent out to reconnoitre, and people were lost; the ship two or
three times struck the bottom, became unmanageable, and was finally
carried by the tide into Baker’s Bay. There, sheltered from the sea, it
was safe.
The fur traders got ashore and began to look for the missing boats and
men. During this journey Ross learned something about the Indians’
management of their canoes.
“We had on this occasion a specimen of Chinooke navigation. While
crossing the river in an Indian canoe, on our way back to the ship,
we were suddenly overtaken by a storm, and our craft was upset in the
middle of the passage. The expertness of the natives in their favorite
element was here put to the test. At this time we were upwards of two
miles from the shore, while eight persons unable to swim were floating
in every direction; coats, hats, and everything else adrift, and all
depending on the fidelity of the four Indians who undertook to carry
us over; yet, notwithstanding the roughness of the water, and the wind
blowing a gale at the time, these poor fellows kept swimming about like
so many fishes, righted the canoe, and got us all into her again, while
they themselves staid in the water, with one hand on the canoe and
the other paddling. In this manner they supported themselves, tossing
to and fro, till we bailed the water out of our frail craft, and got
under way again. Here it was that the Indians showed the skill and
dexterity peculiar to them. The instant the canoe rose on the top of a
wave, those on the windward side darted down their long paddles to the
armpits in the water to prevent her from upsetting; while those on the
leeside at the same moment pulled theirs up, but kept ready as soon as
the wave had passed under her to thrust them down again in a similar
manner, and thus by their alternate movements they kept the canoe
steady, so that we got safe to shore without another upset, and with
the loss of only a few articles of clothing; but we suffered severely
from wet and cold.
“During this time the Indians from the village which we had left,
seeing our critical situation, had manned and sent off two canoes to
our assistance. One of the boats from the ship was also despatched for
the same purpose; but all would have proved too late had we not been
fortunate enough of ourselves to weather the storm.”
A few days after this the long boat was swamped off Chinook Point, and
ten persons were saved by these Chinooks.
The fur traders and their property being at last ashore, they began
to look about for a place where their fort should be built. The site
selected was a knoll about twelve miles from the mouth of the inlet,
and between Point George on the west and Tonquin Point on the east.
They went about their work with dogged energy, but not cheerfully. They
were glad to be on shore and free from the tyranny of Captain Thorn,
but saddened by the misfortunes they had met with--the loss of the men
in landing.
Duncan McDougall, an old Northwester, was in command. He was a man of
great experience, but Ross calls him a man of only ordinary capacity
and unfit to command men. He became famous some years later by having
the credit of conniving with the Northwest Company to swindle Mr. Astor
out of most of his property at Astoria.
The little company that settled down in a new country amid wholly
unaccustomed surroundings had before it a difficult--almost an
impossible--task.
“The place thus selected for the emporium of the west, might challenge
the whole continent to produce a spot of equal extent presenting more
difficulties to the settler: studded with gigantic trees of almost
incredible size, many of them measuring fifty feet in girth, and so
close together, and intermingled with huge rocks, as to make it a work
of no ordinary labour to level and clear the ground. With this task
before us, every man, from the highest to the lowest, was armed with
an axe in one hand and a gun in the other; the former for attacking
the woods, the latter for defence against the savage hordes which
were constantly prowling about. In the garb of labourers, and in the
sweat of our brow, we now commenced earning our bread. In this manner
we all kept toiling and tearing away, from sunrise till sunset--from
Monday till Saturday; and during the nights we kept watch without
intermission....
“Many of the party had never handled an axe before, and but few of
them knew how to use a gun, but necessity, the mother of invention,
soon taught us both. After placing our guns in some secure place at
hand, and viewing the height and the breadth of the tree to be cut
down, the party, with some labour, would erect a scaffold round it;
this done, four men--for that was the number appointed to each of those
huge trees--would then mount the scaffold, and commence cutting, at
the height of eight or ten feet from the ground, the handles of our
axes varying, according to circumstances, from two and a half to five
feet in length. At every other stroke, a look was cast round, to see
that all was safe; but the least rustling among the bushes caused a
general stop; more or less time was thus lost in anxious suspense.
After listening and looking round, the party resumed their labour,
cutting and looking about alternately. In this manner the day would be
spent, and often to little purpose: as night often set in before the
tree begun with in the morning was half cut down. Indeed, it sometimes
required two days, or more, to fell one tree; but when nearly cut
through, it would be viewed fifty different times, and from as many
different positions, to ascertain where it was likely to fall, and to
warn parties of the danger.”
The labor that they had undertaken was hard and unceasing, the climate
one of constant rains and fogs, the food was merely fish and wild
roots; the Indians were so troublesome that in two months three of
their men had been killed by them, others wounded by the fall of
trees, and one had his hand blown off by gunpowder. All this produced
discontent--four men deserted and were captured by the Indians, and a
little later six more deserted, but were brought back by a friendly
Indian.
Food and shelter were scanty and poor in quality. Heretofore all
remonstrances to the man in command had received no attention, but at
last even he realized the situation and distributed tents among the
sick, and made some effort to improve the food.
As time passed and the white men began to learn something of the
Chinook nature, it was discovered that these people, their immediate
neighbors, had been telling the more distant Indians that the white
men were enemies, just as they had been telling the white people that
these distant tribes were enemies. The result of this was that the
Chinooks were purchasing furs from the distant tribes and selling them
to the traders at a handsome profit. As soon as this discovery was
made, parties were sent out to learn something of these more distant
tribes, to gain their confidence and to discover what they could about
the country farther off. These parties, though often in danger, finally
succeeded in establishing friendly relations with those other tribes,
but for a long time the impression given by the Chinooks did not wear
off.
[Illustration: ASTORIA
From an old print published in 1861]
It was in May that they laid the foundation of their first building
and named the establishment Astoria, in honor of the projector of the
enterprise. The labor of building was extraordinary, for it was
impossible for them to use the enormous trees close to the fort, and
they were obliged to go back into the interior to find logs small
enough for building. These logs were transported on their shoulders, or
dragged along over the ground, and this last method was so effective
that in six days eight men harnessed as a team brought to the site all
the timber required for a building sixty feet long by twenty-six feet
broad.
On the first of June the “Tonquin” left Astoria for a trading voyage to
the north. She carried with her most of her cargo, only a little having
been landed, the captain intending to complete the unloading on his
return. A little later the ship was captured by the Indians and with
all on board blown up, and the whole crew--among them McKay--were lost,
and, of course, the cargo destroyed.
In mid-July the post received a visit from Mr. Thompson, a Northwester,
who came down the Columbia in a light canoe with a crew of men, chiefly
from Montreal. McDougall received him with great cordiality, somewhat
to the astonishment of the former Northwesters, who, now in the service
of the Pacific Fur Company, regarded the Northwesters as rivals, and
so enemies. Toward the end of July a small expedition, fitted out
with the view of establishing a trading-post in the interior, started
up the Columbia River in company with the returning Mr. Thompson.
Understanding very little about navigation and these new waters, and
as little about the management of the Chinook canoe, the first day of
their travel was one of constant toil, striving to avoid the dangers of
running aground on sand-banks and of being thrown on the shore. During
the next few days they passed Bellevue Point and Point Vancouver, and
at the foot of the Cascades they found a great body of Indians waiting
for them to talk and to smoke. The labor of the portage was extreme,
and the Indians played all sorts of tricks on the white men, evidently
trying to see just how far they would be allowed to go. Here is an
example:
“Not being accustomed myself to carry, I had of course, as well as
some others, to stand sentinel; but seeing the rest almost wearied to
death, I took hold of a roll of tobacco, and after adjusting it on
my shoulder, and holding it fast with one hand, I moved on to ascend
the first bank; at the top of which, however, I stood breathless, and
could proceed no farther. In this awkward plight, I met an Indian, and
made signs to him to convey the tobacco across, and that I would give
him all the buttons on my coat; but he shook his head and refused.
Thinking the fellow did not understand me, I threw the tobacco down,
and pointing to the buttons one by one, at last he consented, and off
he set at a full trot, and I after him; but just as we had reached his
camp at the other end, he pitched it down a precipice of two hundred
feet in height, and left me to recover it the best way I could. Off
I started after my tobacco; and if I was out of breath after getting
up the first bank, I was ten times more so now. During my scrambling
among the rocks to recover my tobacco, not only the wag that played me
the trick, but fifty others, indulged in a hearty laugh at my expense;
but the best of it was, the fellow came for his payment, and wished to
get not only the buttons but the coat along with them. I was for giving
him--what he richly deserved--buttons of another mould; but peace in
our present situation was deemed the better policy: so the rogue got
the buttons, and we saw him no more.”
At the end of the month Thompson left them to hurry on eastward, and
in the first days of August they reached a point on the river where
they met horse Indians in considerable numbers. With these people they
arranged to have the goods carried over the portage, and the Indians
accepted the offer, and were so swift to do it that “in less than ten
minutes after the whole cavalcade, goods and all, disappeared, leaving
us standing in suspense and amazement.” However, at the other end of
the portage the property was found safe and the chiefs were guarding
it. Nevertheless, that night was passed by the traders in some alarm,
but the danger, whatever it was, was put off when they persuaded the
chiefs of the Indians to come and sit within their circle, and to
harangue to their people during the night.
This portage was nine miles long, and, although their goods had been
transported, the canoes and the canoe tackle, boats, and cooking
utensils remained to be carried over. Four times daily they had to
make this journey, heavily loaded, under a burning sun.
The main camp of the Indians here was fully occupied only during the
salmon season, at which time it held about three thousand people, but
the constant inhabitants did not exceed one hundred persons, whom Ross
called Wy-am-pams, a tribe of Shahaptin stock. These horse Indians were
without doubt Nez Percés or their representatives.
The traders had no choice of roads in getting into the country; and in
following up the Columbia River they followed the course of the salmon,
on which the Indians depended for food, and came to camp after camp of
people, many of whom had never before seen white men. By August 8 they
had trouble. The canoes, sailing with a fair wind, were overtaken by
a squall, and everything was wet. Very incautiously they commenced to
spread out these wet things to dry them, and were at once surrounded by
covetous Indians. They lost no time in bundling their stuff together
and putting it into the canoes, and, “in order to amuse for a moment,
and to attract the attention of the crowd, I laid hold of an axe, and
set it up at the distance of eighty yards, then taking up my rifle,
drove a ball through it.” This manœuvre was successful, and while the
Indians were staring at the marvel the canoes got off. Near the mouth
of the Walla Walla the traders discovered a large body of men coming
toward them, all armed and painted and preceded by three chiefs,
who made elaborate speeches and smoked with them. These were various
tribes of Shahaptin stock, fine people, well dressed and possessed
of many horses, four thousand being within sight of the camp. They
were extremely friendly, and their chief, now and at later times, was
helpful to the traders.
The next day they came to the point where the two main forks of
the Columbia join--Clark’s Fork on the north and Lewis Fork on the
south--and there in the midst of the Indian camp stood a British flag,
planted by Mr. Thompson, who had laid claim to the country north of
the forks as British territory. He had left with the Indians a paper
forbidding the subjects of other countries to trade north of this
point, and the Indians seemed disposed to uphold this order. The
Astorians wished to go up Clark’s Fork, and in the afternoon the chiefs
held a council, at which Ross and Stuart were present, and consent to
go forward was gained. The people were friendly, and Tummatapam, the
chief before alluded to, was a kindly man and seemed really to like the
fur traders, who treated him very well.
Journeying up the North Fork, they were overtaken after a time by three
mounted Walla Walla Indians, who gave them a bag of shot which they had
left behind at their encampment of the night before; but on this day
they saw only a few Indians and set no guard at night. The next day
they were early afloat.
“On the 17th, we were paddling along at daylight. On putting on shore
to breakfast, four Indians on horseback joined us. The moment they
alighted, one set about hobbling their horses, another to gather small
sticks, a third to make a fire, and the fourth to catch fish. For this
purpose, the fisherman cut off a bit of his leathern shirt, about the
size of a small bean; then pulling out two or three hairs from his
horse’s tail for a line, tied the bit of leather to one end of it, in
place of a hook or fly. Thus prepared, he entered the river a little
way, sat down on a stone and began throwing the small fish, three or
four inches long, on shore, just as fast as he pleased; and while he
was thus employed, another picked them up and threw them towards the
fire while the third stuck them up round it in a circle, on small
sticks; and they were no sooner up than roasted. The fellows then
sitting down, swallowed them--heads, tails, bones, guts, fins, and all,
in no time, just as one would swallow the yolk of an egg. Now all this
was but the work of a few minutes; and before our man had his kettle
ready for the fire, the Indians were already eating their breakfast.
When the fish had hold of the bit of wet leather, or bait, their teeth
got entangled in it, so as to give time to jerk them on shore, which
was to us a new mode of angling; fire produced by the friction of two
bits of wood was also a novelty; but what surprised us most of all,
was the regularity with which they proceeded, and the quickness of the
whole process, which actually took them less time to perform, than it
has taken me to note it down.”
A little later in the day came a pathetic example of the simplicity of
the Indians and their extraordinary belief in the powers of the strange
white people, when their parents brought to the fur-traders two dead
children and asked that they restore them to life, for which favor a
horse was to be given. At Priest Rapids the travellers were met by a
large throng of Indians who were perfectly friendly, smoked with them,
and performed the usual friendly acts of singing and dancing. The
journey up the river continued to be strenuous, for the current was
swift and the rapids many. Horses were plentiful here and the Indians
were eager to sell them, but the traders, travelling by canoe, had no
possible use for them and declined to purchase any more. A day or two
after passing the Pisscow River, “the ibex, the white musk goat,” is
mentioned, one of the early references to this species, and speaking
of one of its striking characters. Now soon they met with Indians who
had in their possession a gun, tobacco, and some other articles which
they said had been purchased from white people, no doubt a party of
Northwesters. The first of September had come, and it was now time to
look out for winter-quarters, if buildings were to be erected which
could be occupied during the winter. The situation chosen was near the
mouth of the Oakinacken--Okanagan--River at the end of a range of high,
rocky, wooded hills. Here a small dwelling-house was begun, but before
it was finished four men were sent back to Astoria, and four others set
off for the head-waters of the Okanagan,[1] while Ross himself and one
small dog called Weasel remained to hold the fort.
[1] Variously spelled to-day, Okanagan, Okinagan, and Okanogan.
We may imagine that his situation was an uncomfortable one, and he
fully appreciated its horrors, “alone in this unhallowed wilderness,
without friend or white man within hundreds of miles of me, surrounded
by savages who had never seen a white man, where every day seemed a
week, every night a month. I pined, I languished, my head turned gray,
and in a brief space ten years were added to my age. Yet man is born to
endure, and my only consolation was in my Bible.”
As soon as the others were gone Ross began to patch up the house and
put the few goods left him into a kind of cellar which he made; then he
set to work to learn the language of the Indians, and wrote vocabulary
after vocabulary. The task was hard and wearisome, but his progress was
encouraging.
A crowd of inquisitive Indians visited the place to see this lonely
white man. Ross associated with them, traded with them, and at last
began to talk to them and finally to comprehend their speech, but the
evenings were long and the winter dreary. Each night he primed his gun
and pistol and barricaded his door, and the kindly Indians always left
the house at dusk. On the other hand, the Indians themselves feared
attacks by enemies, and often gave him to understand that there was
danger.
“One night I was suddenly awakened out my sleep by the unusual noise
and continual barking of Weasel, running backwards and forwards through
the house. Half asleep, half awake, I felt greatly agitated and
alarmed. My faithful gun and pistol were at hand, for they lay always
at my side in bed; but then all was dark, I could see nothing, could
hear nothing but the barking of Weasel, which was continually growing
louder and louder. I then thought there must be somebody in the house;
for I was ready to put the worst construction on appearances. In this
perplexing dilemma I got my hand, with as little noise as possible, to
the muzzle of my gun, and gradually drawing out the ramrod, tried, with
my right arm stretched out, to stir up the embers, so that I might see;
but here again a new danger presented itself; I was exposing myself as
a mark to a ball or an arrow, without the chance of defending myself,
for the light would show me to the enemy before I could see my object;
but there was no alternative, and something must be done. Between
hope and despair I managed to stir up the ashes, so that I could see
little Weasel running to and fro to the cellar-door. I concluded that
the enemy must be skulking in the cellar. I then, but not without
difficulty, got a candle lighted. Holding the candle in my left hand, I
laid hold of my pistol. With the lynx-eye and wary step of a cat ready
to pounce on its prey, I advanced rather obliquely, with my right arm
stretched out at full length holding the cocked pistol, till I got to
the cellar-door, the little dog all the while making a furious noise;
when, lo! what was there but a skunk sitting on a roll of tobacco! The
shot blew it almost to atoms, and so delicately perfumed everything in
the house that I was scarcely able to live in it for days afterwards;
but that was not all, the trivial incident was productive of very bad
consequences. Several hundreds of Indians being encamped about the
place at the time, no sooner did they see the light, or hear the shot,
than they all rushed into the house, thinking something serious had
happened. So far, however, there were no great harm; but when they
beheld two rolls of tobacco and two small bales of goods, it appeared
such wealth in their eyes that they could scarcely recover from the
surprise. These tempting articles I had endeavored all along to keep as
much as possible out of their sight, and dealt them out with a sparing
hand, and as long as the Indians did not see them in bulk all went
well; but after the overwhelming exhibition of so much property there
was no satisfying them. They became importunate and troublesome for
some time, and caused me much anxiety. The time fixed for Mr. Stuart’s
return had now arrived, and I most anxiously looked for him every hour.
Often had I reason to curse the intrusion of the skunk into my house.
After some time, however, things settled down again to their usual
level, and good order and good feelings were again renewed between us.”
Stuart did not come, and the Indians became more bold, and loitered
about the place. Strange Indians were constantly arriving, and the
Indians held frequent councils. Ross called a feast and gave the
Indians a reason for Stuart’s absence, suggesting that they should
go to work and bring in furs, in order that when the goods came they
might have something with which to buy them. Stuart was gone for 188
days, and finally returned March 22, 1812. During his absence Ross had
secured 1,550 beaver, besides other furs, worth in the Canton market
2,250 pounds sterling and costing in the merchandise which had been
exchanged for them only 35 pounds sterling--“a specimen of our trade
among the Indians!”
Stuart had gone north to the head of the Okanagan and had crossed
over to the south branch of the Fraser River and met “a powerful
nation called the She Whaps.” There he had been detained by snow
and had wintered with these people, among whom he had arranged to
establish a trading-post. From the post at the mouth of the river
came bad news. The little schooner “Dolly,” the frame of which had
been sent out to Astoria in the “Tonquin,” was too small to be of any
particular service, and being manned by people without much knowledge
of seamanship was unlucky from the beginning, and was finally abandoned
as useless for the purpose of getting about. There was complaint also
of the quality of the trade goods sent out by Mr. Astor, but of all the
news that came to the people up the river the most important was the
rumor that the “Tonquin” had been destroyed with all on board. The
story of this destruction, as told by Ross Cox, was given in an earlier
volume.[2] Not many tears were shed over the death of Captain Thorn at
Astoria, we may feel sure, but that McKay should have been lost was
a real sorrow and a genuine misfortune, for McKay was a man of great
experience and of extraordinary force.
[2] _Trails of the Pathfinders_, p. 304.
In the meantime, Wilson Price Hunt, Astor’s chief assistant, Donald
McKenzie, and later Ramsay Crooks, started from St. Louis to make the
journey overland to the coast. The original purpose was to strike the
upper reaches of the Columbia River and go down that stream in canoes,
but, as the courses and character of the river were wholly unknown, all
sorts of difficulties were encountered, and the canoes were at last
abandoned; the expedition split up into different parties, and a number
of men were lost. At last McKenzie reached Astoria January 10, 1812,
while Hunt’s party arrived in February.
At the end of March parties left Astoria, one under Mr. Reed for New
York overland, another under Mr. Farnham to search for the goods left
_en cache_ by Hunt on his journey, and a third under Robert Stuart
to Okanagan with supplies for that post. These all started together
under the command of Mr. Stuart. At the Long Narrows they got into
difficulties with the Indians, and McLellan killed two Indians and the
others fled. Trouble was threatening, but peace was at last secured
by the gift of six blankets and some other trifles. In the mêlée the
despatches which Reed was taking to New York were lost, and when they
were lost that expedition was at an end.
A little later they were hailed in English by some one asking them to
come on shore, and when they reached the bank they found standing,
“like two spectres,” Crooks and John Day, who had been left among the
Snake Indians by Mr. Hunt the preceding autumn. The story told by these
two men was pathetic enough. They were starving most of the time, lived
largely on roots, had been robbed of rifles, and would inevitably have
perished had it not been for a good old man who treated them like a
father--killed a horse to make dried meat for them, and was about to
start them out on the journey to St. Louis that very day, when the
canoes hove in sight.
Mr. Stuart rewarded the old man to whom these men owed their lives,
took them along with him and returned to Astoria, where they found
the company’s ship “Beaver” just arriving with a supply of goods and
reinforcements of men. It was now May, and a number of the partners
being at Astoria it was determined that David Stuart should return to
Okanagan, work to the north, and establish another post between that
and New Caledonia, that McKenzie should winter on Snake River, that
Clark should winter at Spokane, that Robert Stuart should go overland
to St. Louis with despatches for Mr. Astor, and that Mr. Hunt should
go with the “Beaver” to the Russian settlements to the north. Sixty-two
persons left Astoria for the interior on the 29th of June, it having
been determined that all the land parties should travel together as
far as the forks of the Columbia, where Lewis River and Clark River
come together. These land parties were under the command of Mr. Clark.
Nothing happened until they reached the Cascades, where a few arrows
were shot at them, but at the Long Narrows the Indians were numerous
and threatening. Mr. Clark, although usually a man of nerve, seems
to have been frightened by this demonstration, and it required the
determination of McKenzie and David Stuart to induce him to go forward.
They got through the pass without molestation or loss.
In looking about through an Indian camp, McKenzie and Stuart saw in a
lodge of one of the chiefs the rifle that had been taken away from Mr.
Reed when he was wounded, and they were determined to have it. As soon
as the Narrows had been safely passed, McKenzie took eight men and went
direct to the chief’s lodge. He put four men at the door and with the
other four entered and asked for the stolen rifle. The chief denied
that it was in his lodge. McKenzie asked for it again and said he was
determined to have it, and when it was not given up, he took his knife
and began to turn over and cut up everything that came in his way and
at last discovered the rifle, and after scolding the chief returned to
the canoes. No time was wasted, and the Indians, though gathering in
crowds, did nothing. The next day they camped at a point where Crooks
and John Day had been robbed of their arms. The Indians were friendly
enough, and among those who flocked about the white men was the one who
had taken John Day’s rifle. He was at once captured and tied up, but a
little later was set free.
At Walla Walla, Robert Stuart purchased ten horses from the Nez Percés
and set out for St. Louis with five men, including Messrs. Crooks and
McLellan, who had resigned from the company. David Stuart went up the
Okanagan, and Ross remained at the post at its mouth, a Scotchman and
a French Canadian being with him. Later, Ross followed Robert Stuart’s
route of the previous winter, got to the She-Whaps, and established a
good trade. They paid five leaves of tobacco for a beaver skin, and
at last when their goods were exhausted and Ross had only one yard of
white cotton remaining, one of the chiefs gave him twenty prime beaver
skins for it.
This trading station was at what Ross calls Comeloups--of course, the
Kamloops of our day.
On his return from this trip, Ross was formally appointed to the post
of Okanagan, although, as a matter of fact, he had been in charge of
it since its establishment. In early December he went to Fort Spokane,
where he met Mr. Clark, who was in charge of a post there, and an
opposition post of the Northwest Company was close by. The politics
and secret quarrels of the two companies, each striving to get the most
fur, were constant--and, of course, were not hidden from the Indians,
who in every way strove to play on the traders tricks similar to those
played on them. Ross left Spokane Fort a few days later, and on his way
home had one of those experiences that so often came to travellers in
those old days and that have so often proved fatal.