about the neighborhood for traces of the reported parties of white men.
An encampment was soon discovered about four miles farther up the river,
in which Captain Bonneville to his great joy found two of Matthieu’s
men, from whom he learned that the rest of his party would be there
in the course of a few days. It was a matter of great pride and
self-gratulation to Captain Bonneville that he had thus accomplished his
dreary and doubtful enterprise; and he determined to pass some time
in this encampment, both to await the return of Matthieu, and to give
needful repose to men and horses.
It was, in fact, one of the most eligible and delightful wintering
grounds in that whole range of country. The Snake River here wound
its devious way between low banks through the great plain of the Three
Butes; and was bordered by wide and fertile meadows. It was studded with
islands which, like the alluvial bottoms, were covered with groves
of cotton-wood, thickets of willow, tracts of good lowland grass, and
abundance of green rushes. The adjacent plains were so vast in extent
that no single band of Indians could drive the buffalo out of them;
nor was the snow of sufficient depth to give any serious inconvenience.
Indeed, during the sojourn of Captain Bonneville in this neighborhood,
which was in the heart of winter, he found the weather, with the
exception of a few cold and stormy days, generally mild and pleasant,
freezing a little at night but invariably thawing with the morning’s
sun-resembling the spring weather in the middle parts of the United
States.
The lofty range of the Three Tetons, those great landmarks of the Rocky
Mountains rising in the east and circling away to the north and west
of the great plain of Snake River, and the mountains of Salt River and
Portneuf toward the south, catch the earliest falls of snow. Their white
robes lengthen as the winter advances, and spread themselves far into
the plain, driving the buffalo in herds to the banks of the river in
quest of food; where they are easily slain in great numbers.
Such were the palpable advantages of this winter encampment; added to
which, it was secure from the prowlings and plunderings of any petty
band of roving Blackfeet, the difficulties of retreat rendering it
unwise for those crafty depredators to venture an attack unless with an
overpowering force.
About ten miles below the encampment lay the Banneck Indians; numbering
about one hundred and twenty lodges. They are brave and cunning warriors
and deadly foes of the Blackfeet, whom they easily overcome in battles
where their forces are equal. They are not vengeful and enterprising
in warfare, however; seldom sending war parties to attack the Blackfeet
towns, but contenting themselves with defending their own territories
and house. About one third of their warriors are armed with fusees, the
rest with bows and arrows.
As soon as the spring opens they move down the right bank of Snake River
and encamp at the heads of the Boisee and Payette. Here their horses wax
fat on good pasturage, while the tribe revels in plenty upon the flesh
of deer, elk, bear, and beaver. They then descend a little further, and
are met by the Lower Nez Perces, with whom they trade for horses; giving
in exchange beaver, buffalo, and buffalo robes. Hence they strike upon
the tributary streams on the left bank of Snake River, and encamp at the
rise of the Portneuf and Blackfoot streams, in the buffalo range. Their
horses, although of the Nez Perce breed, are inferior to the parent
stock from being ridden at too early an age, being often bought when but
two years old and immediately put to hard work. They have fewer horses,
also, than most of these migratory tribes.
At the time that Captain Bonneville came into the neighborhood of these
Indians, they were all in mourning for their chief, surnamed The
Horse. This chief was said to possess a charmed life, or rather, to be
invulnerable to lead; no bullet having ever hit him, though he had been
in repeated battles, and often shot at by the surest marksmen. He had
shown great magnanimity in his intercourse with the white men. One of
the great men of his family had been slain in an attack upon a band of
trappers passing through the territories of his tribe. Vengeance had
been sworn by the Bannecks; but The Horse interfered, declaring himself
the friend of white men and, having great influence and authority among
his people, he compelled them to forego all vindictive plans and to
conduct themselves amicably whenever they came in contact with the
traders.
This chief had bravely fallen in resisting an attack made by the
Blackfeet upon his tribe, while encamped at the head of Godin River. His
fall in nowise lessened the faith of his people in his charmed life; for
they declared that it was not a bullet which laid him low, but a bit of
horn which had been shot into him by some Blackfoot marksman aware, no
doubt, of the inefficacy of lead. Since his death there was no one with
sufficient influence over the tribe to restrain the wild and predatory
propensities of the young men. The consequence was they had become
troublesome and dangerous neighbors, openly friendly for the sake of
traffic, but disposed to commit secret depredations and to molest any
small party that might fall within their reach.
16.
Misadventures of Matthieu and his party--Return to the
caches at Salmon River--Battle between Nez Perces and Black
feet--Heroism of a Nez Perce woman--Enrolled among the
braves.
ON the 3d of February, Matthieu, with the residue of his band, arrived
in camp. He had a disastrous story to relate. After parting with Captain
Bonneville in Green River Valley he had proceeded to the westward,
keeping to the north of the Eutaw Mountains, a spur of the great Rocky
chain. Here he experienced the most rugged travelling for his horses,
and soon discovered that there was but little chance of meeting the
Shoshonie bands. He now proceeded along Bear River, a stream much
frequented by trappers, intending to shape his course to Salmon River to
rejoin Captain Bonneville.
He was misled, however, either through the ignorance or treachery of
an Indian guide, and conducted into a wild valley where he lay encamped
during the autumn and the early part of the winter, nearly buried in
snow and almost starved. Early in the season he detached five men, with
nine horses, to proceed to the neighborhood of the Sheep Rock, on Bear
River, where game was plenty, and there to procure a supply for the
camp.
They had not proceeded far on their expedition when their trail was
discovered by a party of nine or ten Indians, who immediately commenced
a lurking pursuit, dogging them secretly for five or six days. So long
as their encampments were well chosen and a proper watch maintained
the wary savages kept aloof; at length, observing that they were badly
encamped, in a situation where they might be approached with secrecy,
the enemy crept stealthily along under cover of the river bank,
preparing to burst suddenly upon their prey.
They had not advanced within striking distance, however, before they
were discovered by one of the trappers. He immediately but silently
gave the alarm to his companions. They all sprang upon their horses and
prepared to retreat to a safe position. One of the party, however, named
Jennings, doubted the correctness of the alarm, and before he mounted
his horse wanted to ascertain the fact. His companions urged him to
mount, but in vain; he was incredulous and obstinate. A volley of
firearms by the savages dispelled his doubts, but so overpowered his
nerves that he was unable to get into his saddle. His comrades, seeing
his peril and confusion, generously leaped from their horses to protect
him. A shot from a rifle brought him to the earth; in his agony he
called upon the others not to desert him. Two of them, Le Roy and Ross,
after fighting desperately, were captured by the savages; the remaining
two vaulted into their saddles and saved themselves by headlong flight,
being pursued for nearly thirty miles. They got safe back to Matthieu’s
camp, where their story inspired such dread of lurking Indians that the
hunters could not be prevailed upon to undertake another foray in quest
of provisions. They remained, therefore, almost starving in their camp;
now and then killing an old or disabled horse for food, while the
elk and the mountain sheep roamed unmolested among the surrounding
mountains.
The disastrous surprisal of this hunting party is cited by Captain
Bonneville to show the importance of vigilant watching and judicious
encampments in the Indian country. Most of this kind of disasters to
traders and trappers arise from some careless inattention to the state
of their arms and ammunition, the placing of their horses at night,
the position of their camping ground, and the posting of their night
watches. The Indian is a vigilant and crafty foe, by no means given
to hair-brained assaults; he seldom attacks when he finds his foe
well prepared and on the alert. Caution is at least as efficacious a
protection against him as courage.
The Indians who made this attack were at first supposed to be Blackfeet;
until Captain Bonneville found subsequently, in the camp of the
Bannecks, a horse, saddle, and bridle, which he recognized as having
belonged to one of the hunters. The Bannecks, however, stoutly denied
having taken these spoils in fight, and persisted in affirming that the
outrage had been perpetrated by a Blackfoot band.
Captain Bonneville remained on Snake River nearly three weeks after the
arrival of Matthieu and his party. At length his horses having recovered
strength sufficient for a journey, he prepared to return to the Nez
Perces, or rather to visit his caches on Salmon River; that he might
take thence goods and equipments for the opening season. Accordingly,
leaving sixteen men at Snake River, he set out on the 19th of February
with sixteen others on his journey to the caches.
Fording the river, he proceeded to the borders of the deep snow, when he
encamped under the lee of immense piles of burned rock. On the 21st he
was again floundering through the snow, on the great Snake River
plain, where it lay to the depth of thirty inches. It was sufficiently
incrusted to bear a pedestrian, but the poor horses broke through the
crust, and plunged and strained at every step. So lacerated were they by
the ice that it was necessary to change the front every hundred yards,
and put a different one in advance to break the way. The open prairies
were swept by a piercing and biting wind from the northwest. At night,
they had to task their ingenuity to provide shelter and keep from
freezing. In the first place, they dug deep holes in the snow, piling
it up in ramparts to windward as a protection against the blast. Beneath
these they spread buffalo skins, upon which they stretched themselves
in full dress, with caps, cloaks, and moccasins, and covered themselves
with numerous blankets; notwithstanding all which they were often
severely pinched with the cold.
On the 28th of February they arrived on the banks of Godin River. This
stream emerges from the mountains opposite an eastern branch of the
Malade River, running southeast, forms a deep and swift current about
twenty yards wide, passing rapidly through a defile to which it gives
its name, and then enters the great plain where, after meandering about
forty miles, it is finally lost in the region of the Burned Rocks.
On the banks of this river Captain Bonneville was so fortunate as to
come upon a buffalo trail. Following it up, he entered the defile, where
he remained encamped for two days to allow the hunters time to kill and
dry a supply of buffalo beef. In this sheltered defile the weather was
moderate and grass was already sprouting more than an inch in height.
There was abundance, too, of the salt weed which grows most plentiful
in clayey and gravelly barrens. It resembles pennyroyal, and derives its
name from a partial saltness. It is a nourishing food for the horses
in the winter, but they reject it the moment the young grass affords
sufficient pasturage.
On the 6th of March, having cured sufficient meat, the party resumed
their march, and moved on with comparative ease, excepting where they
had to make their way through snow-drifts which had been piled up by the
wind.
On the 11th, a small cloud of smoke was observed rising in a deep part
of the defile. An encampment was instantly formed and scouts were
sent out to reconnoitre. They returned with intelligence that it was a
hunting party of Flatheads, returning from the buffalo range laden with
meat. Captain Bonneville joined them the next day, and persuaded them
to proceed with his party a few miles below to the caches, whither he
proposed also to invite the Nez Perces, whom he hoped to find somewhere
in this neighborhood. In fact, on the 13th, he was rejoined by that
friendly tribe who, since he separated from them on Salmon River, had
likewise been out to hunt the buffalo, but had continued to be haunted
and harassed by their old enemies the Blackfeet, who, as usual, had
contrived to carry off many of their horses.
In the course of this hunting expedition, a small band of ten lodges
separated from the main body in search of better pasturage for their
horses. About the 1st of March, the scattered parties of Blackfoot
banditti united to the number of three hundred fighting men, and
determined upon some signal blow. Proceeding to the former camping
ground of the Nez Perces, they found the lodges deserted; upon which
they hid themselves among the willows and thickets, watching for some
straggler who might guide them to the present “whereabout” of their
intended victims. As fortune would have it Kosato, the Blackfoot
renegade, was the first to pass along, accompanied by his blood-bought
bride. He was on his way from the main body of hunters to the little
band of ten lodges. The Blackfeet knew and marked him as he passed; he
was within bowshot of their ambuscade; yet, much as they thirsted for
his blood, they forbore to launch a shaft; sparing him for the moment
that he might lead them to their prey. Secretly following his trail,
they discovered the lodges of the unfortunate Nez Perces, and assailed
them with shouts and yellings. The Nez Perces numbered only twenty men,
and but nine were armed with fusees. They showed themselves, however,
as brave and skilful in war as they had been mild and long-suffering in
peace. Their first care was to dig holes inside of their lodges; thus
ensconced they fought desperately, laying several of the enemy dead upon
the ground; while they, though Some of them were wounded, lost not a
single warrior.
During the heat of the battle, a woman of the Nez Perces, seeing her
warrior badly wounded and unable to fight, seized his bow and arrows,
and bravely and successfully defended his person, contributing to the
safety of the whole party.
In another part of the field of action, a Nez Perce had crouched behind
the trunk of a fallen tree, and kept up a galling fire from his covert.
A Blackfoot seeing this, procured a round log, and placing it before
him as he lay prostrate, rolled it forward toward the trunk of the
tree behind which his enemy lay crouched. It was a moment of breathless
interest; whoever first showed himself would be in danger of a shot.
The Nez Perce put an end to the suspense. The moment the logs touched he
Sprang upon his feet and discharged the contents of his fusee into the
back of his antagonist. By this time the Blackfeet had got possession of
the horses, several of their warriors lay dead on the field, and the Nez
Perces, ensconced in their lodges, seemed resolved to defend themselves
to the last gasp. It so happened that the chief of the Blackfeet party
was a renegade from the Nez Perces; unlike Kosato, however, he had no
vindictive rage against his native tribe, but was rather disposed, now
he had got the booty, to spare all unnecessary effusion of blood. He
held a long parley, therefore, with the besieged, and finally drew off
his warriors, taking with him seventy horses. It appeared, afterward,
that the bullets of the Blackfeet had been entirely expended in the
course of the battle, so that they were obliged to make use of stones as
substitute.
At the outset of the fight Kosato, the renegade, fought with fury rather
than valor, animating the others by word as well as deed. A wound in the
head from a rifle ball laid him senseless on the earth. There his body
remained when the battle was over, and the victors were leading off the
horses. His wife hung over him with frantic lamentations. The conquerors
paused and urged her to leave the lifeless renegade, and return with
them to her kindred. She refused to listen to their solicitations, and
they passed on. As she sat watching the features of Kosato, and giving
way to passionate grief, she thought she perceived him to breathe. She
was not mistaken. The ball, which had been nearly spent before it struck
him, had stunned instead of killing him. By the ministry of his faithful
wife he gradually recovered, reviving to a redoubled love for her, and
hatred of his tribe.
As to the female who had so bravely defended her husband, she was
elevated by the tribe to a rank far above her sex, and beside other
honorable distinctions, was thenceforward permitted to take a part in
the war dances of the braves!
17.
Opening of the caches--Detachments of Cerre and Hodgkiss
Salmon River Mountains--Superstition of an Indian trapper--
Godin’s River--Preparations for trapping--An alarm--An
interruption--A rival band--Phenomena of Snake River Plain
Vast clefts and chasms--Ingulfed streams--Sublime scenery--A
grand buffalo hunt.
CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE found his caches perfectly secure, and having
secretly opened them he selected such articles as were necessary to
equip the free trappers and to supply the inconsiderable trade with
the Indians, after which he closed them again. The free trappers, being
newly rigged out and supplied, were in high spirits, and swaggered gayly
about the camp. To compensate all hands for past sufferings, and to give
a cheerful spur to further operations, Captain Bonneville now gave the
men what, in frontier phrase, is termed “a regular blow-out.” It was a
day of uncouth gambols and frolics and rude feasting. The Indians joined
in the sports and games, and all was mirth and good-fellowship.
It was now the middle of March, and Captain Bonneville made preparations
to open the spring campaign. He had pitched upon Malade River for his
main trapping ground for the season. This is a stream which rises among
the great bed of mountains north of the Lava Plain, and after a winding
course falls into Snake River. Previous to his departure the captain
dispatched Mr. Cerre, with a few men, to visit the Indian villages and
purchase horses; he furnished his clerk, Mr. Hodgkiss, also, with a
small stock of goods, to keep up a trade with the Indians during the
spring, for such peltries as they might collect, appointing the caches
on Salmon River as the point of rendezvous, where they were to rejoin
him on the 15th of June following.
This done he set out for Malade River, with a band of twenty-eight men
composed of hired and free trappers and Indian hunters, together with
eight squaws. Their route lay up along the right fork of Salmon River,
as it passes through the deep defile of the mountains. They travelled
very slowly, not above five miles a day, for many of the horses were
so weak that they faltered and staggered as they walked. Pasturage,
however, was now growing plentiful. There was abundance of fresh grass,
which in some places had attained such height as to wave in the wind.
The native flocks of the wilderness, the mountain sheep, as they are
called by the trappers, were continually to be seen upon the hills
between which they passed, and a good supply of mutton was provided by
the hunters, as they were advancing toward a region of scarcity.
In the course of his journey Captain Bonneville had occasion to remark
an instance of the many notions, and almost superstitions, which prevail
among the Indians, and among some of the white men, with respect to
the sagacity of the beaver. The Indian hunters of his party were in the
habit of exploring all the streams along which they passed, in search of
“beaver lodges,” and occasionally set their traps with some success.
One of them, however, though an experienced and skilful trapper, was
invariably unsuccessful. Astonished and mortified at such unusual bad
luck, he at length conceived the idea that there was some odor about his
person of which the beaver got scent and retreated at his approach.
He immediately set about a thorough purification. Making a rude
sweating-house on the banks of the river, he would shut himself up until
in a reeking perspiration, and then suddenly emerging, would plunge
into the river. A number of these sweatings and plungings having, as
he supposed, rendered his person perfectly “inodorous,” he resumed his
trapping with renovated hope.
About the beginning of April they encamped upon Godin’s River, where
they found the swamp full of “musk-rat houses.” Here, therefore, Captain
Bonneville determined to remain a few days and make his first regular
attempt at trapping. That his maiden campaign might open with spirit, he
promised the Indians and free trappers an extra price for every musk-rat
they should take. All now set to work for the next day’s sport. The
utmost animation and gayety prevailed throughout the camp. Everything
looked auspicious for their spring campaign. The abundance of musk-rats
in the swamp was but an earnest of the nobler game they were to find
when they should reach the Malade River, and have a capital beaver
country all to themselves, where they might trap at their leisure
without molestation.
In the midst of their gayety a hunter came galloping into the camp,
shouting, or rather yelling, “A trail! a trail!--lodge poles! lodge
poles!”
These were words full of meaning to a trapper’s ear. They intimated that
there was some band in the neighborhood, and probably a hunting party,
as they had lodge poles for an encampment. The hunter came up and told
his story. He had discovered a fresh trail, in which the traces made by
the dragging of lodge poles were distinctly visible. The buffalo, too,
had just been driven out of the neighborhood, which showed that the
hunters had already been on the range.
The gayety of the camp was at an end; all preparations for musk-rat
trapping were suspended, and all hands sallied forth to examine the
trail. Their worst fears were soon confirmed. Infallible signs showed
the unknown party in the advance to be white men; doubtless, some rival
band of trappers! Here was competition when least expected; and that
too by a party already in the advance, who were driving the game before
them. Captain Bonneville had now a taste of the sudden transitions
to which a trapper’s life is subject. The buoyant confidence in an
uninterrupted hunt was at an end; every countenance lowered with gloom
and disappointment.
Captain Bonneville immediately dispatched two spies to overtake the
rival party, and endeavor to learn their plans; in the meantime, he
turned his back upon the swamp and its musk-rat houses and followed
on at “long camps”, which in trapper’s language is equivalent to long
stages. On the 6th of April he met his spies returning. They had kept on
the trail like hounds until they overtook the party at the south end of
Godin’s defile. Here they found them comfortably encamped: twenty-two
prime trappers, all well appointed, with excellent horses in capital
condition led by Milton Sublette, and an able coadjutor named Jarvie,
and in full march for the Malade hunting ground. This was stunning news.
The Malade River was the only trapping ground within reach; but to have
to compete there with veteran trappers, perfectly at home among the
mountains, and admirably mounted, while they were so poorly provided
with horses and trappers, and had but one man in their party acquainted
with the country-it was out of the question.
The only hope that now remained was that the snow, which still lay deep
among the mountains of Godin’s River and blocked up the usual pass
to the Malade country, might detain the other party until Captain
Bonneville’s horses should get once more into good condition in their
present ample pasturage.