Expedition by Land.--Wilson P. Hunt.--His Character.--Donald
M’Kenzie.--Recruiting Service Among the Voyageurs.--A Bark
Canoe.--Chapel of St. Anne.-Votive Offerings.--Pious
Carousals,--A Ragged Regiment.-Mackinaw.--Picture of a
Trading Post.--Frolicking Voyageurs.--Swells and Swaggerers.--
Indian Coxcombs.--A Man of the North.--Jockeyship of
Voyageurs--Inefficacy of Gold.-Weight of a Feather--Mr.
Ramsay Crooks--His Character.--His Risks Among the Indians.--
His Warning Concerning Sioux and Blackfeet.--Embarkation of
Recruits.--Parting Scenes Between Brothers, Cousins, Wives,
Sweethearts, and Pot Companions.
WE have followed up the fortunes of the maritime part of this enterprise
to the shores of the Pacific, and have conducted the affairs of the
embryo establishment to the opening of the new year; let us now turn
back to the adventurous band to whom was intrusted the land expedition,
and who were to make their way to the mouth of the Columbia, up vast
rivers, across trackless plains, and over the rugged barriers of the
Rocky Mountains.
The conduct of this expedition, as has been already mentioned, was
assigned to Mr. Wilson Price Hunt, of Trenton, New Jersey, one of the
partners of the company, who was ultimately to be at the head of the
establishment at the mouth of the Columbia. He is represented as a
man scrupulously upright and faithful his dealings, amicable in his
disposition, and of most accommodating manners; and his whole conduct
will be found in unison with such a character. He was not practically
experienced in the Indian trade; that is to say, he had never made any
expeditions of traffic into the heart of the wilderness, but he had
been engaged in commerce at St. Louis, then a frontier settlement on
the Mississippi, where the chief branch of his business had consisted in
furnishing Indian traders with goods and equipments. In this way, he had
acquired much knowledge of the trade at second hand, and of the various
tribes, and the interior country over which it extended.
Another of the partners, Mr. Donald M’Kenzie, was associated with Mr.
Hunt in the expedition, and excelled on those points in which the other
was deficient; for he had been ten years in the interior, in the
service of the Northwest Company, and valued himself on his knowledge of
“woodcraft,” and the strategy of Indian trade and Indian warfare. He had
a frame seasoned to toils and hardships; a spirit not to be intimidated,
and was reputed to be a “remarkable shot;” which of itself was
sufficient to give him renown upon the frontier.
Mr. Hunt and his coadjutor repaired, about the latter part of July,
1810, to Montreal, the ancient emporium of the fur trade where
everything requisite for the expedition could be procured. One of the
first objects was to recruit a complement of Canadian voyageurs from the
disbanded herd usually to be found loitering about the place. A degree
of jockeyship, however, is required for this service, for a Canadian
voyageur is as full of latent tricks and vice as a horse; and when he
makes the greatest external promise, is prone to prove the greatest
“take in.” Besides, the Northwest Company, who maintained a long
established control at Montreal, and knew the qualities of every
voyageur, secretly interdicted the prime hands from engaging in this
new service; so that, although liberal terms were offered, few presented
themselves but such as were not worth having.
From these Mr. Hunt engaged a number sufficient, as he supposed,
for present purposes; and, having laid in a supply of ammunition,
provisions, and Indian goods, embarked all on board one of those great
canoes at that time universally used by the fur traders for navigating
the intricate and often-obstructed rivers. The canoe was between thirty
and forty feet long, and several feet in width; constructed of birch
bark, sewed with fibres of the roots of the spruce tree, and daubed with
resin of the pine, instead of tar. The cargo was made up in packages,
weighing from ninety to one hundred pounds each, for the facility of
loading and unloading, and of transportation at portages. The canoe
itself, though capable of sustaining a freight of upwards of four tons,
could readily be carried on men’s shoulders. Canoes of this size are
generally managed by eight or ten men, two of whom are picked veterans,
who receive double wages, and are stationed, one at the bow and the
other at the stern, to keep a look-out and to steer. They are termed
the foreman and the steersman. The rest, who ply the paddles, are called
middle men. When there is a favorable breeze, the canoe is occasionally
navigated with a sail.
The expedition took its regular departure, as usual, from St. Anne’s,
near the extremity of the island of Montreal, the great starting-place
of the traders to the interior. Here stood the ancient chapel of
St. Anne, the patroness of the Canadian voyageurs; where they made
confession, and offered up their vows, previous to departing on any
hazardous expedition. The shrine of the saint was decorated with relics
and votive offerings hung up by these superstitious beings, either to
propitiate her favor, or in gratitude for some signal deliverance in
the wilderness. It was the custom, too, of these devout vagabonds, after
leaving the chapel, to have a grand carouse, in honor of the saint and
for the prosperity of the voyage. In this part of their devotions, the
crew of Mr. Hunt proved themselves by no means deficient. Indeed, he
soon discovered that his recruits, enlisted at Montreal, were fit to
vie with the ragged regiment of Falstaff. Some were able-bodied, but
inexpert; others were expert, but lazy; while a third class were expert
and willing, but totally worn out, being broken-down veterans, incapable
of toil.
With this inefficient crew he made his way up the Ottawa River, and by
the ancient route of the fur traders, along a succession of small lakes
and rivers, to Michilimackinac. Their progress was slow and tedious. Mr.
Hunt was not accustomed to the management of “voyageurs,” and he had a
crew admirably disposed to play the old soldier, and balk their work;
and ever ready to come to a halt, land, make a fire, put on the great
pot, and smoke, and gossip, and sing by the hour.
It was not until the 22d of July that they arrived at Mackinaw, situated
on the island of the same name, at the confluence of--lakes Huron and
Michigan. This famous old French trading post continued to be a rallying
point for a multifarious and motley population. The inhabitants were
amphibious in their habits, most of them being, or having been voyageurs
or canoe men. It was the great place of arrival and departure of the
southwest fur trade. Here the Mackinaw Company had established its
principal post, from whence it communicated with the interior and with
Montreal. Hence its various traders and trappers set out for their
respective destinations about Lake Superior and its tributary waters, or
for the Mississippi, the Arkansas, the Missouri, and the other regions
of the west. Here, after the absence of a year, or more, they returned
with their peltries, and settled their accounts; the furs rendered in by
them being transmitted in canoes from hence to Montreal. Mackinaw was,
therefore, for a great part of the year, very scantily peopled; but at
certain seasons the traders arrived from all points, with their crews of
voyageurs, and the place swarmed like a hive.
Mackinaw, at that time, was a mere village, stretching along a small
bay, with a fine broad beach in front of its principal row of houses,
and dominated by the old fort, which crowned an impending height.
The beach was a kind of public promenade where were displayed all the
vagaries of a seaport on the arrival of a fleet from a long cruise. Here
voyageurs frolicked away their wages, fiddling and dancing in the booths
and cabins, buying all kinds of knick-knacks, dressing themselves out
finely, and parading up and down, like arrant braggarts and coxcombs.
Sometimes they met with rival coxcombs in the young Indians from the
opposite shore, who would appear on the beach painted and decorated
in fantastic style, and would saunter up and down, to be gazed at
and admired, perfectly satisfied that they eclipsed their pale-faced
competitors.
Now and then a chance party of “Northwesters” appeared at Mackinaw from
the rendezvous at Fort William. These held themselves up as the chivalry
of the fur trade. They were men of iron; proof against cold weather,
hard fare, and perils of all kinds. Some would wear the Northwest
button, and a formidable dirk, and assume something of a military air.
They generally wore feathers in their hats, and affected the “brave.”
“Je suis un homme du nord!”--“I am a man of the north,”--one of these
swelling fellows would exclaim, sticking his arms akimbo and ruffling by
the Southwesters, whom he regarded with great contempt, as men softened
by mild climates and the luxurious fare of bread and bacon, and whom
he stigmatized with the inglorious name of pork-eaters. The superiority
assumed by these vainglorious swaggerers was, in general, tacitly
admitted. Indeed, some of them had acquired great notoriety for deeds
of hardihood and courage; for the fur trade had Its heroes, whose names
resounded throughout the wilderness.
Such was Mackinaw at the time of which we are treating. It now,
doubtless, presents a totally different aspect. The fur companies no
longer assemble there; the navigation of the lake is carried on by
steamboats and various shipping, and the race of traders, and trappers,
and voyageurs, and Indian dandies, have vapored out their brief hour and
disappeared. Such changes does the lapse of a handful of years make in
this ever-changing country.
At this place Mr. Hunt remained for some time, to complete his
assortment of Indian goods, and to increase his number of voyageurs, as
well as to engage some of a more efficient character than those enlisted
at Montreal.
And now commenced another game of Jockeyship. There were able and
efficient men in abundance at Mackinaw, but for several days not one
presented himself. If offers were made to any, they were listened to
with a shake of the head. Should any one seem inclined to enlist, there
were officious idlers and busybodies, of that class who are ever ready
to dissuade others from any enterprise in which they themselves have no
concern. These would pull him by the sleeve, take him on one side, and
murmur in his ear, or would suggest difficulties outright.
It was objected that the expedition would have to navigate unknown
rivers, and pass through howling wildernesses infested by savage tribes,
who had already cut off the unfortunate voyageurs that had ventured
among them; that it was to climb the Rocky Mountains and descend into
desolate and famished regions, where the traveller was often obliged to
subsist on grasshoppers and crickets, or to kill his own horse for food.
At length one man was hardy enough to engage, and he was used like a
“stool-pigeon,” to decoy others; but several days elapsed before any
more could be prevailed upon to join him. A few then came to terms. It
was desirable to engage them for five years, but some refused to engage
for more than three. Then they must have part of their pay in advance,
which was readily granted. When they had pocketed the amount, and
squandered it in regales or in outfits, they began to talk of pecuniary
obligations at Mackinaw, which must be discharged before they would be
free to depart; or engagements with other persons, which were only to
be canceled by a “reasonable consideration.” It was in vain to argue or
remonstrate. The money advanced had already been sacked and spent, and
must be lost and the recruits left behind, unless they could be freed
from their debts and engagements. Accordingly, a fine was paid for one;
a judgment for another; a tavern bill for a third, and almost all had to
be bought off from some prior engagement, either real or pretended.
Mr. Hunt groaned in spirit at the incessant and unreasonable demands of
these worthies upon his purse; yet with all this outlay of funds, the
number recruited was but scanty, and many of the most desirable still
held themselves aloof, and were not to be caught by a golden bait. With
these he tried another temptation. Among the recruits who had enlisted
he distributed feathers and ostrich plumes. These they put in their
hats, and thus figured about Mackinaw, assuming airs of vast importance,
as “voyageurs” in a new company, that was to eclipse the Northwest. The
effect was complete. A French Canadian is too vain and mercurial a
being to withstand the finery and ostentation of the feather. Numbers
immediately pressed into the service. One must have an ostrich plume;
another, a white feather with a red end; a third, a bunch of cock’s
tails. Thus all paraded about, in vainglorious style, more delighted
with the feathers in their hats than with the money in their pockets;
and considering themselves fully equal to the boastful “men of the
north.”
While thus recruiting the number of rank and file, Mr. Hunt was joined
by a person whom he had invited, by letter, to engage as a partner in
the expedition. This was Mr. Ramsay Crooks, a young man, a native of
Scotland, who had served under the Northwest Company, and been engaged
in trading expeditions upon his individual account, among the tribes of
the Missouri. Mr. Hunt knew him personally, and had conceived a high
and merited opinion of his judgment, enterprise, and integrity; he was
rejoiced, therefore, when the latter consented to accompany him. Mr.
Crooks, however, drew from experience a picture of the dangers to
which they would be subjected, and urged the importance of going with a
considerable force. In ascending the upper Missouri they would have
to pass through the country of the Sioux Indians, who had manifested
repeated hostility to the white traders, and rendered their expeditions
extremely perilous; firing upon them from the river banks as they passed
beneath in their boats, and attacking them in their encampments. Mr.
Crooks himself, when voyaging in company with another trader of the name
of M’Lellan, had been interrupted by these marauders, and had considered
himself fortunate in escaping down the river without loss of life or
property, but with a total abandonment of his trading voyage.
Should they be fortunate enough to pass through the country of the Sioux
without molestation, they would have another tribe still more savage and
warlike beyond, and deadly foes of white men.
These were the Blackfeet Indians, who ranged over a wide extent
of country which they would have to traverse. Under all these
circumstances, it was thought advisable to augment the party
considerably. It already exceeded the number of thirty, to which it
had originally been limited; but it was determined, on arriving at St.
Louis, to increase it to the number of sixty.
These matters being arranged, they prepared to embark; but the
embarkation of a crew of Canadian voyageurs, on a distant expedition, is
not so easy a matter as might be imagined; especially of such a set of
vainglorious fellows with money in both pockets, and cocks’ tails in
their hats. Like sailors, the Canadian voyageurs generally preface a
long cruise with a carouse. They have their cronies, their brothers,
their cousins, their wives, their sweethearts, all to be entertained
at their expense. They feast, they fiddle, they drink, they sing, they
dance, they frolic and fight, until they are all as mad as so many
drunken Indians. The publicans are all obedience to their commands,
never hesitating to let them run up scores without limit, knowing that,
when their own money is expended, the purses of their employers must
answer for the bill, or the voyage must be delayed. Neither was it
possible, at that time, to remedy the matter at Mackinaw. In that
amphibious community there was always a propensity to wrest the laws in
favor of riotous or mutinous boatmen. It was necessary, also, to keep
the recruits in good humor, seeing the novelty and danger of the service
into which they were entering, and the ease with which they might at
anytime escape it by jumping into a canoe and going downstream.
Such were the scenes that beset Mr. Hunt, and gave him a foretaste of
the difficulties of his command. The little cabarets and sutlers’ shops
along the bay resounded with the scraping of fiddles, with snatches of
old French songs, with Indian whoops and yells, while every plumed and
feathered vagabond had his troop of loving cousins and comrades at his
heels. It was with the utmost difficulty they could be extricated from
the clutches of the publicans and the embraces of their pot companions,
who followed them to the water’s edge with many a hug, a kiss on each
cheek, and a maudlin benediction in Canadian French.
It was about the 12th of August that they left Mackinaw, and pursued the
usual route by Green Bay, Fox and Wisconsin rivers, to Prairie du Chien,
and thence down the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they landed on the
3d of September.