St. Louis.--Its Situation.--Motley Population.--French
Creole Traders and Their Dependants.--Missouri Fur Company--
Mr. Manuel Lisa.--Mississippi Boatmen.--Vagrant Indians.
--Kentucky Hunters--Old French Mansion--Fiddling--Billiards
--Mr. Joseph Miller--His Character--Recruits--Voyage Up the
Missouri.--Difficulties of the River.--Merits of Canadian
Voyageurs.-Arrival at the Nodowa.--Mr. Robert M’Lellan joins
the Party--John Day, a Virginia Hunter. Description of Him.
--Mr. Hunt Returns to St. Louis.
ST. LOUIS, which is situated on the right bank of the Mississippi
River, a few miles below the mouth of the Missouri, was, at that time, a
frontier settlement, and the last fitting-out place for the Indian trade
of the Southwest. It possessed a motley population, composed of the
creole descendants of the original French colonists; the keen traders
from the Atlantic States; the backwoodsmen of Kentucky and Tennessee;
the Indians and half-breeds of the prairies; together with a singular
aquatic race that had grown up from the navigation of the rivers--the
“boatmen of the Mississippi”--who possessed habits, manners, and almost
a language, peculiarly their own, and strongly technical. They, at that
time, were extremely numerous, and conducted the chief navigation and
commerce of the Ohio and the Mississippi, as the voyageurs did of the
Canadian waters; but, like them, their consequence and characteristics
are rapidly vanishing before the all-pervading intrusion of steamboats.
The old French houses engaged in the Indian trade had gathered round
them a train of dependents, mongrel Indians, and mongrel Frenchmen,
who had intermarried with Indians. These they employed in their various
expeditions by land and water. Various individuals of other countries
had, of late years, pushed the trade further into the interior, to
the upper waters of the Missouri, and had swelled the number of these
hangers-on. Several of these traders had, two or three years previously,
formed themselves into a company, composed of twelve partners, with
a capital of about forty thousand dollars, called the Missouri Fur
Company; the object of which was, to establish posts along the upper
part of that river, and monopolize the trade. The leading partner of
this company was Mr. Manuel Lisa, a Spaniard by birth, and a man of bold
and enterprising character, who had ascended the Missouri almost to its
source, and made himself well acquainted and popular with several of its
tribes. By his exertions, trading posts had been established, in 1808,
in the Sioux country, and among the Aricara and Mandan tribes; and a
principal one, under Mr. Henry, one of the partners, at the forks of
the Missouri. This company had in its employ about two hundred and fifty
men, partly American and partly creole voyageurs.
All these circumstances combined to produce a population at St. Louis
even still more motley than that at Mackinaw. Here were to be seen,
about the river banks, the hectoring, extravagant bragging boatmen of
the Mississippi, with the gay, grimacing, singing, good-humored Canadian
voyageurs. Vagrant Indians, of various tribes, loitered about
the streets. Now and then a stark Kentucky hunter, in leathern
hunting-dress, with rifle on shoulder and knife in belt, strode along.
Here and there were new brick houses and shops, just set up by bustling,
driving, and eager men of traffic from the Atlantic States; while, on
the other hand, the old French mansions, with open casements, still
retained the easy, indolent air of the original colonists; and now and
then the scraping of a fiddle, a strain of an ancient French song,
or the sound of billiard balls, showed that the happy Gallic turn for
gayety and amusement still lingered about the place.
Such was St. Louis at the time of Mr. Hunt’s arrival there, and the
appearance of a new fur company, with ample funds at its command,
produced a strong sensation among the I traders of the place, and
awakened keen jealousy and opposition on the part of the Missouri
Company. Mr. Hunt proceeded to strengthen himself against all
competition. For this purpose, he secured to the interests of the
association another of those enterprising men, who had been engaged
in individual traffic with the tribes of the Missouri. This was a Mr.
Joseph Miller, a gentleman well educated and well informed, and of a
respectable family of Baltimore. He had been an officer in the army
of the United States, but had resigned in disgust, on being refused
a furlough, and had taken to trapping beaver and trading among the
Indians. He was easily induced by Mr. Hunt to join as a partner, and was
considered by him, on account of his education and acquirements, and his
experience in Indian trade, a valuable addition to the company.
Several additional men were likewise enlisted at St. Louis, some as
boatmen, and others as hunters. These last were engaged, not merely to
kill game for provisions, but also, and indeed chiefly, to trap beaver
and other animals of rich furs, valuable in the trade. They enlisted
on different terms. Some were to have a fixed salary of three hundred
dollars; others were to be fitted out and maintained at the expense of
the company, and were to hunt and trap on shares.
As Mr. Hunt met with much opposition on the part of rival traders,
especially the Missouri Fur Company, it took him some weeks to complete
his preparations. The delays which he had previously experienced at
Montreal, Mackinaw, and on the way, added to those at St. Louis, had
thrown him much behind his original calculations, so that it would be
impossible to effect his voyage up the Missouri in the present year.
This river, flowing from high and cold latitudes, and through wide and
open plains, exposed to chilling blasts, freezes early. The winter
may be dated from the first of November; there was every prospect,
therefore, that it would be closed with ice long before Mr. Hunt could
reach its upper waters. To avoid, however, the expense of wintering at
St. Louis, he determined to push up the river as far as possible, to
some point above the settlements, where game was plenty, and where his
whole party could be subsisted by hunting, until the breaking up of the
ice in the spring should permit them to resume their voyage.
Accordingly on the twenty-first of October he took his departure from
St. Louis. His party was distributed in three boats. One was the barge
which he had brought from Mackinaw; another was of a larger size, such
as was formerly used in navigating the Mohawk River, and known by the
generic name of the Schenectady barge; the other was a large keel boat,
at that time the grand conveyance on the Mississippi.
In this way they set out from St. Louis, in buoyant spirits, and soon
arrived at the mouth of the Missouri. This vast river, three thousand
miles in length, and which, with its tributary streams, drains such
an immense extent of country, was as yet but casually and imperfectly
navigated by the adventurous bark of the fur trader. A steamboat had
never yet stemmed its turbulent current. Sails were but of casual
assistance, for it required a strong wind to conquer the force of the
stream. The main dependence was on bodily strength and manual dexterity.
The boats, in general, had to be propelled by oars and setting poles,
or drawn by the hand and by grappling hooks from one root or overhanging
tree to another; or towed by the long cordelle, or towing line, where
the shores were sufficiently clear of woods and thickets to permit the
men to pass along the banks.
During this slow and tedious progress the boat would be exposed to
frequent danger from floating trees and great masses of drift-wood,
or to be impaled upon snags and sawyers; that is to say, sunken trees,
presenting a jagged or pointed end above the surface of the water. As
the channel of the river frequently shifted from side to side according
to the bends and sand-banks, the boat had, in the same way, to advance
in a zigzag course. Often a part of the crew would have to leap into the
water at the shallows, and wade along with the towing line, while
their comrades on board toilfully assisted with oar and setting
pole. Sometimes the boat would seem to be retained motionless, as
if spell-bound, opposite some point round which the current set with
violence, and where the utmost labor scarce effected any visible
progress.
On these occasions it was that the merits of the Canadian voyageurs came
into full action. Patient of toil, not to be disheartened by impediments
and disappointments, fertile in expedients, and versed in every mode
of humoring and conquering the wayward current, they would ply every
exertion, sometimes in the boat, sometimes on shore, sometimes in the
water, however cold; always alert, always in good humor; and, should
they at any time flag or grow weary, one of their popular songs,
chanted by a veteran oarsman, and responded to in chorus, acted as a
never-failing restorative.
By such assiduous and persevering labor they made their way about four
hundred and fifty miles up the Missouri, by the 16th of November, to
the mouth of the Nodowa. As this was a good hunting country, and as the
season was rapidly advancing, they determined to establish their winter
quarters at this place; and, in fact, two days after they had come to a
halt, the river closed just above their encampment.
The party had not been long at this place when they were joined by Mr.
Robert M’Lellan, another trader of the Missouri; the same who had been
associated with Mr. Crooks in the unfortunate expedition in which they
had been intercepted by the Sioux Indians, and obliged to make a rapid
retreat down the river.
M’Lellan was a remarkable man. He had been a partisan under General
Wayne, in his Indian wars, where he had distinguished himself by his
fiery spirit and reckless daring, and marvelous stories were told of
his exploits. His appearance answered to his character. His frame was
meagre, but muscular; showing strength, activity, and iron firmness. His
eyes were dark, deep-set, and piercing. He was restless, fearless, but
of impetuous and sometimes ungovernable temper. He had been invited by
Mr. Hunt to enroll himself as a partner, and gladly consented; being
pleased with the thoughts of passing with a powerful force through the
country of the Sioux, and perhaps having an opportunity of revenging
himself upon that lawless tribe for their past offenses.
Another recruit that joined the camp at Nodowa deserves equal mention.
This was John Day, a hunter from the backwoods of Virginia, who had been
several years on the Missouri in the service of Mr. Crooks, and of other
traders. He was about forty years of age, six feet two inches high,
straight as an Indian; with an elastic step as if he trod on springs,
and a handsome, open, manly countenance. It was his boast that, in his
younger days, nothing could hurt or daunt him; but he had “lived too
fast,” and injured his constitution by his excesses. Still he was strong
of hand, bold of heart, a prime woodman, and an almost unerring shot. He
had the frank spirit of a Virginian, and the rough heroism of a pioneer
of the west.
The party were now brought to a halt for several months. They were in a
country abounding with deer and wild turkeys, so that there was no stint
of provisions, and every one appeared cheerful and contented. Mr. Hunt
determined to avail himself of this interval to return to St. Louis and
obtain a reinforcement.
He wished to procure an interpreter, acquainted with the language of
the Sioux, as, from all accounts, he apprehended difficulties in passing
through the country of that nation. He felt the necessity, also, of
having a greater number of hunters, not merely to keep up a supply of
provisions throughout their long and arduous expedition, but also as a
protection and defense, in case of Indian hostilities. For such service
the Canadian voyageurs were little to be depended upon, fighting not
being a part of their profession. The proper kind of men were American
hunters, experienced in savage life and savage warfare, and possessed of
the true game spirit of the west.
Leaving, therefore, the encampment in charge of the other partners, Mr.
Hunt set off on foot on the first of January (1810), for St. Louis. He
was accompanied by eight men as far as Fort Osage, about one hundred
and fifty miles below Nodowa. Here he procured a couple of horses, and
proceeded on the remainder of his journey with two men, sending the
other six back to the encampment. He arrived at St. Louis on the 20th of
January.