One of the classical names associated with the "commerce of the
prairies" is that of _Saint Vrain_. Ever since trapping became a trade,
or at all events, since prairie-land, with its wonders, had grown to be
a frequent, as well as interesting topic of conversation around the
hearth-fires of the American people, the names of Bent, Saint Vrain,
Bonneville, Robideau, Laramie, and Pierre Choteau, might often be heard
upon the lips of men.
And none more frequently than Saint Vrain, by whose daring and
enterprise not only were caravans carried across the almost untrodden
wilderness to the Mexican settlements of Santa Fe, but forts established
in the very midst of this wilderness, and garrisons maintained, with a
military efficiency rivalling the body-guard of many a little European
despot!
Yet there was no despotism here, supported by the sweat of a taxed
people; only a simple defensive organisation for the pursuit of a
valuable, as a laudable, industry.
And when the iron horse goes snorting through the midst of those distant
solitudes, and cities have sprung up on his track, the spots so marked
in our history will become classic ground; and many a tale will be told
of them, redolent of the richest romance.
Were I to live in the not very remote future, I would rather have in my
ornamental grounds the ruins of one of Bent's or Saint Vrain's Forts,
than the crumbling walls of Kenilworth Castle or the Keep of
Carisbrooke. More picturesquely romantic, more exalting, would be the
souvenirs recalled, and the memories awakened by them.
Saint Vrain's trading-post, on the South Fork of the Platte, was one of
those long noted as a favourite rendezvous of the free trappers [Note
1], as might have been told by any one chancing to make stop at it in
the season when these wandering adventurers laid aside their traps to
indulge in a spell of idleness and a "spree."
Just such a time was that when Squire Blackadder and his emigrant
companions were approaching the post, and fell into the clutches of the
Cheyennes. It was not one of their grandest gatherings, since only
about twenty of them were there; but among twenty trappers, or even
less, there is no lack of company. And if all, or even part of them,
have returned with fat packs, and found beaver selling at three dollars
the "plew" [Note 2], there will be a merry company; at times becoming
dangerous--not only to strangers, but to one another--through too much
drink.
An assemblage of this sort--including, we are sorry to say, both the
sober and the drunk--were at Saint Vrain's Fort, on the day above
specified. They had come there from all quarters--from the parks and
"holes" of the Rocky Mountains, from the streams, creeks, and branches
on this side running east, as well as from the head waters of the Green,
Bear, and Colorado coursing west. Nearly all of them had made a good
season of it, and arrived with their pack animals staggering under the
spoils of the trap and the rifle.
These had become the property of the Fort, after an exchange on its side
of guns, knives, powder, and lead, with five-point Mackinaw blankets,
and other articles of trapper wear; including those of adornment, and
not forgetting some sparkling _bijouterie_ intended as gifts, or "guages
d'amour" for the bronze-skinned beauties of the prairie. Rude as is the
trapper's life, and solitary too, he is not insensible either to the
soft charms of love, or its companionship.
In addition to the articles thus swapped or "trucked," the trappers
assembled at Saint Vrain's in exchange for their peltries, had received
a large quantity of coin currency, in the shape of Mexican silver
dollars. With these burning the bottoms out of their pockets, it is
scarce necessary to say that drink was the order of the day, with cards
as its accompaniment.
We regret having to make this statement; as also that quarrels are the
too frequent termination of these games of euchre and "poker."
Another source of strife among the trappers assembled at Saint Vrain's
was to be found in the fact, that a friendly Indian tribe, the "Crows,"
were encamped near the post; and among these birds, notwithstanding the
name are many that are beautiful.
No soft courtship suits an Indian belle. If you want to win her, you
must show bravery; and you will not risk losing her affections if your
bravery degenerate into brutalism!
Such are the moral inclinings of both men and women in the state called
"savage;" but it must not be supposed that this is the state of Nature.
On the contrary, the _savages_, properly so-styled, have long since
passed from their pristine condition of simplicity. [Note 3.]
Several quarrels had occurred among the trappers at Saint Vrain's Fort--
more than one that had ended in the shedding of blood--and one of the
bloodiest was on the eve of breaking out, when a cry from the sentinel
on the azotea [Note 4] caused a suspension of the broil.
The quarrellers were below, on the level plain that stretched away from
the grand gate entrance of the building, and formed a sort of general
ground for assemblage--as well for athletic sports, as for games of a
less recommendable kind.
The shout of the sentry caused them to look towards the plain, where
they saw two horsemen going at a gallop, and evidently making for the
Fort.
The rapidity with which they approached, and the way they were urging on
their steeds, told a tale of haste. It could be no caper of two men
trying the speed of their horses. The animals seemed too badly blown
for that.
"Thar's Injuns after them two fellers!" said Black Harris, a celebrated
mountain man. "Or hez a been not far back. Boys! can any o' ye tell me
who they are? My sight ain't so plain as 'twar twenty yeer ago."
"If I ain't mistook," answered another of the trapper fraternity, "that
'un on the clay-bank hoss is ole 'Lije Orton, oreeginally from
Tennessee. Who the other be, durn me ef I know. A young 'un, I guess;
an' don't look at all like these hyar purairies, though he do sit that
black hoss, as though he war friz to him. Don't the feller ride
spunky?"
"_Ay dios_!" exclaimed a man whose swarth skin and bespangled costume
proclaimed him a Mexican. "Call that riding, do you? _Carrai_! on our
side of the mountains a child of six years old would show you better!"
"In trath an' yez are mistaken, Misther Saynyor Sanchis, as ye call
yerself. I know who that gossoon is that's comin' up yonder, for he's a
countryman of mine; and, be the powers! he can roide to bate any Mixikan
in the mountains--not like a cat stickin' on the back av a goat, as yez
do it; but like a gintleman. Him yonder beside ould 'Lije Orton, is
Misther Edward Onale, ov the Onales av County Tipperary; an', be
jabbers, he _is_ a gintleman be both sides av the house!"
Before this new discussion could culminate in another quarrel, the two
horsemen had ridden upon the ground, and pulled up in the midst of the
trappers, who, with eager, inquiring looks, gathered in a circle around
them.
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Note 1. The "free" or "independent trappers," as they were also called,
formed a class _sui generis_, in many respects differing from the
regular _employes_ of the fur-trading companies. They were different in
ideas and habits, as also in the _dangers_ of their calling.
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Note 2. _Plew_. The trapper name for the beaver skins. They are now,
I believe, only worth a dollar each. Formerly they were saleable at
four. The introduction of the silk hat ruined the trapper's trade,
though it has been a great boon to the beavers.
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Note 3. There is no instance on record of a tribe in the so-called
pristine "savage" state, having been convicted of the crime of
cannibalism. This is an "institution" that comes only after a certain
degree of civilisation has been attained, or rather when the period of
despotism has arrived, both priestly and monarchical. There is no court
where ceremonies are more complete than that of Thakonbau, the "King of
the Cannibal Islands," of "Figi."
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Note 4. The trading fort of the fur companies in the Mexican portion of
the prairie country were usually built, Mexican fashion, with the flat
roof or _azotea_.