DESCRIPTION OF FORT UNION AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
Description of the Fort and its Vicinity--Its Inhabitants, and
the Fur Trade on the Upper Missouri--The Indian Branch of the
Assiniboins, the original Possessors of this Spot.
The erection of Fort Union was commenced in the autumn of 1829, by Mr.
Mc Kenzie, and is now completed, except that some of the edifices
which were erected in haste are under repair. The fort is situated on
an alluvial eminence, on the northern bank of the Missouri, in a
prairie, which extends about 1,500 paces to a chain of hills, on whose
summit there are other wide-spreading plains. The river runs at a
distance of scarcely fifty or sixty feet from the fort, in the direction
from west to east; it is here rather broad, and the opposite bank is
wooded. The fort itself forms a quadrangle, the sides of which measure
about eighty paces in length, on the exterior. The ramparts consist of
strong pickets, sixteen or seventeen feet high, squared, and placed
close to each other, and surmounted by a _chevaux-de-frise_. On the
south-west and north-east ends, there are block-houses, with pointed
roofs, two stories high, with embrasures and some cannon, which,
though small, are fit for service. In the front of the enclosure, and
towards the river, is the well-defended principal entrance, with a
large folding gate. Opposite the entrance, on the other side of the
quadrangle, is the house of the commandant; it is one story high, and
has four handsome glass windows on each side of the door. The roof is
spacious, and contains a large, light loft. This house is very
commodious, and, like all the buildings of the inner quadrangle,
constructed of poplar wood, the staple wood for building in this
neighbourhood. In the inner quadrangle are the residences of the
clerks, the interpreters, and the _engages_, the powder magazine, the
stores, or supplies of goods and bartered skins, various workshops for
the handicraftsmen, smiths, carpenters, &c., stables for the horses
and cattle, rooms for receiving and entertaining the Indians; and in
the centre is the flag-staff, around which several half-breed Indian
hunters had erected their leathern tents. A cannon was also placed
here, with its mouth towards the principal [pg. 188] entrance.[354]
The fort contains about fifty or sixty horses, some mules, and an
inconsiderable number of cattle, swine, goats, fowls, and domestic
animals. The cattle are very fine, and the cows yield abundance of
milk. The horses are driven, in the day-time, into the prairie,
guarded and exercised by armed men, and, in the evening, brought back
into the quadrangle of the fort, where the greater part of them pass
the night in the open air. Mr. Mc Kenzie has, however, lately had a
separate place, or park, provided for them.
Fort Union is one of the principal posts of the Fur Company, because
it is the central point of the two other trading stations, still
higher up, towards the Rocky Mountains, and having the superintendence
of the whole of the trade in the interior, and in the vicinity of the
mountains. One of these two trading stations, called Fort Cass, is 200
miles up the Yellow Stone River, and is confined to the trade with the
Crow tribe; the other, Fort Piekann, or, as it is now called, Fort Mc
Kenzie, is 850[355] miles up the Missouri, or about a day's journey
from the falls of this river, and carries on the fur trade with the
three tribes of the Blackfoot Indians. The latter station has been
established about two years, and, as the steamers cannot often go up
to Fort Union, they despatch keel-boats, to supply the various trading
posts with goods for barter with the Indians. They then pass the
winter at these stations, and in the spring carry the furs to Fort
Union, whence they are transported, in the course of the summer, to
St. Louis, by the steamers.
The Company maintains a number of agents at these different stations;
during their stay they marry Indian women, but leave them, without
scruple, when they are removed to another station, or are recalled to
the United States. The lower class of these agents, who are called
_engages_, or _voyageurs_, have to act as steersmen, rowers, hunters,
traders, &c., according to their several capabilities. They are often
sent great distances, employed in perilous undertakings among the
Indians, and are obliged to fight against the enemy, and many of them
are killed every year by the arms with which the Whites themselves
have furnished the Indians. Some of the agents of the Fur Company
winter every year in the Rocky Mountains.[356]
The proprietors of the American Fur Company were Messrs. Astor, at New
York, General Pratte, Chouteau, Cabanne, Mc Kenzie, Laidlow, and
Lamont; the three latter had a share [pg. 189] in the fur trade on the
Upper Missouri only. Wild beasts and other animals, whose skins are
valuable in the fur trade, have already diminished greatly in number
along this river, and it is said that, in another ten years, the fur
trade will be very inconsiderable. As the supplies along the banks of
the Missouri decreased, the Company gradually extended the circle of
their trading posts, as well as enterprises, and thus increased their
income. Above 500 of their agents are in the forts of the Upper
Missouri, and at their various trading posts; and, besides these
individuals, who receive considerable salaries (for it is said that
the Company yearly expend 150,000 dollars in salaries), there are in
these prairies, and the forests of the Rocky Mountains, beaver and fur
trappers, who live at their own cost; but whose present wants, such as
horses, guns, powder, ball, woollen cloths, articles of clothing,
tobacco, &c. &c., are supplied by the Company, and the scores settled,
after the hunting season is over, by the furs which they deliver at
the different trading posts. Many of these, when not employed in
hunting, live at the Company's forts. They are, for the most part,
enterprising, robust men, capital riflemen, and, from their rude
course of life, are able to endure the greatest hardships.
During the summer, the Company send out, under the direction of an
experienced clerk, a number of strong, well-armed, mounted men, who
convey the necessary goods and supplies, on pack-horses, to the
trading stations, at a distance from the river; they always observe
and enforce the required conditions of the Indians, and not
unfrequently come to blows with them. These expeditions have to
support themselves by the chase, consequently the men must be good
hunters, as they subsist almost exclusively on what they procure by
their guns. Besides the forts which I have so often named, the Company
has also small winter posts, called log-houses, or block-houses, among
the Indians, quickly erected, and as quickly abandoned: to these the
Indians bring their furs, which are purchased, and sent, in the
spring, to the trading posts. The American Fur Company has, at
present, about twenty-three, large and small, trading posts. In the
autumn and winter the Indian tribes generally approach nearer to these
posts, to barter their skins; while in the spring and summer they
devote themselves especially to catching beavers, for which they
receive every encouragement from the merchants, who lend or advance
them iron traps for the purpose.
The animals, whose skins are objects of this trade, and the annual
average of the income derived from skins, may be pretty well
ascertained from the following statement:
1. Beavers: about 25,000 skins. They are sold in packs of 100 lbs.
weight each, put up separately, and tied together. There are,
generally, about sixty large skins in a pack; if they are smaller, of
course there are more skins. A large beaver skin weighs about two
pounds--sometimes more. The usual price is four dollars a pound.[357]
[pg. 190] 2. Otters: 200 to 300 skins.
3. Buffalo cow skins: 40,000 to 50,000. Ten buffalo hides go to the
pack.
4. Canadian weasel (_Musetela Canadensis_): 500 to 600.
5. Martin (pine or beech martin): about the same quantity.
6. Lynx; the northern lynx (_Felis Canadensis_): 1,000 to 2,000.
7. Lynx; the southern or wild cat (_Felis rufa_): ditto.
8. Red foxes (_Canis fulvus_): 2,000.
9. Cross foxes: 200 to 300.
10. Silver foxes: twenty to thirty. Sixty dollars are often paid for a
single skin.
11. Minks (_Mustela vison_): 2,000.
12. Musk-rats (_Ondathra_): from 1,000 to 100,000.[358] According to
Captain Back, half a million of these skins are annually imported into
London, as this animal is found in equal abundance as far as the
coasts of the Frozen Ocean.
13. Deer (_Cervus Virginianus_ and _macrotis_): from 20,000 to 30,000.
Beyond Council Bluffs, scarcely any articles are bartered by the
Indians--especially the Joways, Konzas, and the Osages--except the
skins of the _Cervus Virginianus_, which is found in great abundance,
but is said to have fallen off there likewise very considerably.
The elk (_Cervus Canadensis_, or _major_), is not properly
comprehended in the trade, as its skin is too thick and heavy, and is,
therefore, used for home consumption. The buffalo skin is taken, as
before observed, from the cows only, as the leather of the bulls is
too heavy. The wolf skins are not at all sought by the company, that
is to say, they do not send out any hunters to procure them; but, if
the Indians bring any, they are bought not to create any
dissatisfaction, and then they are sold at about a dollar a-piece. The
Indians, however, have frequently nothing to offer for barter but
their dresses, and painted buffalo robes.
The support of so large an establishment as that at Fort Union
requires frequent hunting excursions into the prairie; and Mr. Mc
Kenzie, therefore, maintained here several experienced hunters of a
mixed race, who made weekly excursions to the distance of twenty or
more miles into the prairie, sought the buffalo herds, and, after they
had killed a sufficient number, returned home with their mules well
laden. The flesh of the cows is very good, especially the tongues,
which are smoked in great numbers, and then sent down to St. Louis.
The colossal marrow-bones are considered quite a delicacy by the
hunters and by the Indians. The consumption of [pg. 191] this animal is
immense in North America, and is as indispensable to the Indians as
the reindeer is to the Laplanders, and the seal to the Esquimaux. It
is difficult to obtain an exact estimate of the consumption of this
animal, which is yearly decreasing and driven further inland. In a
recent year, the Fur Company sent 42,000 of these hides down the
river, which were sold, in the United States, at four dollars a-piece.
Fort Union alone consumes about 600 to 800 buffaloes annually, and the
other forts in proportion. The numerous Indian tribes subsist almost
entirely on these animals, sell their skins after retaining a
sufficient supply for their clothing, tents, &c., and the agents of
the Company recklessly shoot down these noble animals for their own
pleasure, often not making the least use of them, except taking out
the tongue. Whole herds of them are often drowned in the Missouri;
nay, I have been assured that, in some rivers, 1,800 and more of their
dead bodies were found in one place. Complete dams are formed of the
bodies of these animals in some of the morasses of the rivers; from
this we may form some idea of the decrease of the buffaloes, which are
now found on the other side of the Rocky Mountains, where they were
not originally met with, but whither they have been driven.
Besides the buffalo, the hunters also shoot the elk, the deer, and,
occasionally, the bighorn. The former especially are very numerous on
the Yellow Stone River. All other provisions, such as pork, hams,
flour, sugar, coffee, wine, and other articles of luxury for the
tables of the chief officers and the clerks, are sent from St. Louis
by the steamer. The maize is procured from the neighbouring Indian
nations. Vegetables do not thrive at Fort Union, which Mr. Mc Kenzie
ascribes to the long-continued drought and high winds.
The neighbourhood around Fort Union is, as I have observed, a wide,
extended prairie, intersected, in a northerly direction, by a chain of
rather high, round, clay-slate, and sand-stone hills, from the summits
of which we had a wide-spreading view over the country on the other
side of the Missouri, and of its junction with the Yellow Stone, of
which Mr. Bodmer made a very faithful drawing.[359] We observed on the
highest points, and at certain intervals of this mountain chain,
singular stone signals, set up by the Assiniboins, of blocks of
granite, or other large stones, on the top of which is placed a
buffalo skull,[360] which we were told the Indians place there to
attract the herds of buffaloes, and thereby to ensure a successful
hunt. The strata of sand-stone occurring in the above-mentioned hills
are filled, at least in part, with impressions of the leaves of
phanerogamic plants, resembling the species still growing in the
country.[361] A whitish-grey and reddish-yellow sand-stone are found
here. In all these prairies of North America, as well as in the plains
of northern Europe, those remarkable blocks or fragments of red
granite, are everywhere scattered, which have afforded the geologist
subject for many hypotheses. Major Long's Expedition to St. Peter's
River[362] mentions blocks of granite in the prairies of Illinois;
they are found in abundance in the north, about St. Peter's [pg. 192]
River, in the State of Ohio, &c. Other boulders, however, of quartz,
flint, slate, &c., evidently formed by water, are found everywhere in
the prairies. The hills were partly bare, and very few flowers were in
blossom; the whole country was covered with short, dry grass, among
which there were numerous round spots with tufts of _Cactus ferox_,
which was only partly in flower. Another _cactus_, resembling
_mammillaris_, with dark red flowers, yellow on the inner side, was
likewise abundant. Of the first kind it seems that two exactly similar
varieties, probably species, are found everywhere here; both have
fine, large, bright yellow flowers, sometimes a greenish-yellow, and,
on their first expanding, are often whitish, and the outer side of the
petals, with a reddish tinge; but in one species, the staminae are
bright yellow, like the flower itself, and, in the other, of a
brownish blood red, with yellow anthers. The true flowering time of
these plants begins at the end of June.
The scene of destruction, which has often been mentioned, namely, the
whitening bones of buffaloes and stags, recurs everywhere in the
prairie, and the great dogs of the fort frequently seek for such
animal remains. Between the hills, there are, sometimes, in the
ravines, little thickets of oak, ash, negundo maple, elm, bird-cherry,
and some others, in which many kinds of birds, particularly the
starling, blackbird, &c., build their nests. The king-bird and the red
thrush are likewise found. Of mammalia, besides those in the river,
namely, the beaver, the otter, and the muskrat, there are, about Fort
Union, in the prairie, great numbers of the pretty little squirrel,
the skin of which is marked with long stripes, and regular spots
between them (_Spermophilus Hoodii_, Sab.), which have been
represented by Richardson and Cuvier. The Anglo-Americans of these
parts call it the ground squirrel; and the Canadians, _l'ecureuil
Suisse_. From its figure and agility, it is a genuine squirrel, and,
therefore, rather different from the true marmot arctomys. The
burrows, in which these animals live, are often carried to a great
extent underground. The entrance is not much larger than a mouse hole,
and has no mound of earth thrown up, like those of the prairie dogs.
Besides these, there are several kinds of mice, particularly _Mus
leucopus_. The flat hills of the goffer are likewise seen; this is a
kind of large sand rat, living underground, of which I did not obtain
a specimen.
Not far above and below the fort there were woods on the banks of the
Missouri, consisting of poplars, willows, ash, elm, negundo maple,
&c., with a thick underwood of hazel, roses, which were now in flower,
and dog-berry, rendered almost impassable by blackberry bushes and the
burdock (_Xanthium strumarium_), the thorny fruit of which stuck to
the clothes. In these thickets, where we collected many plants, the
mosquitos were extremely troublesome. In such places we frequently
heard the deep base note of the frogs; and in those places which were
not damp, there were patches of two kinds of solidago; likewise _Gaura
coccinea_ (Pursh.), and _Cristaria coccinea_, two extremely beautiful
plants; and, on the banks of the river, the white-flowering _Bartonia
ornata_ (Pursh.), and the _Helianthus petiolaris_ (Nutt.), which were
everywhere in flower, &c. &c.
[pg. 193] In the forest, a pretty small mouse was frequent, as well as
the large wood rat, already mentioned. Of birds, there are some
species of woodpeckers, the Carolina pigeon, numerous blackbirds
(_Quiscalus ferrugineus_), thrushes, several smaller birds, the
beautiful bluefinch, first described by Say, the American fly-catcher,
and several others. The whip-poor-will is not found so high up the
Missouri. The river does not abound in fish; it produces, however, two
species of cat-fish, and soft shell turtles, but which are not often
caught.
The climate about Fort Union is very changeable. We had often 76 deg.
Fahrenheit, and storms of thunder and lightning alternating with heavy
rains. Other days in the month of June were cold, the thermometer
falling to 56 deg. Winds prevail here the greater part of the year, and
therefore the temperature is usually dry. The weather, while we were
there, was uncommonly rainy. Spring is generally the wettest season;
the summer is dry; autumn the finest time of the year; the winter is
severe, and often of long continuance. The snow is often three, four,
or six feet deep in many places, and then dog sledges are used, and
the Indians wear snow shoes. The winter of 1831-1832 had been
remarkably mild in these parts. The Missouri had scarcely been frozen
for three days together; but the spring, however, set in very late. On
the 30th of May, 1832, the forests were still without verdure; and
there was, in that month, such dreadful weather, that an Indian was
frozen to death in the prairie: a snow storm overtook him and a girl,
who escaped with one of her feet frozen. In general, however, the
climate is said to be very healthy. There are no endemic disorders,
and the fine water of the Missouri, which, notwithstanding the sand
mixed with it, is light and cold, does not a little contribute to make
the inhabitants attain an advanced age. There are no physicians here,
and the people affirm they have no need of them. Persons, whom we
questioned on the subject, said, "We don't want doctors; we have no
diseases." In the preceding spring, however, there had been more
sickness than usual on the Missouri, and at the time of our visit,
the approach of the cholera was feared. Colds are, probably, the most
frequent complaints, the changes in the temperature being sudden, the
dwellings slight and ill built, and the people exposing themselves
without any precaution.
Fort Union is built in the territory of the Assiniboins, of whom a
certain number generally live there. At this time they had left,
because the herds of buffaloes were gone to a distant part of the
country. The Assiniboins are real Dacotas, or Sioux, and form a branch
which separated from the rest a considerable time ago, in consequence
of a quarrel among them. They still call themselves by that name,
though they seem generally to pronounce it Nacota. They parted from
the rest of the tribe, after a battle which they had with each other
on Devil's Lake, and removed further to the north. The tribe is said
to consist of 28,000 souls, of whom 7,000 are warriors. They live in
3,000 tents; the territory which they claim as theirs, is between the
Missouri and the Saskatschawan, bounded by lake Winipick on the north,
extending, on the east, to Assiniboin River, and, on the west, to Milk
River. The English and Americans sometimes [pg. 194] call them Stone
Indians, which, however, properly speaking, is the name of only one
branch.
The Assiniboins are divided into the following branches or bands:
1. Itscheabine (_les gens des filles_).
2. Jatonabine (_les gens des roches_). The Stone Indians of the
English. Captain Franklin, in his first journey to the Frozen Ocean,
speaks of these Indians, and observes that they are little to be
depended upon.[363] He says that they call themselves Eascab, a name
with which, however, I have not met.
3. Otopachgnato (_les gens du large_).
4. Otaopabine (_les gens des canots_).
5. Tschantoga (_les gens des bois_). They live near the Fort des
Prairies, not far from Saskatschawan River.[364]
6. Watopachnato (_les gens de l'age_).
7. Tanintauei (_les gens des osayes_).[365]
8. Chabin (_les gens des montagnes_).[366]
In their personal appearance the Assiniboins differ little from the
true Sioux; those whom we saw were, perhaps, on the whole, not so tall
and slender as the Sioux. Their faces are broad, with high cheeks, and
broad maxillary bones. They frequently do not wear their hair so long
as the Sioux; many of them have it scarcely hanging down to the
shoulders; some, however, let it grow to a great length, and braid it
in two or three tails; nay, some let it hang like a lion's mane over
their faces and about their heads. Several wore round white leather
caps, others feathers in their hair, or a narrow strip of skin
fastened over the crown. A remarkable head-dress is that with two
horns, of which I shall have to speak in the sequel. They paint their
faces red, or reddish-brown, and, when they have killed an enemy,
quite black: the hair in front is often daubed with clay; the upper
part of the body is seldom naked in winter time, when they wear
leather shirts, with a large round rosette on the breast, which is
embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, of the most vivid colours; and
they have often another exactly similar ornament on their back. The
sleeves of these leather shirts are adorned with tufts of their
enemies' hair. The outer seam of the leggins, as among all the other
tribes, has an embroidered stripe of coloured porcupine quills, and
trimmed in the same manner with human or dyed horsehair. In the summer
time the upper part of the body is often naked, and the feet bare, but
they are never without the large buffalo robe, which is often
curiously painted. Their necklaces and other ornaments are similar to
those of the other nations which have already been described. They,
however, very frequently wear the collar of the bears' claws, but not
the long strings of beads [pg. 195] and dentalium shells, which are used
by the Manitaries. Most of the Assiniboins have guns,[367] the stocks
of which they ornament with bright yellow nails, and with small pieces
of red cloth on the ferrels for the ramrod. Like all the Indians, they
carry, besides, a separate ramrod in their hand, a large powder-horn,
which they obtain from the Fur Company, and a leather pouch for the
balls, which is made by themselves, and often neatly ornamented, or
hung with rattling pieces of lead, and trimmed with coloured cloth.
All have bows and arrows; many have these only, and no gun. The case
for the bow and the quiver are of the skin of some animal, often of
the otter, fastened to each other; and to the latter the tail of the
animal, at full length, is appended. The bow is partly covered with
elk horn, has a very strong string of twisted sinews of animals, and
is wound round in different places with the same, to strengthen it.
The bow is often adorned with coloured cloth, porcupine quills, and
white strips of ermine, but, on the whole, this weapon does not differ
from that of the Sioux. Most of them carry clubs in their hands, of
various shapes, and the fan of eagles' or swans' wings is
indispensable to an elegant dandy.
The Assiniboins being hunters, live in movable leather tents, with
which they roam about, and never cultivate the ground. Their chief
subsistence they derive from the herds of buffaloes, which they follow
in the summer, generally from the rivers, to a distance in the
prairie; in the winter, to the woods on the banks of the rivers,
because these herds, at that time, seek for shelter and food among the
thickets. They are particularly dexterous in making what are called
buffalo parks, when a tract is surrounded with scarecrows, made of
stones, branches of trees, &c., and the terrified animals are driven
into a narrow gorge, in which the hunters lie concealed, as
represented and described by Franklin, in his first journey to the
Frozen Ocean.[368] There was such a park ten miles from Fort Union,
where I was told there were great numbers of the bones of those
animals. On such occasions the Indians sometimes kill 700 or 800
buffaloes. Of the dried and powdered flesh, mixed with tallow, the
women prepare the well-known pemmican, which is an important article
of food for these people in their wanderings. These Indians frequently
suffer hunger, when the chase or other circumstances are unfavourable;
this is particularly the case of the northern nations, the Crees, the
Assiniboins, the Chippeways, and others, as may be seen in
Tanner,[369] Captain Franklin, and other writers, when they consider
dead dogs as a delicacy. In the north, entire families perish from
hunger. They eat every kind of animals, except serpents; horses and
dogs are very frequently killed for food, which is the reason why they
keep so many, particularly of the latter.
In comparison with the other nations, the Assiniboins have not many
horses; their bridles and saddles are like those of the Manitaries.
The rope of buffalo hair, which is fastened to the [pg. 196] lower jaw
as a bridle, is always very long, and trails on the grass when the
animal is not tied up. Many have large parchment stirrups in the shape
of shoes, and all carry a short whip in their hand, generally made of
the end of an elk's horn, and gaily ornamented. Their dogs are of
great help to the women in their heavy work; and they are loaded with
the baggage in the same manner as among the Manitaries.
In general, the Assiniboins have the customs as well as the
superstitious notions of the Sioux; for an account of which, Major
Long's "Expedition to St. Peter's River," may be consulted. They keep
on good terms with the Fur Company, for their own interest; they are,
however, horse-stealers, and not to be trusted; and when one meets
them alone in the prairie, there is great danger of being robbed.
Smoking is a favourite enjoyment with them, but, as they live at a
distance from the red pipe clay, the bowls of their pipes are
generally made of a blackish stone, or black clay, and are different
in shape from those of the Dacotas.[370] The pipe tube is ornamented
like those of the other tribes.[371] They generally smoke the herb
kinikenick, which we have before mentioned, or the leaves of the
bear-berry (_Arbutus uva ursi_), mixed with genuine tobacco. To clean
their pipes they make use of a painted stick, bound round with quills,
dyed of various colours, and with a neat tassel at the end of it,[372]
which is generally stuck in their hair.
[Illustration: Assiniboin pipes]
[Illustration: Pipe for warlike expeditions]
Many games are in use among these Indians; one of these is a round
game, in which one holds in his hand some small stones, of which the
others must guess the number, or pay a forfeit. This game is known
also to the Blackfeet. Another is that in which they play with four
small bones and four yellow nails, to which one of each sort is added;
they are laid upon a flat [pg. 197] wooden plate, which is struck, so
that they fly up and fall back into the plate, and you gain, or lose,
according as they lie together on one side, and the stake is often
very high.
Among the amusements and festivities are their eating feasts, when the
guests must eat everything set before them, if they will not give
offence. If one of the guests is not able to eat any more, he gives
his neighbour a small wooden stick, and the plate with food, the
meaning of which is that he will make him a present of a horse, on the
next day, if he will undertake to empty the plate; and the young men
do this in order to gain reputation. The Assiniboins are brave in
battle, and often very daring. They frequently steal into the villages
of the Mandans and Manitaries, shoot the inhabitants in or near their
huts, or steal their horses.
They believe in a creator, or lord of life (Unkan-Tange), and also in
an evil spirit (Unkan-Schidja), who torments people with various
disorders, against which their sorcerers or physicians (medicine men)
use the drum and the rattle to expel the evil spirit. Like the Crees
and several other tribes, they believe that thunder is produced by an
enormous bird, which some of them pretend to have seen. Some ascribe
lightning to the Great Spirit, and believe that he is angry when the
storm is violent. They believe that the dead go to a country in the
south, where the good and brave find women and buffaloes, while the
wicked or cowardly are confined to an island, where they are destitute
of all the pleasures of life. Those who, during their lives, have
conducted themselves bravely, are not to be deposited in trees when
they die, but their corpses are to be laid on the ground, it being
taken for granted that, in case of need, they will help themselves. Of
course they are generally devoured by the wolves, to secure them from
which, however, they are covered with wood and stones. Other corpses
are usually placed on trees, as among the Sioux, and sometimes on
scaffolds. They are tied up in buffalo hides, and three or four are
sometimes laid in one tree.
The language of the Assiniboins is, on the whole, the same as that of
the Sioux, altered by their long separation, and the influence of time
and circumstances. Like them, they have many gutturals and nasal
tones; in general, however, it is an harmonious language, which a
German pronounces without difficulty.
FOOTNOTES:
[354] For a view of this fort see Plate 61, in the accompanying atlas,
our volume xxv.--ED.
[355] This is the distance by water; on horseback, the journey has
been accomplished in ten days.--MAXIMILIAN.
[356] On this subject see "Astoria," and "Adventures of Captain
Bonneville," also "Ross Cox's Adventures on the Columbia River," p.
198. The dress of the white agents of the Company is made of cloth,
like our own; but the hunters often wear a leather dress, ornamented,
for the most part, in the Indian fashion, while the common _engages_
wear white blanket coats, such as I have described when speaking of
the inhabitants of Indiana, on the Wabash. They are mostly shod in
Indian mocassins, a dozen pair of which may be purchased from the
Indian women for one dollar, when they are not ornamented. The
hunters, here, maintain that these Indian shoes are better adapted to
the prairies than our European ones, as they do not become so
slippery. They are frequently soled with elk hide, or parchment. The
worst is, that they are easily penetrated by the prickles of the
cactus, and on this account we greatly preferred our European shoes.
At Fort Union, artisans of almost every description are to be met
with, such as smiths, masons, carpenters, joiners, coopers, tailors,
shoemakers, hatters, &c.--MAXIMILIAN.
[357] Some idea may be formed of the enormous quantity of beavers
killed every year, from the circumstance that the Hudson's Bay Company
sends to London alone 50,000, this animal being found as far as the
coasts of the Frozen Ocean.--MAXIMILIAN.
[358] At Rock River, which falls into the Mississippi, the Indians
caught, in 1825, about 130,000 musk-rats; in the following year, about
half the number; and, in about two years after, these animals were
scarcely to be met with. Previous to this time, an Indian caught, in
thirty days, as many as 1,600 of them. In South America, there is only
one species of wild animal, known to me, whose skins are collected in
large quantities. According to D'Orbigny, in the first six months of
1828, above 150,000 dozen Quiyaa were sold, in Corrientes, at from
fifteen to eighteen francs the dozen. The Indians hunt this animal,
which lives in the morasses, with dogs, and shoot it with
arrows.--MAXIMILIAN.
[359] See Plate 62, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[360] See Plate 15, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[361] Unfortunately, all these interesting specimens were destroyed in
the fire on board the steam-boat.--MAXIMILIAN.
_Comment by Ed._ Reference is made to the burning of the
"Assiniboine." See note 179, _ante_, p. 240.
[362] William Keating, _Narrative of an Expedition to the source of
St. Peter's River, performed in the year 1823, under command of
Stephen H. Long_ (Philadelphia, 1824).--ED.
[363] Sir John Franklin, _Narrative of a Journey to the shores of the
Polar Sea in the years 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822_ (London, 1823), p.
104.--ED.
[364] Fort des Prairies was at different periods applied to various
Hudson's Bay Company posts. Apparently this was the fort on the site
of Edmonton, for which see Franchere's _Narrative_, in our volume vi,
p. 364, note 177.--ED.
[365] The word _osayes_ is one of the many Canadian terms which are
mixed with the French of that country, and means bones.--MAXIMILIAN.
[366] Consult on the bands or gentes of the Assiniboin, J. O. Dorsey,
"Siouan Sociology," in Bureau of Ethnology _Report_, 1893-94, pp. 222,
223.--ED.
[367] The common Mackinaw guns, which the Fur Company obtain from
England at the rate of eight dollars a-piece, and which are sold to
the Indians for the value of thirty dollars.--MAXIMILIAN.
[368] _Op. cit._ in note 361, [_ante_] p. 112.--MAXIMILIAN.
[369] The reference is to Edwin James (editor) _Narrative of Captivity
and Adventures during thirty years' residence among the Indians in the
interior of North America by John Tanner_ (New York, 1830). John
Tanner, a boy of nine years, was captured in Kentucky about 1790. He
passed the larger part of his life in the northern woods. In 1818 he
sought his relatives in Kentucky while his brother Edward was
searching for him near Mackinac. For some years he was employed as
interpreter at Sault Ste. Marie, but having become an Indian in habit
he shot (1836) and killed James L. Schoolcraft and fled to the
wilderness where he died about 1847 (but see _Minnesota Historical
Collections_, vi, p. 114). His _Narrative_ was much quoted by
contemporary writers.--ED.
[370] See p. 361, for illustration of Assiniboin pipes.--ED.
[371] The Indians on the Upper Missouri have another kind of tobacco
pipe, the bowl of which is in the same line as the tube, and which
they use only on their warlike expeditions. As the aperture of the
pipe is more inclined downwards than usual, the fire can never be
seen, so as to betray the smoker, who lies on the ground, and holds
the pipe on one side.--MAXIMILIAN.
_Comment by Ed._ See p. 361, for illustration of pipe for warlike
expeditions.
[372] See Plate 81, figure 11, in the accompanying atlas, our volume
xxv.--ED.
Important
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AUDUBON'S WESTERN
JOURNAL: 1849-1850
Being the MS. record of a trip from New York to
Texas, and an overland journey through Mexico
and Arizona to the gold-fields of California
BY
_JOHN W. AUDUBON_
With biographical memoir by his daughter
MARIA R. AUDUBON
_Edited by_
FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER
Professor of American History, University of Kansas
_With folded map, portrait, and original drawings_
John W. Audubon, son of the famous ornithologist, was a member of
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Besides being a fascinating story of adventure, the Journal throws
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PERSONAL NARRATIVE
OF
_Travels in Virginia, Maryland,
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky; and of a Residence in
the Illinois Territory: 1817-1818_
BY
ELIAS PYM FORDHAM
With facsimiles of the author's sketches and plans
Edited with Notes, Introduction, Index, etc., by
FREDERIC AUSTIN OGG, A.M.
_Author of "The Opening of the Mississippi"_
=AN UNPUBLISHED MS.=
This hitherto unpublished MS., which is a real literary and historical
find, was written in 1817-18 by a young Englishman of excellent
education who assisted Morris Birkbeck in establishing his Illinois
settlement. The author writes anonymously, but by a careful study of
various allusions in the _Narrative_ and from information furnished by
the family in possession of the MS., has been identified as Elias Pym
Fordham. Landing at Baltimore, he reached the West by way of
Philadelphia, Pittsburg, and the Ohio River to Cincinnati, describing
the people and the country as he went along.
=THE MIDDLE WEST IN 1817=
Fordham was an especially well-qualified observer of the Middle West
because of the numerous journeys he undertook, on land-hunting trips
for new emigrants, in the service of Mr. Birkbeck. These journeys led
him into Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky; and he never omits the
opportunity to make frank and pointed comment on society, manners, and
morals, as well as careful observations of the face of the country and
of industrial conditions. The style is quite unaffected and has much
natural charm and sprightliness; and the fact that he wrote
anonymously made him much more free in his comments on contemporary
society than would otherwise have been possible.
=LOCAL AND PIONEER HISTORY=
These journeys also gave him unexampled opportunities for contact with
the pioneers of Middle West, and his journal is consequently rich in
_personalia_ of early settlers, remarks on contemporary history and
politics, state of trade, agriculture, prices, and information on
local history not obtainable elsewhere. He also visited the larger
cities and gives very interesting accounts of Pittsburg and
Cincinnati, accompanied by original sketches and plans. In Kentucky he
had the opportunity to study slavery; and although at first prejudiced
against this institution he finally reached the conclusion that the
slave states offered better chances of successful settlement than the
free states.
=VALUE FOR READERS AND STUDENTS=
The publication of Fordham's _Narrative _with introduction, extensive
annotations, and index by professor Frederic A. Ogg, one of the best
authorities on the history of the Mississippi Valley, will make
accessible to historical students much new and important material,
besides giving the general reader a book of vital and absorbing
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"_AN AUTHORITY OF THE HIGHEST IMPORTANCE_"--Winsor
THE
PRESENT STATE
OF THE
EUROPEAN SETTLEMENTS
ON THE
MISSISIPPI;
WITH
A GEOGRAPHICAL DESCRIPTION OF THAT RIVER.
ILLUSTRATED BY
PLANS AND DRAUGHTS.
By Captain PHILIP PITTMAN.
LONDON.
Printed for J. NOURSE, Bookseller to His MAJESTY.
MDCCLXX
_Edited with Introduction, Notes, and Index, by_
FRANK HEYWOOD HODDER
PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
This exceedingly rare work was issued in London, in 1770, and has been
so much in demand by historical students and collectors of Americana
that even imperfect copies of the original are now almost impossible
to obtain at any price. Our text is from a perfect copy of the
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*Only two copies have been offered for sale during the past five
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PITTMAN'S MISSISSIPPI SETTLEMENTS
_A valuable source work_
Pittman's _Mississippi Settlements_ contains much valuable original
material for the study of the French and Spanish Settlements of old
Louisiana, West Florida, and the Illinois country. The author, Captain
Philip Pittman, was a British military engineer, and gives an accurate
general view of the Mississippi Settlements just after the English
came into possession of the eastern half of the valley by the Peace of
1763. His account, written from personal observation, is rich in
allusions to the political, social, and military readjustments
resulting from this change of possession. "A comprehensive account of
the Illinois country and its inhabitants, with sketches in detail of
the several French posts and villages situated therein, as personally
viewed by him in 1766-67.... It contains, in a compact form, much
useful and reliable information (nowhere else to be found) concerning
the Mississippi Valley and its people at that transition
period."--WALLACE: _Illinois and Louisiana under French Rule_.
_The earliest English account_
Dr. William F. Poole in Winsor's _Narrative and Critical History of
America_ says: "It is the earliest English account of those
settlements, and, as an authority in early western history, is of the
highest importance. He [Pittman] was a military engineer, and for five
years was employed in surveying the Mississippi River and exploring
the western country. The excellent plans which accompany the work,
artistically engraved on copper, add greatly to its value."
_Annotation by Professor Hodder_
An introduction, notes, and index have been supplied by Professor
Frank Heywood Hodder, who has made a special study of American
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The Historic Highways of America
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VI--Boone's Wilderness Road.
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IX--Waterways of Westward Expansion.
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XV--The Future of Road-Making in America.
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