to me on the road? As soon as he was informed, he sprang up, tore his
hair, and seized a gun to shoot the poor culprit. I interposed between
them, and convinced him, that Targuarcha had not been really to blame
in any thing but his haste, and that if I had really been the thief, he
would have done right to kill me, and get back his horse, and that not
even my father would have thought the worse of him, but that we should
both now like him better, as well as his people, for what had happened.
On the 15th, my father proposed to give me a sum of money, with which
to go into the United States to purchase goods for the mines. The
laborers much preferred goods, at the customary rate, to money, and
the profit at that rate was at least 200 per cent on the cost. I was
reluctant to do this, for my thoughts still detained me in that
country. It was then concluded to {130} send the before mentioned
Spanish clerk on the commission, with sufficient money to pay for the
goods, consigned to merchants in Santa Fe, to be purchased there,
provided a sufficient quantity had recently arrived from the United
States to furnish an assortment, and if not, he was recommended to
merchants in St. Louis, to make the purchases there.
On the 18th, he started under these orders, under the additional one,
that on his arriving at Santa Fe, and learning the state of things
there, he should immediately write to the mines to that effect. In
the customary order of things, this letter was to be expected in one
month from the day he left the mines. After he was departed, he left
none behind to doubt his truth and honor, nor was there the least
suspicion of him, until the time had elapsed without a letter. A dim
surmise began then to grow up, that he had run off with the money. We
were still anxiously waiting for intelligence. During this interval I
had occupied the place of clerk in his stead. It was now insisted that
I should go in search of the villain, who had obtained a good start
of a month ahead of us, and 30,000 dollars value in gold bullion to
expedite his journey. On the 20th, I started in the search, which I
confess seemed hopeless, for he was a man of infinite ingenuity, who
could enact Spaniard, which he really was, or Russian, Frenchman or
Englishman, as he spoke the languages of these people with fluency.
Still I pushed on with full purpose to make diligent and unsparing
search.
On the 30th, I arrived at Santa Fe. I made the most anxious and careful
enquiry for him, and gave the most accurate descriptions of him
there. But no one had seen or heard of such a person. I sorrowfully
retraced my steps down the Rio del Norte, now without a doubt of his
treachery, and bitterly reflecting on myself for my heedless regard of
my father's request. Had I done it, we had both secured an affluence.
Now I clearly foresaw poverty and misfortune opening before us in the
future. For myself I felt little, as I was young and the world before
me; and I felt secure about taking care of myself. {131} My grief
was for my father and his companions, who had toiled night and day
with unwearied assiduity, to accumulate something for their dear and
helpless families, whom they had left in Missouri; and for the love
of whom they had ventured into this rough and unsettled country, full
of thieves and murderers. My father in particular, had left a large
and motherless family, at a time of life to be wholly unable to take
care of themselves, and altogether dependent on him for subsistence.
There is no misery like self condemnation; and I suffered it in all its
bitterness. The reflections that followed upon learning the full extent
of the disaster, which I could but charge in some sense upon myself,
came, as such reflections generally come, too late.
I arrived at the Passo del Norte on the 10th of May, and repeated the
same descriptions and enquiries to no purpose.--Not a trace remained
of him here; and I almost concluded to abandon the search in despair.
I could imagine but one more chance. The owner of the mines lived at
Chihuahua. As a forlorn hope I concluded to proceed to that city, and
inform the governor of our misfortune. So I pushed to Chihuahua, where
I arrived on the 23d.
I found the owner of the mines in too much anxiety and grief of mind
on his own account, to be cool enough to listen [to] the concerns of
others. The President of the Mexican republic had issued orders, that
all Spaniards born in old Spain, should be expelled from the Mexican
country, giving them but a month's notice, in which to settle their
affairs and dispose of their property. He being one of that class,
had enough to think of on his own account. However, when he heard of
our misfortune, he appeared to be concerned. He then touched upon the
critical state of his own affairs. Among other things, he said he had
all along hoped that my father was able and disposed to purchase those
mines. He had, therefore, a motive personal to himself, to make him
regret my father's loss and inability to make the purchase. He was now
obliged to sell them at any sacrifice, and had but a very short time in
which to settle his {132} affairs, and leave the country. He requested
me to be ready to start the next day in company with him to the mines.
Early on the 24th, we started with relays of horses and mules. As we
travelled very rapidly we arrived at the mines on the 30th, where I
found my father and his companions in the utmost anxiety to learn
something what had happened to me. When they discovered the owner of
the mines, whose name was Don Francisco Pablo de Lagera, they came
forth in a body with countenances full of joy. That joy was changed to
sadness, as soon as Don Pablo informed them the object of his visit.
They perceived in a moment, that nothing now remained for them but to
settle their affairs, and search for other situations in the country,
or return to the United States in a worse condition than when they left
it. My father determined at once not to think of this. Nothing seemed
so feasible, and conformable to his pursuits, as a trapping expedition.
With the pittance that remained to him, after all demands against the
firm were discharged, and the residue according to the articles of
agreement divided, he purchased trapping equipments for four persons,
himself included. The other three he intended to hire to trap for him.
On the 1st of July, all these matters had been arranged, and my father
and myself started for Santa Fe, with a view to join the first company
that should start on a trapping expedition from that place. On the
10th, we arrived at Santa Fe, where we remained until the 22d, when a
company of thirty men were about to commence an expedition of that
sort down Red river. My father joined this company, and in the name of
the companions made application for license of safe transit through the
province of Chihuahua, and Sonora, through which runs the Red river,
on which we meant to trap. The governor gave us a passport in the
following terms:
{133} Custom House of the frontier town of Santa Fe, in the territory
of New Mexico.
_Custom House Certificate._
Allow Sylvester Pattie, to pursue his journey with certain
beasts, merchandize and money, in the direction of Chihuahua
and Sonora; to enter in beasts and money an amount
equal to this invoice, in whatsoever place he shall appear,
according to the rules of the Custom House, on his passage;
and finally let him return this permit to the government of
this city in days. Do this under the established
penalties.
Given at Santa Fe, in New Mexico.
RAMON ATTREN
_September 22d_, 1827.
On the 23d, my father was chosen captain or commander of the company,
and we started on our expedition. We retraced our steps down the del
Norte, and by the mines to the river Helay, on which we arrived on the
6th of October, and began to descend it, setting our traps as we went,
near our camp, whenever we saw signs of beavers. But our stay on this
stream was short, for it had been trapped so often, that there were but
few beavers remaining, and those few were exceedingly shy. We therefore
pushed on to some place where they might be more abundant, and less
shy. We left this river on the 12th, and on the 15th reached Beaver
river. Here we found them in considerable numbers, and we concluded to
proceed in a south course, and trap the river in its downward course.
But to prevent the disagreement and insubordination which are apt to
spring up in these associations, my father drew articles of agreement,
purporting that we should trap in partnership, and that the first one
who should show an open purpose to separate from the company, or desert
it, should be shot dead; and that if any one should disobey orders, he
should be tried by a jury of our number, and if found guilty should
be fined fifty dollars, to be paid in fur. To this instrument we all
agreed, and signed our names.
{134} The necessity of some such compact had been abundantly discovered
in the course of our experience. Men bound only by their own will
and sense of right, to the duties of such a sort of partnership are
certain to grow restless, and to form smaller clans, disposed to
dislike and separate from each other, in parties of one by one to three
by three. They thus expose themselves to be cut up in detail by the
savages, who comprehend all their movements, and are ever watchful
for an opportunity to show their hatred of the whites to be fixed and
inextinguishable. The following are some of the more common causes
of separation: Men of incompatible tempers and habits are brought
together; and such expeditions call out innumerable occasions to try
this disagreement of character. Men, hungry, naked, fatigued, and in
constant jeopardy, are apt to be ill-tempered, especially when they
arrive at camp, and instead of being allowed to throw themselves on
the ground, and sleep, have hard duties of cooking, and keeping guard,
and making breast-works assigned them. But the grand difficulty is the
following. In a considerable company, half its numbers can catch as
many beavers as all. But the half that keep guard, and cook, perform
duties as necessary and important to the whole concern, as the others.
It always happens too, in these expeditions, that there are some
infinitely more dextrous and skilful in trapping and hunting than
others. These capabilities are soon brought to light. The expert know
each other, and feel a certain superiority over the inexpert. They know
that three or four such, by themselves, will take as many beavers as a
promiscuous company of thirty, and in fact, all that a stream affords.
A perception of their own comparative importance, a keen sense of self
interest, which sharpens in the desert, the mere love of roving in the
wild license of the forest, and a capacity to become hardened by these
scenes to a perfect callousness to all fear and sense of danger, until
it actually comes; such passions are sufficient to thicken causes of
separation among such companions in the events of every day.
Sad experience has made me acquainted with all these causes {135} of
disunion and dissolution of such companies. I have learned them by
wounds and sufferings, by toil and danger of every sort, by wandering
about in the wild and desolate mountains, alone and half starved,
merely because two or three bad men had divided our company, strong and
sufficient to themselves in union, but miserable, and exposed to almost
certain ruin in separation. Made painfully acquainted with all these
facts by experience, my father adopted this expedient in the hope that
it would be something like a remedy for them.
But notwithstanding this, and the prudence and energy of my father's
character, disunion soon began to spring up in our small party. Almost
on the outset of our expedition, we began to suffer greatly for want
of provisions. We were first compelled to kill and eat our dogs, and
then six of our horses. This to me was the most cruel task of all. To
think of waiting for the night to kill and eat the poor horse that
had borne us over deserts and mountains, as hungry as ourselves, and
strongly and faithfully attached to us, was no easy task to the heart
of a Kentucky hunter. One evening, after a hard day's travel, my
saddle horse was selected by lot to be killed. The poor animal stood
saddled and bridled before us, and it fell to my lot to kill it. I
loved this horse, and he seemed to have an equal attachment for me.
He was remarkably kind to travel, and easy to ride, and spirited too.
When he stood tied in camp among the rest, if I came any where near
him, he would fall neighing for me. When I held up the bridle towards
him, I could see consent and good will in his eye. As I raised my gun
to my face, all these recollections rushed to my thoughts. My pulses
throbbed, and my eyes grew dim. The animal was gazing at me, with a
look of steady kindness, in the face. My head whirled, and was dizzy,
and my gun fell. After a moment for recovery, I offered a beaver skin
to any one who would shoot him down. One was soon found at this price,
and my horse fell! It so happened that this was the last horse we
killed. Well was it for us that we had these surplus horses. Had it
been otherwise, we should all have perished with hunger.
[Illustration: Shooting Mr. Pattie's Horse]
{136} It was now the 15th of November, and while the horse flesh
lasted, we built a canoe, so that we could trap on both sides of the
river; for it is here too broad and deep to be fordable on horseback.
One of our number had already been drowned, man and horse, in
attempting to swim the river. A canoe is a great advantage, where the
beavers are wild; as the trapper can thus set his traps along the shore
without leaving his scent upon the ground about it.
On the 17th, our canoe was finished, and another person and myself took
some traps in it, and floated down the river by water, while the rest
of the company followed along the banks by land. In this way, what with
the additional supply which the canoe enabled our traps to furnish, and
a chance deer or wolf that Providence sometimes threw in our way, with
caution and economy we were tolerably supplied with provisions; and the
company travelled on with a good degree of union and prosperity, until
the 26th.
Here the greater part of the company expressed disinclination to
following our contemplated route any longer. That is, they conceived
the route to the mouth of the Helay, and up Red river of California too
long and tedious, and too much exposed to numerous and hostile Indians.
They, therefore, determined to quit the Helay, and strike over to Red
river by a direct route across the country. My father reminded them
of their article. They assured him they did not consider themselves
bound by it, and that they were a majority, against which nothing
could be said. My father and myself still persevered in following the
original plan. Two of the men had been hired on my father's account.
He told them he was ready to pay them up to that time, and dismiss
them, to go where they chose. They observed, that now that the company
had commenced separating, they believed that in a short time, there
would be no stronger party together than ours; that they had as good a
disposition to risk their lives with us, as with any division of our
number, and that they would stay by us to the {137} death. After this
speech four others of the company volunteered to remain with us, and we
took them in as partners.
On the 27th, we divided the hunt, and all expressing the same regret
at the separation, and heartily wishing each other all manner of
prosperity, we shook hands and parted! We were now reduced to eight in
number. We made the most solemn pledges to stand by each other unto
death, and adopted the severest caution, of which we had been too
faithfully taught the necessity. We tied our horses every night, and
encamped close by them, to prevent their being stolen by the Indians.
Their foot-prints were thick and fresh in our course, and we could
see their smokes at no great distance north of us. We were well aware
that they were hostile, and watching their opportunity to pounce upon
us, and we kept ourselves ready for action, equally day and night.
We now took an ample abundance of beavers to supply us with meat, in
consequence of our reduced numbers. Our horses also fared well, for
we cut plenty of cotton-wood trees, the bark of which serves them
for food nearly as well as corn. We thus travelled on prosperously,
until we reached the junction of the Helay with Red river.--Here we
found the tribe of Umeas,[94] who had shown themselves very friendly
to the company in which I had formerly passed them, which strongly
inspired confidence in them at present. Some of them could speak the
Spanish language. We made many inquiries of them, our object being
to gain information of the distance of the Spanish settlements. We
asked them where they obtained the cloth they wore around their loins?
They answered, from the Christians on the coast of the California. We
asked if there were any Christians living on Red river? They promptly
answered, yes. This information afterwards proved a source of error and
misfortune to us, though our motive for inquiry at this time was mere
curiosity.
It was now the 1st of December; and at mid-day we began to see the
imprudence of spending the remainder of the day and the ensuing night
with such numbers of Indians, however friendly in appearance. We had
a tolerable fund of experience, in {138} regard to the trust we might
safely repose in the red skins; and knew that caution is the parent
of security. So we packed up, and separated from them. Their town was
on the opposite shore of Red river. At our encampment upwards of two
hundred of them swam over the river and visited us, all apparently
friendly. We allowed but a few of them to approach our camp at a time,
and they were obliged to lay aside their arms. In the midst of these
multitudes of fierce, naked, swarthy savages, eight of us seemed no
more than a little patch of snow on the side of one of the black
mountains. We were perfectly aware how critical was our position, and
determined to intermit no prudence or caution. To interpose as great
a distance as possible between them and us, we marched that evening
sixteen miles, and encamped on the banks of the river. The place of
encampment was a prairie, and we drove stakes fast in the earth, to
which we tied our horses in the midst of green grass, as high as a
man's head, and within ten feet of our own fire. Unhappily we had
arrived too late to make a pen for our horses, or a breast work for
ourselves. The sky was gloomy. Night and storm were settling upon
us, and it was too late to complete these important arrangements. In
a short time the storm poured upon us, and the night became so dark
that we could not see our hand before us. Apprehensive of an attempt
to steal our horses, we posted two sentinels, and the remaining six
lay down under our wet blankets, and the pelting of the sky, to such
sleep as we might get, still preserving a little fire. We were scarcely
asleep before we were aroused by the snorting of our horses and mules.
We all sprang to our arms, and extinguished our little fire. We could
not see a foot before us, and we groped about our camp feeling our way
among the horses and mules. We could discover nothing; so concluding
they might have been frightened by the approach of a bear or some other
wild animal, some of us commenced rekindling our fires, and the rest
went to sleep. But the Indians had crawled among our horses, and had
cut or untied the rope by which each one was {139} bound. The horses
were then all loose. They then instantly raised in concert, their
fiendish yell. As though heaven and earth were in concert against us,
the rain began to pour again, accompanied with howling gusts of wind,
and the fiercest gleams of lightning, and crashes of thunder. Terrified
alike by the thunder and the Indians, our horses all took to flight,
and the Indians repeating yell upon yell, were close at their heels. We
sallied out after them, and fired at the noises, though we could see
nothing. We pursued with the utmost of our speed to no purpose, for
they soon reached the open prairie, where we concluded they were joined
by other Indians on horseback, who pushed our horses still faster; and
soon the clattering of their heels and the yells of their accursed
pursuers began to fade, and become indistinct in our ears.
Our feelings and reflections as we returned to camp were of the
gloomiest kind. We were one thousand miles from the point whence
we started, and without a single beast to bear either our property
or ourselves. The rain had passed. We built us a large fire. As
we stood round it we discussed our deplorable condition, and our
future alternatives. Something was to be done. We all agreed to the
proposition of my father, which was, early in the morning to pursue
the trails of our beasts, and if we should overtake the thieves, to
retake the horses, or die in the attempt; and that, failing in that,
we should return, swim the river, attack their town, and kill as many
of the inhabitants as we could; for that it was better to die by these
Indians, after we had killed a good number of them, than to starve,
or be killed by Indians who had not injured us, and when we could not
defend ourselves.
Accordingly, early in the morning of the 2d, we started on the trail in
pursuit of the thieves. We soon arrived at a point where the Indians,
departing from the plain, had driven them up a chasm of the mountains.
Here they had stopped, and caught them, divided them, and each taken
a different route with his plundered horses. We saw in a moment that
it was impossible to follow them farther to any purpose. We abandoned
{140} the chase, and returned to our camp to execute the second part
of our plan. When we arrived there, we stopped for a leisure meal of
beaver meat. When we had bestowed ourselves to this dainty resort, a
Dutchman with us broke the gloomy silence of our eating, by observing
that we had better stuff ourselves to the utmost; for that it would
probably, be the last chance we should have at beaver meat. We all
acquiesced in this observation, which though made in jest, promised
to be a sober truth, by eating as heartily as possible. When we had
finished our meal, which looked so likely to be the last we should
enjoy together, we made rafts to which we tied our guns, and pushing
them onward before us, we thus swam the river. Having reached the
opposite shore, we shouldered our rifles, and steered for the town,
at which we arrived about two in the afternoon. We marched up to the
numerous assemblage of huts in a manner as reckless and undaunted as
though we had nothing to apprehend. In fact, when we arrived at it, we
found it to contain not a single living being, except one miserable,
blind, deaf, and decrepid old man, not unlike one that I described
in a hostile former visit to an Indian village. Our exasperation of
despair inclined us to kill even him. My father forbade. He apparently
heard nothing and cared for nothing, as he saw nothing. His head was
white with age, and his eyes appeared to have been gouged out. He may
have thought himself all the while in the midst of his own people. We
discovered a plenty of their kind of food, which consisted chiefly of
acorn mush. We then set fire to the village, burning every hut but
that which contained the old man. Being built of flags and grass, they
were not long in reducing to ashes. We then returned to our camp,
re-swimming the river, and reaching the camp before dark.
We could with no certainty divine the cause of their having evacuated
their town, though we attributed it to fear of us. The occurrences
of the preceding day strengthened us in this impression. While they
remained with us, one of our men happened to fire off his gun. As
though they never had heard {141} such a noise before, they all fell
prostrate on the earth, as though they had all been shot. When they
arose, they would all have taken to flight, had we not detained them
and quieted their fears.