CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOWSTONE.”
Before La Barge arrived in St. Louis the company had dispatched two
boats to the upper river--the _Yellowstone_ and the _Assiniboine_. The
voyage of 1833 is particularly noteworthy as the one on which Prince
Maximilian of Wied made his celebrated visit to the upper Missouri--a
visit which has done more than any other one thing to preserve a true
picture of those early times. The _Yellowstone_ went only as far as
Fort Pierre, whence she returned immediately, and as soon as another
cargo could be shipped, started on a trip to Council Bluffs.
[Sidenote: CHOLERA ON THE “YELLOWSTONE.”]
Captain La Barge went back up the river on this second trip of the
_Yellowstone_ to return to his post. It proved to be a most trying and
pathetic voyage. The cholera, which was then epidemic throughout the
country, broke out with great virulence on the boat, and so many of
the crew died that Captain Bennett was forced to stop at the mouth of
the Kansas River until he could go back to St. Louis for a crew. His
pilot and most of his sub-officers were dead, and he was compelled to
leave the boat in care of young La Barge, who thus began his career
as a steamboat man on the Missouri. His several voyages had given him
considerable knowledge of the art of handling these boats, and he had
no misgivings in being left in charge, except the fear that the cholera
might take him off. It was a very trying moment. Captain Bennett, when
he started back to St. Louis, cried like a child. The terrible power of
the disease unstrung everyone’s nerves. Victims often died within two
hours after being attacked, and no one knew when his turn would come.
Scarcely had Captain Bennett left when a new difficulty arose. The
“graybacks,” as the scattered population of western Missouri were then
called, having learned that the _Yellowstone_ had cholera on board,
organized themselves into a _pro tempore_ State board of health and
ordered Captain La Barge to take the boat out of the State, or they
would burn her up. The engineer and firemen were dead, so Captain
La Barge fired up himself, and, acting as pilot, engineer, and all,
succeeded in getting the boat above the mouth of the Kansas and on
the west shore of the river, outside the jurisdiction of the State of
Missouri.
[Sidenote: A FRIEND IN NEED.]
The _Yellowstone_ had a quantity of goods on board consigned to Cyprian
Chouteau’s trading post, which was located some ten miles up the Kansas
River. Captain Bennett had directed La Barge to turn over these
goods to the consignees during his absence. Accordingly, at the first
opportunity, he set off alone on foot to find the trading post and tell
Mr. Chouteau to come and get his goods. When about a mile from the post
he was met by a man who had been stationed there to watch for anyone
coming from the Missouri. The news of the cholera was abroad and the
lonely post had quarantined itself against the civilized world. The man
would not permit La Barge to come nearer, and threatened to shoot him
if he persisted. La Barge agreed to stay where he was if the man would
return to the post and carry his message to Chouteau. This was done,
and Chouteau sent back word to store the goods on the bank and leave
them there. It was now too late to return to the boat that night after
a fatiguing day’s work, and La Barge would have had to go supperless
and coverless to sleep but for the kind offices of his old college
chum and former companion in misfortune, Edward Liguest Chouteau, who
happened to be at the post. Hearing of La Barge’s situation, he went
to find him. He reached his friend’s bivouac about midnight and found
him trying to pass the night in some comfort around a large bonfire. He
brought something to eat and a large buffalo robe to sleep on, and La
Barge got through the remainder of the night very well.
[Sidenote: DISTRESS SIGNAL UNANSWERED.]
While the _Yellowstone_ was lying above the mouth of the Kansas the
_Assiniboine_ passed down on her return trip.[8] La Barge signaled for
assistance, but Captain Pratt would not stop. “It was pretty hard,”
observed the captain, in narrating this affair. “I never refused
to answer a distress signal, even if the boat were engaged in the
strongest opposition; but our two boats were in the same trade, bound
to assist each other, and yet we were left there alone in the severest
straits, with no idea when we should be relieved.”
[Sidenote: BURIALS ALONG THE MISSOURI.]
When asked how these grave dangers, which were more or less his portion
through life, affected him, Captain La Barge replied that, if in
idleness and given time to think about them, they always depressed and
in a measure unnerved him; but he was generally actively engaged, and
the interest in his work and the responsibility resting upon him caused
him to forget the danger. Violence and death were a familiar feature
of the life in which he was engaged, and to some extent he became
hardened to them. Speaking of the great number of deaths along the
river, the Captain shook his head reflectively as he told of the many
burials that it had been his lot to make. “There is a spot just below
Kansas City--I could point it out now,” he said, “where I buried eight
cholera victims in one grave. I could easily name a hundred localities
along the river where I have buried passengers or crew. I generally
sought some elevated ground for this purpose, which the ravages of the
river could not reach. The graves were marked, if at all, with wooden
head-boards, for there was generally no other material at hand, and
if there were, time did not permit the use of it. It will never be
known, and cannot now even be conjectured, how many of these forgotten
graves there are, but enough to make the shores of the Missouri River
one continuous cemetery from its source to its mouth. Were every white
man’s grave along that stream distinctly marked, the voyageur would
never be out of sight of these pathetic reminders of futile contests
with the universal enemy. But, alas! no mark remains upon any but a
very few, and the names of those who are buried in them are forever
wrapped in oblivion.”
After a long delay Captain Bennett returned with a crew on the
steamboat _Otto_, Captain James Hill, an opposition boat in the service
of Sublette & Campbell. This was the year when Sublette & Campbell made
such a strong show of competition with the American Fur Company.[9]
Sublette himself was on board the _Otto_ at the time. As soon as
Captain Bennett resumed charge of the _Yellowstone_ the boat proceeded
on her way and reached Cabanné’s post in August.
[Sidenote: IN THE PAWNEE CORNFIELDS.]
Cabanné having been expelled from the Indian country, the post had a
new bourgeois, Joshua Pilcher, a man of long experience in the Indian
country, and former president of the Missouri Fur Company. Late in the
month of August Pilcher sent La Barge with a small outfit of goods
to the Pawnee villages to buy some buffalo meat. La Barge packed his
goods on five horses and set out. He found the Pawnees still absent,
and as war parties of their enemies might be lurking around the vacant
villages, he thought it prudent to await at a distance the return of
the Indians. In the meanwhile his party ran out of provisions, and
their situation was becoming serious when La Barge decided to go and
get corn enough from the fields to last them until the Pawnees should
return. He went with another man, and they soon loaded themselves
with ears and returned to camp. This process continued successfully
for several days, great pains being taken to levy tribute uniformly
throughout the cornfield, so that the Indians might not detect the
loss. They were not skillful enough in this, however, and finally had
to pay for the corn.
[Sidenote: STANDING OFF THE SIOUX.]
On the fourth day of their foraging expeditions they were discovered
by a small war party of Sioux about a mile off. They took to flight,
and tried to infuse some life into their mules, but the stolid animals
would not hurry. This was particularly the case with La Barge’s mule,
which could scarcely be driven into a slow gallop. La Barge saw that
at the rate they were going they would surely be cut off, and he told
his companion, who had the best mule, to hurry to camp for help, and
he would stand the Indians off with his rifle. The companion did not
like to do this, but La Barge insisted. He felt comparatively safe
for a short time, for he was in a perfectly open plain, where it was
impossible for the Indians to approach under cover. Whenever they
drew too near he would level his rifle at them and they would venture
no further. In the meanwhile he kept moving on toward camp, and soon
had the pleasure of seeing his companion riding up at full speed with
re-enforcements.
[Sidenote: COMPLIMENTARY OFFER.]
When the Pawnees returned La Barge bought a good supply of meat and
took it to Cabanné’s. There he found that veteran mountaineer, Etienne
Provost, who at that time probably knew the western country better than
any other living man. He had just come in for the purpose of guiding
Fontenelle and Drips, partners in the American Fur Company mountain
service, and owners of the trading post at Bellevue, to the Bayou
Salade (South Park, Colorado), where they intended to spend the winter
trapping beaver. Provost heard of La Barge’s adventure and complimented
him very warmly upon it. He was now an old man, but he came up to La
Barge, took him by both hands, and said to him: “I am glad you did not
show the white feather to those rascals. You are the kind of man for
this country. I am going to ask Major Pilcher to let you go with me.
I have need of such men.” La Barge was very anxious to go, filled as
he was then with the thirst of youth for adventure. But Major Pilcher
needed his services and would not consent. Pilcher was very kind to La
Barge, even permitting him to eat at his table--a great concession,
for none of the employees were allowed to eat with the bourgeois of
the post unless it was so stipulated in their contract of service.
Pilcher took a special pride in his young engagé, and tried to put
opportunities for distinction in his way.