CROSSING THE BITTER ROOTS
On the close of the council the Indians homeward-bound filled all the
trails leading out of the valley with their wild and picturesque
cavalcades,--the braves resplendent with scarlet blankets and leggings;
the squaws and pappooses decked with bright calico shirts and kerchiefs.
Lieutenant Gracie marched away to join Major Haller in an expedition
against the predatory Snakes. The secretaries and other treaty officers
toiled early and late making up the records and reports for Washington,
which, with letters and instructions for Olympia, were dispatched on the
14th by W.H. Pearson, the express rider.
It will be noted how carefully and fully the proceedings of all Governor
Stevens's councils were recorded; not merely a statement of what was
done, but a complete verbatim report of the deliberations, the speeches,
every word uttered by both whites and Indians in council, and many of
the talks out of council, was reduced to writing and made part of the
official record,--a record which now affords the most convincing
evidence of the wisdom, foresight, and benevolence of the treaties, as
well as the difficulties and dangers attending them, and presents a most
interesting and historically valuable picture of the characters,
dispositions, and feelings of the Indians.
General Palmer had been appointed one of the commissioners to treat with
the Blackfeet, Governor Stevens and Alfred Cumming, Superintendent of
Indian Affairs for Nebraska, being the others, but he declined the
arduous and dangerous duty, and, with the Oregon Indian officers,
started for home.
A.J. Bolon, the Yakima Indian agent, with a small party, was sent to old
Fort Walla Walla with a quantity of Indian goods intended for the
Spokanes, there to be stored for safe-keeping. He was instructed to
visit and inspect the Yakima reservation, thence proceed to the Dalles
and bring the Nez Perce Indian goods to Walla Walla, deposit them, and,
loading up with the Spokane goods, take them to Antoine Plante's ranch
on the Spokane River, in readiness for the council on the governor's
return from the Blackfoot country. Mr. Henry R. Crosby was dispatched to
Colville to notify the Indians, the Hudson Bay Company officers, and the
missionaries of the proposed council. Agent W.H. Tappan was sent with
Craig to Lapwai to organize a delegation of the Nez Perces to go to the
Blackfoot council, and was to accompany them himself. All the officers
were charged to examine the regions traversed by them, and report on the
topographical and agricultural features, etc. The governor had procured
from New York a supply of barometers and other instruments, and was
determined to continue and complete his railroad explorations, so
summarily arrested by Jefferson Davis, as far as possible on this
expedition, although it was one primarily on the Indian service. In his
final railroad report he gives a daily journal of this trip, and a
graphic description of the country passed over, together with an immense
amount of new information, the fruits of his own indefatigable personal
exertions and those of his subordinates, amplifying and triumphantly
vindicating his first report.
It was a beautiful, sunny June morning, the 16th, when the little train
drew out from the deserted council ground, and took its way in single
file across the level valley prairie, covered with luxuriant bunch
grass and vivid-hued flowers. A large, fine-looking Coeur d'Alene
Indian, named Joseph, led the way as guide; then rode the governor with
his son, Secretary Doty, Agent Lansdale, and Gustave Sohon the artist,
barometer-carrier, and observer; then came Packmaster Higgins, followed
by the train of eleven packers and two cooks, and forty-one sleek,
long-eared pack-mules, each bearing a burden of two hundred pounds, the
men interspersed with the mules to keep them moving on the trail; while
seventeen loose animals, in a disorderly bunch, driven by a couple of
herders, brought up the rear. It was a picked force, both men and
animals, and made up in efficiency for scanty numbers. The artist,
Gustave Sohon, a soldier of the 4th infantry, detailed for the trip, was
an intelligent German, a clever sketcher, and competent to take
instrumental observations. Higgins, ex-orderly sergeant of dragoons, a
tall, broad-shouldered, spare, sinewy man, a fine swordsman and
drill-master, a scientific boxer, was a man of unusual firmness,
intelligence, and good judgment, and quiet, gentlemanly manners, and
held the implicit respect, obedience, and goodwill of his subordinates.
He afterwards became the founder, banker, and first citizen of the
flourishing town of Missoula, at Hell Gate, in the Bitter Root valley.
A.H. Robie worked up from the ranks, married a daughter of Craig, and
settled at Boisé City, Idaho, where he achieved a highly prosperous and
respected career. Sidney Ford, a son of Judge Ford, already mentioned,
was a handsome, stalwart young Saxon in appearance, broad-shouldered,
sensible, capable, and kindly. The others were all men of experience on
the plains and mountains, brave and true; several had been members of
the exploring expedition; others had served the fur companies, or
voyageured and trapped on their own account. By all odds the most
skillful and picturesque of these mountain men, and having the most
varied and romantic history, was Delaware Jim, whose father was a
Delaware chief and his mother a white woman, and who had spent a
lifetime--for he was now past middle age--in hunting and traveling over
all parts of the country, from the Mississippi to the Pacific, meeting
with many thrilling adventures and hair-breadth escapes. He had a tall,
slender form, a keen eye, an intelligent face, and reserved manners. He
was reticent in speech, although he spoke English well; but when he was
induced to relate his varied experiences and adventures, his simple and
modest narrative impressed every auditor with its truth. Many of the men
were clad in buckskin moccasins, breeches, and fringed hunting-shirts;
others in rough, serviceable woolen garb, stout boots, and wide slouch
hats. All carried navy revolvers and keen bowie-knives, and many in
addition bore the long, heavy, small-bored Kentucky rifle, which they
fired with great deliberation and unerring skill.
One of the most remarkable men connected with the expedition was the
express rider, W.H. Pearson. A native of Philadelphia, of small but
well-knit frame, with muscles of steel, and spirit and endurance that no
exertion apparently could break down, waving, chestnut hair, a fair,
high forehead, a refined, intelligent, and pleasant face, the manners
and bearing of a gentleman,--such was Pearson. He was destined that year
to render services invaluable in character and incredible in extent. Of
him the governor remarks in his final report, p. 210:
"Hardy, bold, intelligent, and resolute, having a great diversity of
experience, which had made him acquainted with all the relations
between Indians and white men from the borders of Texas to the 49th
parallel, and which enabled him to know best how to move, whether
under the Southern tropics or the winter snows of the North, I
suppose there has scarcely ever been any man in the service of the
government who excelled Pearson as an expressman."
He was still young, about thirty-five, but, as a Texan ranger, a scout,
Indian fighter, and express rider, knew the frontiers from the Rio
Grande to the Columbia and Missouri like an open book.
The party thus starting on the protracted and perilous expedition was
composed of only twenty-two persons, as follows: Governor Isaac I.
Stevens; James Doty, secretary; R.H. Lansdale, Indian agent; Gustave
Sohon, artist; Hazard Stevens; C.P. Higgins, packmaster; Sidney S. Ford,
Jr., A.H. Robie, Joseph Lemere, Frank Genette, H. Palmer, William
Simpson, John Canning, Frank Hale, Louis Oson, Louis Fourcier, C.
Hughes, John Johnson, William S. De Parris, William Prudhomme, packers,
the last two cooks; Joseph, the C[oe]ur d'Alene guide; and Delaware Jim,
who deserves a place by himself.
The party followed the Nez Perce trail, and, after a short march of
eight miles, made camp on Dry Creek. Two messes were formed,--the
gentlemen of the party, with the guide Joseph, Delaware Jim, Ford,
Genette, and De Parris as cook, comprising the governor's mess, and the
remainder of the party Higgins's mess.
Continuing on the Nez Perce trail, the party in the next three days and
fifty-four miles traversed a beautiful rolling prairie country of
fertile soil, luxuriant bunch grass, and wild flowers, crossing the
Touchet and Tucañon rivers, and ascending the Pa-ta-ha branch of the
latter, and, descending the Al-pa-wha Creek, reached its confluence with
Snake River at Red Wolf's ground. Here was found a village of thirteen
lodges of Nez Perces, under the chiefs Red Wolf and Timothy, with a
fenced field of thirty acres, well watered by irrigation from the
Al-pa-wha, and containing a fine crop of corn and a promising orchard.
"I observed with great pleasure that men as well as women and children
were at work in this field, ploughing and taking care of their crops,"
observes the governor. After some bargaining, for the chiefs were keen
traders and exacted a stiff toll for the service, the party, with packs
and baggage, were ferried across the Snake, a notably swift and
dangerous river, by the Indians in their canoes, and went into camp,
while the animals crossed by swimming.
By appointment Lawyer met the governor here, and with the other two
chiefs took supper with him, the three devouring the lion's share of a
fine salmon, which Timothy had just sold at an exorbitant
price,--clearly the Nez Perces were fast learning the ways of
civilization,--and completed the arrangements for sending their
delegation to the Blackfoot council. Lawyer also gave much information
about his people and country.
Climbing out of the deep cañon of the river next morning by an easy
grade up a lateral creek, the party took a general N.N.E. course across
the high, rolling plains stretching away to the mountains, for five days
traversing a fine fertile and diversified country, clothed with waving
grass and bright flowers, well wooded with groves of pine, and
abundantly watered. They passed on the second day 600 Nez Perces
gathering the kamas root, and having with them 2000 horses, and crossed
the Palouse River, with its broad valley extending far eastward into the
heart of the mountains. Says the governor: "We have been astonished at
the luxuriance of the grass and the fertility of the soil. The whole
view presents to the eye a vast bed of flowers in all their varied
beauty." The governor continually remarks the fertility and agricultural
capabilities of the country traversed. It now forms the most productive
part of the wheat belt of eastern Washington, and is all settled up by a
prosperous farming community. The third day's camp was made at the
kamas prairie of the Coeur d'Alenes, where were found 29 lodges and
250 Indians of that tribe, gathering and drying kamas. This esculent is
about the size and shape of a large tulip bulb, and when dried and
smoked for use has a dark color and sweet taste, and was highly esteemed
by the Indians and mountain men. The governor had a talk with Stellam,
the head chief, and a number of other chiefs, and requested them to meet
him at the mission in order to learn about the treaty the Great Father
desired to make with them. They promised to attend. In the evening came
the Palouse chief, Slah-yot-see, with 30 braves, and complained that no
goods were given him at the recent council. The governor replied:--
"Slah-yot-see, you went away before the council was ended.
Koh-lat-toose remained and signed the treaty. He was recognized as
the head chief of the Palouses, and to him the goods were given to
be distributed among his tribe as he and the principal men should
determine. I have brought no goods to give you. Go to Koh-lat-toose.
He is the chief, and it is from him you must obtain your share of
the presents. Had you remained until the council terminated, you
would have had a voice in the distribution of the goods.
Kam-i-ah-kan, your head chief, signed the treaty, and said that he
should bring the Palouses into the Yakima country, where they
properly belonged."
The chief said but little in reply except acknowledging Kam-i-ah-kan as
his head chief. The Palouses had a bad name, and were regarded as
sullen, insolent, and disaffected.
The last day, putting the party in camp on the Coeur d'Alene River,
the governor with Doty and Sohon rode on nine miles farther to the
mission, where he was received with the utmost hospitality by good
Father Ravalli, and where he found Crosby, just arrived from Colville.
The mission was situated on a sightly eminence in the midst of a little
prairie on the right bank of the river. On this beautiful and commanding
site stood a well-proportioned church, solidly built of squared timbers
as smoothly hewn and closely fitted as though done by skillful white
artisans, yet all the work of the Indians, under the direction of the
priests. A long wooden building, plain but comfortable, afforded
quarters for the fathers and two or three lay brothers and the transient
guests. At the foot of the knoll, near the river, were the lodges of the
Indians, constituting their principal village.
At the camp of the party this evening an incident occurred of quite
unusual character,--a wrestling match between Indian and white. A large
number of the Coeur d'Alenes had come down with their canoes, and
assisted the party in crossing the rivers, and had taken the packs by
water a long distance, thus relieving the animals over a stretch of
muddy trail, and at night camped near the whites. After supper they came
over to camp, and, with much talk in Chinook and many signs, at length
conveyed the idea of a challenge at wrestling between an immense,
powerfully formed Indian, whom they brought forward as their champion,
and any "skookum man" of the whites. The latter were rather taken back.
None liked the looks of the big and muscular savage, but all agreed that
it would never do to decline the challenge, and back down before a
parcel of Indians. At last Sidney Ford stepped forward, declaring that
he would try a fall with him, if he broke his back in the effort. In the
struggle which ensued, it was soon apparent that the Indian was the
superior in weight and strength, and Ford had to put forth all his skill
and agility to prevent being forced to the ground. At last, while all
the spectators, both red and white, were breathlessly watching the
straining, panting wrestlers, the whites especially with great anxiety
and apprehension, Ford gave a sudden and mighty heave, the huge Indian's
bare legs and moccasined feet whirled in the air, and the next instant
he struck the ground with a heavy and sickening thud, and lay senseless
as the dead. Ford had thrown him completely over his shoulder by some
skillful wrestling stroke. The Indian soon recovered, and departed with
his companions, well satisfied that the white man was "hi-u skookum"
(mighty strong). This rencounter led to much discussion around the
camp-fire that evening as to the relative prowess of Indian and white.
All agreed that the latter was far superior, not only in courage and
physical strength, but even in endurance and woodland and savage arts
and skill.
The next day the party moved and encamped near the village, and on the
following morning the principal chiefs to the number of thirty assembled
in front of the governor's tent, and listened attentively as he
explained to them the benefits they would gain by learning to "follow
the white man's road," and referred to the treaties made with the other
tribes at the recent council, at which some of them were present, and
asked them to meet him in council with the Spokanes on his return.
Finally he invited them to send with him a delegation to the Blackfoot
council, and make peace with those fierce and feared marauders. The
chiefs received the talk favorably, but declined to send the delegation,
saying that only a few of their people went to buffalo, and besides they
were afraid to go to the council. The Blackfeet would kill them.
At noon, after this conference, the train set out in charge of Higgins,
while the governor, with Doty and Crosby, remained a few hours longer.
The oath of allegiance to the United States was administered by Crosby
to the fathers and lay brothers, who subscribed the naturalization
papers, and seemed much pleased with the idea of becoming American
citizens. Towards evening they bade the hospitable missionaries
farewell, and, riding rapidly eleven miles, found the train snugly
encamped in a large prairie with fine grass, where the governor
encamped, October 12, 1853. The next two days the party were kept in
camp by a pelting summer rain.
Friday, June 29, on a cool and delightful morning after the storm, the
march was continued up the Coeur d'Alene River, retracing the
governor's route of 1853 across the Bitter Root Mountains; the summit
was passed on July 1, and, descending the St. Regis de Borgia, crossing
and recrossing the stream no less than thirty-five times, the Bitter
Root River was reached on the 3d, eighty-six miles distant from the
mission. The Father Superior of the Catholic missions, with two
companions returning from an inspection of the Pend Oreille Mission, was
met the first day, and on the summit a Coeur d'Alene Indian, whom the
governor had previously sent to the Bitter Root valley[7] with
dispatches to Mr. Adams, special agent for the Flatheads, in regard to
holding a council with them, brought the gratifying intelligence that
the Indians were all ready to assemble, all full of the Blackfoot
council, and that everything was quiet in the Indian country. The
governor took great pains in examining the route and the topography of
the country, and in determining the altitude by the barometer.
The Fourth of July was spent in crossing the Bitter Root, which was at
this point one hundred and fifty yards wide, with a swift, strong
current, and fordable only at the lowest stage of water in fall and
winter. It was now swollen from recent rains and melting snows in the
mountains. All hands set to work felling trees and building rafts, with
which to effect a crossing. While thus laboriously engaged, a large
band of Flathead Indians, who were encamped here, took down their
lodges, and ferried themselves over the swift and broad river, with all
their women, children, horses, dogs, lodges, and effects, in less than
an hour's time, and in a simple and ingenious manner, which put the
whites quite to the blush. The buffalo-skin lodge was spread out on a
smooth, flat place at the water's edge, all the blankets, robes,
clothing, bundles of provisions, saddles, packs, everything in short in
the way of goods and chattels were piled in a broad, circular pile upon
it, and the ends and edges of the skin were stretched up and tied
together on top, as one would tie up a bundle of clothes in a
handkerchief. This being completed, a brave rode his horse into the
river until almost swimming, holding by his teeth the end of a line; the
bundle was then pushed and lifted into the river; the squaws climbed on
top of it with the children and babies around them, one of them took and
held the other end of the line, and the brave started his pony swimming
across the stream, holding by the mane or tail with one hand, and
swimming with the other, and soon reached the opposite bank in safety.
It was a curious and exciting spectacle to see ten or twelve of these
bundles, the size of large haycocks, surmounted by groups of squaws and
pappooses, rapidly floating down the stream, while being slowly towed
across, nothing visible of the ponies and braves except their heads,
while the loud, labored breathing of the swimming horses and the shouts
and splashings of the Indians echoed across the water.
The Flatheads were accustomed to train and exercise their horses in
swimming, and were very skillful in crossing streams in this manner. The
buffalo-skin lodges were impervious to water for only a short time, and
would become leaky and useless by a prolonged soaking.
The party built three large rafts, loaded all the goods upon them, and
poled them across the river with long poles. The animals were compelled
to swim. The last, bearing the governor, was the largest and least
manageable, and came near escaping down the river on a voyage of its own
choosing. It was carried farther down than the others, and on nearing
the other bank got into a swifter current, where the poles were quite
useless, and was swept along at break-neck speed, flying past the rocks
and trees of the bank only forty feet away. At this juncture Higgins
seized the end of a pack rope and plunged headfirst into the raging
current, gained the shore in a few powerful strokes, raced along it at
top speed to keep the rope from being jerked out of his hands by the
flying raft until he came to a tree, threw a turn of the rope around it,
and checked the raft, which then swung inshore under the pressure of the
current. In these few minutes the unwieldy craft was carried down two
miles. But everything was gotten together and a comfortable camp pitched
before night. The tired men smoked their pipes around the camp-fire
after supper and recounted the adventures of the day, with great
satisfaction that the river was behind them.
After a late start the next morning the party moved eighteen miles up
the right bank of the beautiful river, traversing tracts of open woods
and prairies, alternating in pleasing variety with the dark, rugged
range just surmounted, frowning on the right. Large schools of salmon or
trout were seen in the clear, pellucid water, motionless over the
spawning-beds, fairly covering and hiding the river's bed, in such
numbers were they. The next day's march was thirty-seven miles. On the
7th, soon after leaving camp, they were met and received by three
hundred chiefs and braves of the Flathead, Pend Oreille, and Koo-te-nay
tribes, in the most cordial manner, with a salute of musketry, and
escorted to their camp near Hell Gate River. After spending some hours
with them, learning their condition, and establishing pleasant relations
between them and his own party, the governor moved to the main river, a
mile distant, and established his camp and council ground.
In the afternoon the three head chiefs, Victor of the Flatheads,
Alexander of the Pend Oreilles, and Michelle of the Koo-te-nays,
accompanied by a number of other chiefs, visited Governor Stevens, and
after the pipe had passed around,--the indispensable introduction to
every Indian conference,--the latter spoke to them in his usual vein,
proposing a treaty, referring to the great council just held with so
many Indians in the Walla Walla valley, and appointing the next Monday
for opening the council with them. He also spoke of his efforts to make
peace with the Blackfeet, and urged them to send a delegation to the
proposed council with these, their inveterate and bloody foes. This was
a sore subject with the Flatheads, for the Blackfeet had but faithlessly
kept their promises of amity and good conduct towards their neighbors.
Many of their young braves, despite the efforts of the chiefs and elders
to restrain them, had continued their predatory raids, saying, "Let us
steal all the horses we can before the great white chief returns and
makes peace with all the tribes, and stops horse-stealing forever," and
had inflicted severe losses upon the Flatheads since the governor passed
through their country nearly two years before, notwithstanding, and that
was what made it all the harder to bear; the Flatheads had scrupulously
heeded the governor's admonitions, and refrained from retaliation. On
one occasion, when some young Pend Oreilles ran off a number of
Blackfoot horses, the chiefs sent them back, at the risk of the lives of
the party returning them. When the governor finished, Victor said:--
"The Blackfeet have troubled us very much. I am going to tell what
has happened since you were here. Twelve men have been killed when
out hunting, not on war-parties. I fear the whites and keep quiet. I
cannot tell how many horses have been stolen since. Now I listen,
and hear what you wish me to do. Were it not for you, I would have
had my revenge ere this. They have stolen horses seven times this
spring."
The chiefs then returned to their camp, promising to attend the council
the following Monday.
The Flatheads or Salish, including the Pend Oreilles and Koo-te-nays,
were among those who had been driven westward by the Blackfeet, and now
occupied the pleasant valleys of the mountains. They were noted for
their intelligence, honesty, and bravery, and although of medium stature
and inferior in physique to the brawny Blackfeet, never hesitated to
attack them if the odds were not greater than five to one. Having been
supplied by the early fur traders with firearms, which enabled them to
make a stand against their outnumbering foe, they had always been the
firm friends of the whites, and, like the Nez Perces, often hunted with
the mountain men, and entertained them in their lodges. A number of
Iroquois hunters and half-breeds had joined and intermarried with them.
The Bitter Root valley was the seat of the Flatheads proper. The Pend
Oreilles lived lower down the river, or northward, in two bands, the
upper Pend Oreilles on the Horse Plains and Jocko prairies, and the
lower Pend Oreilles on Clark's Fork, below the lake of their name, and
were canoe Indians, owning few horses. The Koo-te-nays lived about the
Flathead River and Lake. All these, except the lower Pend Oreilles, went
to buffalo, and their hunting-trips were spiced with the constant peril
and excitement of frequent skirmishes with their hereditary enemies. The
Jesuits, in 1843, established a mission among the lower Pend Oreilles,
but in 1854 moved to the Flathead River, near the mouth of the Jocko.
They also started a mission among the Flatheads in the Bitter Root
valley, forty miles above Hell Gate, where they founded the beautiful
village of St. Mary, amid charming scenery; but the incessant raids of
the Blackfeet were slowly but surely "wiping out" these brave and
interesting Indians, and the mission was abandoned in 1850 as too much
exposed. The Owen brothers then started a trading-post at this point,
which they named Fort Owen; and fourteen miles above it Lieutenant
Mullan built his winter camp in 1853, known as Cantonment Stevens, which
has been succeeded by the town of Stevensville. The term "Flathead" was
a misnomer, as none of them practiced the custom of flattening
the head.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Now known as the Missoula Valley and River.