MARCH TO FORT BENTON.--MARSHALING THE TRIBES
Before the close of the council, agents Tappan and Craig arrived with
the proposed delegation of Nez Perces under Looking Glass, Spotted
Eagle, Eagle-from-the-Light, and other chiefs. It was agreed that they
and the Flatheads and Pend Oreilles, under their chiefs Victor and
Alexander, and accompanied by agent Thomas Adams and interpreter Ben
Kiser, should cross the mountains to the buffalo country, and hunt on
the plains south of the Missouri, until the time came for holding the
great peace council at Fort Benton, of which they would be notified.
Their agents were instructed to keep the governor informed of their
whereabouts by frequent expresses, and to guard against collisions with
the Blackfoot war-parties, and also to communicate with the Crow Indians
and induce them to attend the council. Dr. Lansdale, agent for the
Flathead nation, remained, and during the summer made extensive
examinations of the reservation on the Flathead River and the
surrounding country.
These arrangements completed, on Wednesday, July 18, the second day
after the close of the council, the governor dispatched Pearson, who had
just returned to the party after his rapid trip to Olympia from the
Walla Walla council, with full reports of the council just held, and
letters to the Indian and territorial officers in Olympia, and resumed
the march to Fort Benton, crossing for six miles the broad level valley
here known as the Hell Gate Ronde, and passing the deep, dark portal of
that name,[9] and, six miles beyond it, encamped on the Hell Gate
River. During the next five days and one hundred miles the party
traversed the broad plateau of the great mountain chain over a beautiful
rolling country of wide grassy valleys and gently rolling prairies,
interspersed with low wooded hills and spurs, and well watered by clear,
cold, rapid mountain streams. It was hard to realize that this beautiful
and diversified prairie country was the top of the Rocky Mountains, the
backbone of the continent. At the second day's camp the Indian hunter
and guide, a Pend Oreille furnished by Alexander, brought in a fine
string of mountain trout, and, not content with this, started out again,
and soon returned with an elk, and after this the messes were rarely out
of game,--elk, deer, antelope, and mountain trout. The trail followed up
the Hell Gate and its chief tributary, the Big Blackfoot, the route of
1853, and crossed the divide by Lewis and Clark's Pass. From the summit
the governor obtained a magnificent and beautiful view of the country
about an hour before sunset, the main chain stretching far to the north,
and the broad plains, broken by many streams and coulees, extending
eastward as far as the eye could reach, like an illimitable sea.
He spent the whole day, with Doty and Sohon, examining the approaches to
the summit pass, and those to Cadotte's Pass, ten miles farther south,
and determining altitudes and grades, and reached camp long after dark,
well fatigued with the day's work. Throughout the expedition the
governor was constantly examining the topographical features of the
country. He would frequently ride ahead of the train, and, sitting on a
log or on the ground, would write up his notes or journal until it came
up. He was accustomed to start the train rather late in the morning,
about eight o'clock, move at a steady, brisk walk, without stopping for
noon rest or meal, and make camp early in the afternoon, and by this
management plenty of time was afforded the animals to feed mornings and
evenings. Twenty miles was the average day's journey, but thirty or
forty miles were made with ease whenever expedient, as often happened.
No better equipped or manned train ever traversed the plains and
mountains.
It always moved in fine order, without delays, confusion, or friction. A
worn-down or sore-backed mule or horse was a rarity. At the first
symptom of need of rest, a fresh animal from the loose herd relieved the
distressed one. The packers worked in couples, each two packing and
caring for ten pack-mules. The riding animals were picked Indian horses.
The mules were of large American stock, mostly those of the exploration
of 1853. Thorough discipline and the best feeling prevailed among the
party. There was scarcely a quarrel during the whole nine months the
expedition lasted. This judicious care of the animals was characteristic
of the governor, and it is noticeable that on his arduous expeditions,
though hard-worked and only grass-fed, they actually improved in
condition,--a unique experience on the plains.
Leaving behind the prairies, groves, and sparkling, rippling streams of
the mountain plateau, the party entered upon the vast rolling plains,
gray and arid, and, traveling over them one hundred and thirty miles,
camping one night on the Dearborn River, one on the Sun, and three on
the Teton, reached the vicinity of Fort Benton on the fifth day, and
went into camp on the last-named river four miles from the fort. The
governor, riding ahead, reached it a day sooner, on the 26th, and was
disappointed in not finding or hearing from his co-commissioner,
Superintendent Alfred Cumming. During this march the party were rarely
out of sight of game. Large herds of graceful, fleet antelopes would
come scouring across the plains, and circle around the slowly moving
train, now abruptly halting to gaze with erect heads and distended eyes
at the strange procession, and now dashing on again in full career, and
presently, their curiosity satisfied, turning away and scampering out of
sight. Deer and elk were constantly seen by the river banks and under
the cottonwood groves. Buffalo trails crossed the country in every
direction, and their skulls and bones were frequent. Thus far the party
followed well-marked trails, but on entering the plains the guide
directed his course by some distant butte or landmark, or by the sun,
for there was no trail leading in a given course, and the buffalo trails
lacing the plains in every direction were very misleading. The plains
were covered with the short, fine, curly buffalo grass, very different
from the luxuriant, waving bunch grass of the Columbia, but equally
nutritious.
Learning of Mr. Cumming's approach, the governor, accompanied by Doty
and Sohon and a small party, made a three days' trip to Milk River,
August 11-13, a distance of eighty miles, where the commissioners met
and formally organized the commission, appointing Mr. Doty secretary,
and Mr. H. Kennedy, who came with Mr. Cumming, assistant secretary, and
returned together to Fort Benton. The governor was seriously concerned
to learn that the treaty goods and supplies were greatly delayed.
Commissioner Cumming had been specially charged with the duty of
transporting them to Fort Benton; but under his dilatory management the
steamboat, which carried them with himself up the Missouri, did not
reach Fort Union until late in the season, and, instead of continuing up
the river as far as possible, discharged her cargo and returned to St.
Louis. The goods were then loaded into boats, which were now slowly
proceeding up the river by cordeling, or towing by a force of men
walking along the bank and pulling on a long tow-rope. This unexpected
and inexcusable delay seriously imperiled the holding of the council.
Governor Stevens had brought with him only sufficient supplies to carry
his small party to Fort Benton, expecting to find there ample stores
sent up by the government under charge of Cumming. The western Indians,
who at his invitation had come so far to attend the council, could not
find subsistence for a long wait; and it was necessary for them, as well
as for the governor and party, to start home before winter set in and
blocked the return journey. The great numbers of the Blackfeet made it
difficult to keep them in hand and assemble them late in the season, for
they were accustomed, and indeed were obliged, to spread over a wide
territory in order to hunt buffalo, and lay in their winter robes,
lodge-skins, and food.
While in Washington the preceding summer Governor Stevens had urged upon
the Indian Department the importance of the early arrival of the goods
at Fort Benton, and on reaching Olympia in December, repeated his
recommendations in writing. Moreover, he wrote a personal letter to the
President urging the necessity of having a steamer start with them at
the earliest moment in the spring, and push up the Missouri above Fort
Union as far as possible, and especially recommended that a boat be
chartered expressly for the trip. He added a prophetic caution, or
warning, against relying upon the American Fur Company to transport the
goods, as they could not be depended upon to make the necessary early
start and vigorous push up the river, which would entail some extra
expense and risk, but would surely pursue their usual methods, and in
the end sacrifice the public interests to their own. Notwithstanding
these wise and urgent recommendations, the whole matter was left to
Cumming, who late in the spring wrote the commissioner, proposing that
the council be postponed to another year. Being thereupon informed that
Governor Stevens was probably already on his way with the western
Indians too far to be recalled, and instructed to proceed, he contracted
with the fur company to transport the goods, with the predicted result.
In this and other ways he manifested a perfect willingness to play into
the hands of the fur company, a willingness which, whatever the motive,
affords the only rational explanation of this transaction, of his entire
indifference to the success of the council, and of his opposition to
making adequate provision in the way of farms and annuities for
civilizing the Indians. Of course, the American Fur Company, like the
Hudson Bay Company, was averse to having its trade impaired and
eventually destroyed by the government's giving goods to, and
civilizing, the Indians.
At the governor's instance, messengers were immediately dispatched to
the boats to ascertain how long before they would probably arrive, and
to the different bands of Indians to advise them that they must wait
longer than was expected, and to ascertain and regulate their movements,
so that they might readily reach the council ground when notified, and
meantime find sufficient buffalo and other game to support them.
Provisions for his own party, now nearly out, were sought at the fort,
but the traders were also destitute, not having yet received their
annual supply from below, and could furnish nothing but a few hundred
pounds of old jerked buffalo meat, exactly like worn-out boot-leather in
appearance,--so black, dry, tough, and dirty was it. It seems that all
the jerked meat, when first obtained, was piled up loose in one of the
store-rooms, and free access to it given the cooks and Indian wives of
the employees. They naturally picked out the best first, so that, after
the winter's use, only the dryest and toughest pieces and scraps
remained. However, two parfleches of pemmican of one hundred pounds each
were found among the goods left by the exploring party two years before.
This pemmican was put up by the Red River half-breeds, and consisted of
jerked buffalo meat pounded fine and mixed with buffalo fat and dried
berries, and then packed in large bags of rawhide called parfleches. It
had become so hardened by age that it had to be chopped out of the
parfleches with an axe, but it was perfectly sweet and good, and
afforded a very palatable and nourishing hash.
The governor now fitted out a hunting party under Hugh Robie, with a
pack-train, and sent them with a party of Gros Ventre Indians to the
Judith River, some eighty miles south of the fort, after buffalo. These
noble game animals were found there in great numbers and very fat. The
hunters, white and red, killed hundreds of them, stripping off the hides
and flesh, which they brought into camp, where the squaws jerked the
meat by cutting it into thin slices and strips and drying it on
scaffolds in the sun, and dressed the skins for lodges. In three weeks
Robie and his party returned with his pack-mules and riding animals
loaded down with fat, juicy buffalo meat,--a two months' supply for the
whole party. Metsic, an Indian hunter, was kept busy hunting in the
vicinity of the fort, and brought in many deer and antelope, and small
parties were from time to time sent to the Citadel Rock, a noted
landmark twenty miles down the river, after bighorn, which were so
abundant there that the hunters would load their animals in a day's
hunt. The governor was desirous that his son should see and experience
all the aspects of the trip, and believed in throwing a boy on his own
resources, without too close supervision, as the proper way of
developing his judgment and capacity; so Hazard, who was now well
hardened to riding and the fatigues of the field, and sufficiently
adventurous, accompanied the buffalo and big-horn hunting parties. There
was no danger of starving, but the governor remarks:--
"As we had very little bread, sugar, or coffee, the bighorn of
Citadel Rock were exceedingly delightful as an article of food, and
are generally preferred by the mountain men to any other game except
buffalo; so between buffalo, bighorn, and the smaller game we fared
very well. The parties who extended our information of the country
in conveying messages to the Indians, etc., invariably lived either
on the dried meat they took with them, or on the game which they
killed from day to day. They had no flour, no sugar, no coffee, and
yet there was not a word of complaint from one of them; but we made
it the subject of a good deal of merriment when we were able to
reach the boats and have a sufficiency of those articles which in
civilized life are deemed indispensable to comfort."
Meanwhile the Indians were all well in hand, ready and anxious for the
council, which nothing delayed but the unfortunate backwardness of the
boats. The Blackfeet were mostly north of the Missouri, the western
Indians south of it, and the governor by his expresses kept himself
informed of and guided their movements. The reports from the agents with
the latter were especially encouraging. The Nez Perces, 108 lodges;
Flatheads and Pend Oreilles, 68 lodges; and 40 lodges of the Snakes,
numbering all told 216 lodges, or over 2000 souls,--were in one camp on
the Muscle Shell River, awaiting the call to the council. The whole camp
of the Gros Ventres, and Low Horn's band of the Piegans of 54 lodges,
were in the vicinity. The hereditary enemies were visiting and hunting
together on most friendly terms, their minds all attuned to peace and
friendship, and all anxious for the council.
An incident now occurred well calculated to test the good faith of the
Blackfeet. When making arrangements in the Bitter Root valley for the
western Indians to attend the council, and they had objected that the
Blackfeet would steal their horses, Governor Stevens assured them of his
belief that the Blackfeet would receive them with kindness and
hospitality, using this expression: "I guarantee that when you pull in
your lariat in the morning, you will find a horse at the end of it."
Relying on his assurance, four young Pend Oreille braves visited the
governor at Fort Benton, and on his invitation turned their horses into
his band, which grazed two miles above the fort. Next morning they were
gone. Two young warriors of the northern Blackfeet had picked them out
from over a hundred animals, and made off with them. The governor
immediately put Little Dog, a prominent chief of the Bloods, to search
for the trail of the raiders, and at the same time dispatched Doty with
one attendant and a guide to the northern camps, judging that the
thieves would seek refuge in that quarter. Little Dog returned
unsuccessful, not finding a hoof-print of the missing horses in one
hundred miles and thirty hours' hard riding, and was sent north to
follow Doty. The latter pushed on fifty miles a day for two hundred and
thirty miles to Bow River in British territory, a tributary of the
Saskatchewan, where he struck a large Blackfoot camp only two hours
after the arrival there of the stolen horses. He immediately called
together the chiefs, and demanded the surrender of the animals. The head
chief, Lame Bull, returned three of them, but stated that one of the
scamps had gotten off with the fourth. He expressed great regret at the
theft, and offered two of his own horses in place of the one not
recovered. Doty placed the rescued animals in charge of Little Dog, who
had overtaken him, and resuming the pursuit of the remaining one, rode
seventy miles to Elk River, another branch of the Saskatchewan, where
he found another large camp of Blackfeet, and where the chief, Bull's
Head, delivered to him the last horse with expressions of regret at the
misconduct of his young men, and the offer of another horse by way of
amends. On the sixteenth day after the horses were taken they were
returned to the Pend Oreille braves at the fort. This was the first and
last instance of horse-stealing by the Blackfeet pending the council,
and afforded most gratifying proof of their good faith. Thus a
depredation which might have led to disastrous results was made the
means of demonstrating the sincerity and strengthening the friendship of
the Indians.
All these Indians professed great willingness to make friends with the
western tribes and the Crows, and agreed to meet them at the council and
conclude a treaty. They arranged with Mr. Doty to so direct their
movements as to bring them within reach of Fort Benton at the proper
time. He also secured James Bird as interpreter, an intelligent
half-breed, said to be the best interpreter in the country, who was then
visiting Low Horn's band.
On August 27 Pearson arrived with letters from Olympia, and reported
that everything was quiet and favorable west of the mountains, and that
many miners and settlers were going into the upper country, gold having
recently been discovered on the Columbia, near Colville.
"Pearson rode seventeen hundred and fifty miles by the route he took
from the Bitter Root valley to Olympia, and back to Benton, in
twenty-eight days, during some of which he did not travel. He was
less than three days going from Fort Owen to Fort Benton, a
distance, by the route he pursued, of some two hundred and sixty
miles, which he traveled without a change of animals, having no food
but the berries of the country, except a little fish, which he
killed on Travelers' Rest Creek of Lewis and Clark on the morning
of starting from Fort Owen, which served him for a single meal," as
the governor says in his final report.
On his trips Pearson usually drove two extra horses ahead of him, and,
when the one he was riding became tired, changed his saddle to a fresh
one. He could "ride anything that wore hair," and was equally expert
with the lariat which he carried at the horn of his saddle. He always
contrived, too, to procure fresh horses at certain points on his long
trips, as at Walla Walla, Lapwai, and the Bitter Root valley, sometimes
having previously left them, and sometimes by trading with the Indians.
Imagine this little man of steel, insensible to cold, hunger, and
fatigue, galloping like a centaur, day after day, across the vast,
lonely plains, driving before him his two loose horses!
The messenger dispatched to the boats returned with the report that they
would probably reach the mouth of the Judith in twenty days, and Fort
Benton in thirty or thirty-five, or on the 5th to the 10th of October.
The governor proposed that one of the boats be loaded with the most
necessary goods and forced up faster by an extra crew, in order to
hasten the opening of the council, leaving the others to follow; but
Commissioner Cumming refused to consent to this expedient. He was a
large, portly man, pompous, and full of his own importance, and having
been named first as commissioner, and charged with bringing up the goods
and the disbursements for the council, now attempted to arrogate to
himself practically sole and exclusive authority. He even attempted to
dismiss Doty as secretary, and claimed the right to appoint all the
officers for the council; and this was the more unreasonable because he
had not brought with him a single efficient man, and the whole work of
holding and collecting the Indians, furnishing interpreters, and in
short carrying the council through successfully, had to be done, and was
done, by Governor Stevens and the trained force he had provided for the
purpose. But the governor firmly insisted that nothing could be done
except by the act of the commission; sternly informed his colleague that
he would not permit him to repudiate his own action in organizing it,
appointing the secretary, etc.; submitted a series of rules regulating
its proceedings, and required all official communications between them
to be in writing and made a matter of record. Under this firm and
decided treatment Cumming was forced to abate his pretensions and
subside into his proper place; but he opposed most of the governor's
suggestions, disagreed with him on all points, and exhibited a degree of
arrogance, ignorance, and childish petulance hard to be believed, were
they not so plainly shown by the official record.
In framing the treaty the governor proposed that farms be opened for the
Blackfeet on the upper waters of the Sun River, and that $50,000 a year
be allowed the Indians for twenty years, the greater part to be expended
in carrying on the farms, instructing the Indians, etc. This amount was
authorized by their instructions, and did not seem very extravagant for
teaching twelve thousand Indians the ways of civilization, and leading
them to abandon their life-long hostilities and predatory raids, being
only about four dollars per capita. But Cumming flatly refused to agree
to more than $35,000, and objected to the farms as "affording
opportunities for speculating under the guise of philanthropy." As the
Blackfeet were within his superintendency, this was really a reflection
upon himself and his agents not intended by the self-sufficient
official. The commissioners were instructed to report generally on the
Indians and the country. Cumming stigmatized the Blackfeet as utter
savages, bloodthirsty and depraved, and declared that they would use
goods that might be furnished them as the means of buying rum at the
British trading-posts, and, therefore, that annuities of goods, etc.,
would only aid in demoralizing them. As to the country, he adopted, _con
amore_, the Jefferson Davis theory, asserting that "it is a vast and
sterile region, which could not sustain the animals required for even a
limited emigration, and altogether unfitted for cultivation. Every part
of this barren region must forever be closed against all modern
improvements in the way of transportation, with the exception of the
Missouri River." He was as unable to appreciate the philanthropic views
of Governor Stevens, and his earnest desire to improve the Indians, as
he was ignorant of them and of the country.
The governor's views are given at length, and have been remarkably
sustained by the subsequent settlement of the country. The following
extracts will be found interesting, particularly his calculation that a
million and a half buffalo grazed over the region:--
"It is in the main an exceedingly fine grazing country, of great
salubrity of climate, much arable land of good quality, with
abundant cottonwood on the streams, and many localities abound in
pine of the finest quality. A portion of the country is scantily
watered, but not seriously to affect its capabilities as a grazing
country, or to interfere with emigration. At the base of the
mountains, throughout nearly the whole length of the Blackfoot
country, the soil is good, in many places exceedingly rich, and the
grasses abundant and of the finest quality. At the heads of Milk and
Marias rivers, and at the heads of all the southern tributaries of
the south branch of the Saskatchewan, between latitudes 48° 30´ and
49°, there are abundant forests of pine, large tracts of arable
land, and lakes well stocked with fish. On the Highwood alone, there
are at least fifteen thousand acres of arable land.
"So far from this country not being able to supply the wants of
even a limited emigration, an emigration could not possibly take
place which would exhaust its capabilities.
"The quantities of buffalo which these plains subsist, not to take
into account the vast herds of elk, deer, bighorn, antelope, and
other game, will alone carry conviction that the territory inhabited
by the Blackfeet is a good grazing country.
"The Blackfeet live almost exclusively on the buffalo. They number
above ten thousand souls. They make twenty thousand robes a year.
They require nearly twenty thousand skins for their renewal of
lodges annually and other purposes. All these are the skins of cows.
For several months they live entirely on bulls, and many bulls are
killed at all seasons of the year. Making the proper allowance for
animals that die of disease, are killed by wolves, or other causes,
and for the known improvidence of Indians, it is believed that one
hundred and fifty thousand buffalo of three years old and upward are
required each year to subsist, clothe, and house these Indians. This
number must be added each year to the herds of grown animals to
prevent a decrease. Estimating that three quarters of the cows bear
young, and that one half of these come to maturity, eight hundred
thousand buffalo of and above three years, and one million and a
half buffalo of all ages must be roaming on these plains to enable
the Indians to live. Yet, on a large portion of this region the
grass is hardly touched from one year's end to another.
"The whole of the Gros Ventres and nearly three fourths of the
Piegans, Bloods, and Blackfeet winter on the Milk, Marias, and
Teton, finding subsistence for their animals in the bottoms, and
food from the buffalo which frequent the groves of cottonwood.
"THE CHARACTER OF THE BLACKFEET.
"They are called savages, yet their four tribes have lived together
many years on terms of amity, making war only on the neighboring
tribes. The chiefs, who promised the undersigned two years' since to
use their influence to prevent their people from warring on the
neighboring tribes, have been true to their word, and have in some
cases incurred the displeasure of their wild young men for their
persistency. These chiefs, and all the Blackfoot chiefs, have sent
word to their hereditary enemies, the Flatheads, the Nez Perces, and
the Crows: 'Come to the council without fear. Your persons and your
horses shall be under our protection, and if a horse be taken by
some of our wild young men, his place shall at once be made good.'
The undersigned looks forward to no disturbance at the council, for
he believes the Blackfeet will keep their word.
"The Blackfeet have expressed a strong desire for farms, schools,
mills, and shops. They are quick to learn, have a great curiosity to
handle tools and implements, and are excellent herders of animals.
The women are proverbially industrious, many of them expert in the
use of the needle, and persons of both sexes seem to fall readily
into the ways of the whites."
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Now occupied by the thriving town, Missoula.