Among the Trappers.
The Discomfited Trappers.--The New Party Organized.--A Battle
with the Indians.--Trapping on the Colorado.--March to the
Sacramento.--The Friendly Indians.--Crossing the
Desert.--Instinct of the Mule.--The Enchanting Valley of the
Colorado.--The Mission of San Gabriel.--Vast Herds of
Cattle.--The Mission of San Fernando.--Adventures in the Valley
of San Joaquin.--The Meeting of two Trapping Bands.--Reasons for
Kit Carson's Celebrity.--A Military Expedition.--The Indian Horse
Thieves.--The Pursuit and Capture.
Soon after Carson returned to the cabin of Mr. Young from one of his
trapping expeditions, a party of trappers came back who had set out to
explore the valley of the Colorado, in pursuit of furs. At Taos they were
west of the Rocky mountains, and the route which they were to take led
them still farther in a northwest direction, a distance of three or four
hundred miles. It was known that the region was full of roving Indians,
and it was not doubted that the savages, if they saw any chance of
overpowering the trappers, would do so, and seize their effects, which to
the Indians would prove booty of almost inconceivable value. The rifle
gave the trappers such an advantage over the Indian, with his bow and
arrows, that they never hesitated, when upon the open plain in
encountering almost any superiority of numbers.
This party of eighteen trappers, with their horses and heavily laden
mules, had advanced but a few days' journey, over an almost unexplored
region, when they fell in with a powerful tribe of Indians, who, after a
little palaver, seeing their weakness in numbers and the richness of their
treasure, attacked them with great fury. The Indians had adroitly selected
a spot where they could fight Indian fashion, from behind trees and logs.
The battle lasted a whole day. We are not informed how many of either
party fell in the fray. But the Indians seemed to swarm around the
trappers in countless numbers, and the white men were, greatly to their
chagrin, driven back with the loss of several mules.
As the discomfited party returned with their tale of disaster, the ire of
Mr. Young was raised. It is a comment upon the number of men then roving
the wilderness, that Mr. Young was in a short time enabled to organize
another party of forty men, to resume the enterprise. It was a motley
collection of Spaniards, Americans, Mexicans and half-breeds. Proudly this
powerful band, well armed, well mounted and with heavily laden pack mules,
commenced its adventurous march, burning with the desire to avenge the
insult which the previous expedition had encountered.
Mr. Young had learned highly to prize the capabilities of young Carson,
and engaged him to take a prominent position in this company on its
hazardous tour. After a march of about a hundred miles, they reached the
region occupied by the Indians who had attacked and defeated the former
band. The savages, flushed by success, were all ready to renew the
conflict. Mr. Young himself was the leader of the party. The Indians, by
their gestures and shouts of defiance, gave unmistakable evidence of their
eagerness for the fight.
There was some little delay as both parties prepared for the deadly
strife. Mr. Young, a veteran in the tactics of the forest, posted his men
with great sagacity. He had forty, as we have mentioned, in all.
Twenty-five of them he hid in ambush. With the other fifteen he cautiously
advanced, and at length, as if alarmed, halted. The eminences all in front
of them, seemed filled with the plumed warriors. The previous conflict had
taught them the powers of the deadly rifle bullet. They kept at a
respectful distance, never advancing unless protected by some tree or
rock.
But there were hundreds of savages almost surrounding the little band,
and making the hills and plains resound with the hideous war-whoop. When
the trappers halted and began slowly to draw back, a deafening shout arose
from the triumphant foe, and in a simultaneous charge they advanced, but
still cautiously, not venturing near enough to discharge their arrows.
They were thus drawn along into the trap. When fairly within rifle range,
twenty-five unerring marksmen from their concealment, almost at the same
instant, opened a death-dealing volley upon the surprised and bewildered
warriors. The slaughter was terrible beyond anything they had ever, in
their native battles, witnessed before. Twenty-five of their bravest
warriors, for the bravest were in the advance, fell dead or severely
wounded. The Indians were thrown into an utter panic.
The thunder, the lightning, and the death-bolts had come from they knew
not where. With almost the rapidity of thought the rifles were again
loaded and the whole united band rushed forward upon the Indians who were
now flying wildly in all directions. Instinct taught them to perform all
sorts of gyrations to avoid the bullets which pursued them. They made no
attempt to rally, though many of their proud warriors were left behind
lifeless, or struggling in the convulsions of death.
The power of the rifle was such that, in those days, forty or fifty men
never hesitated to engage whole tribe, though it might number one or two
thousand warriors. A man will fight with terrible persistence when he
knows that defeat is inevitable death by torture. It is a thousandfold
better to fall beneath the arrow, the tomahawk or the war-club, than to be
consumed alive amid the jeers and tortures of yelling Indians inspired
with demoniac instincts. Thus with the trapper it was always either
victory or death.
These hostile warriors were punished with a severity never to be
forgotten. The fugitives carried far and wide to other roving tribes the
tidings of their disaster. The bold trappers proceeded on their way,
encountering no more serious molestation. Smoke upon the distant hills
indicated that their march was watched. If a trap was set at any distance
from the night's encampment, it was pretty surely stolen. Or if a weary
mule was left to recruit, a little behind, intending to bring him up in
the morning, before the dawn he disappeared.
The whole party followed slowly down a tributary of the Colorado river,
very successfully trapping upon the main stream and its branches, until
they reached the head waters of the San Francisco river. They then
divided, and Mr. Young with Carson and seventeen others proceeded several
hundred miles farther west, to the valley of the Sacramento. Before
setting out for this long journey, as it was uncertain what game they
might find by the way, two or three days were devoted to hunting. The
skins of three deer were converted into water tanks, which were without
difficulty carried by the mules. They were induced to this caution because
some friendly Indians had assured them that there was a great destitution
of water by the way.
On their march they encountered a tribe of Indians in all their native
wildness. They were very friendly though they had apparently never seen a
white man before. Perhaps their friendliness was _because_ they had never
yet met any of the pale faces, from whom they subsequently suffered such
great wrongs. These Indians presented remarkably fine specimens of the
physical man. They were tall, erect and admirably proportioned. Their
features were European, their eyes very full and expressive, and the dress
of men and women simple in the extreme. They were all splendid horsemen,
and often as they entered the camp at full speed on their spirited
chargers, it seemed as though the steed and its rider, like the fabled
centaur, were but one animal. Their bodies were painted and oiled so as to
resemble highly polished mahogany.
The travellers found the information communicated to them by the friendly
Indians to be true. For four days they travelled over a dreary, sandy
waste, where there were neither streams nor springs. At the camping place
each night there was given from the tanks, a small amount of water to each
animal and man, but only enough to sustain life. A guard was set over the
rest, for should any accident befall it the destruction of the whole party
would be the probable consequence.
As they were toiling along the fifth day, painfully through the sand, the
mules began to manifest a strange excitement. They pricked up their ears,
snuffed the air, then began to rush forward with all the speed their
exhausted strength would allow. The sagacious animals had scented water at
the distance of nearly a mile. It was a clear running stream, fringed with
grass and shrubs. When the first mule reached the water, the remainder
were scattered for a great distance along the trail. Here the party
encamped and remained for two days to recruit.
The bags of deerskin were again filled with water and the journey was
resumed. The route still led over a similar barren region, where both man
and beast suffered great privations from the want of water. On the fourth
day they came in sight of the splendid valley of the great Colorado. It
was with a thrill of delight that they gazed upon its verdure and its
luxuriance, which were an hundredfold enhanced from the contrast with the
dreary region which they had just traversed.
In their march of eight days through this barren and gameless region,
their provisions had become quite exhausted. They chanced to come across
some Indians from whom they purchased an old mare. The animal was promptly
cut up, cooked and eaten with great gusto. They also obtained, from the
same Indians, a small quantity of corn and beans. In the rich meadows of
the Colorado our adventurers again found abundance. They spent a few
delightful days here, feasting, trapping and hunting. The animals found,
for them, a paradise in the luxuriant pastures of wild oats.
Again the journey to the west was resumed. The account we have of their
movements is so meagre that it is impossible to follow with accuracy the
route they traversed. They followed for some leagues a river, when
suddenly its waters disappeared. They apparently sank beneath the surface
of the quicksands. Still there were indications which enabled them to
follow the course of the river, until finally it rose again above the
surface, and in the open air flowed on to the ocean.
At length they reached the celebrated Catholic Mission of San Gabriel,
near the Pacific coast. The Mission was then in a flourishing condition.
The statistics, published in 1829, indicate a degree of prosperity which
seems almost incredible. More than a thousand Indians were attached to the
Mission, and were laboring in its widely-extended fields, tending its
herds and cultivating the soil. The poor Indians, who were often half
starved upon the plains, found here light employment, shelter and abundant
food. The statistics to which we refer, state that the Mission had seventy
thousand head of cattle, four thousand two hundred horses, four hundred
mules, and two hundred and fifty sheep.
These Missions, several of which were established in a line, within about
fifty miles of the Pacific coast, belonged to the Spanish government, and
were supported by the revenues of the crown. Animals multiplied with great
rapidity upon those luxuriant and almost boundless prairies. They ranged
sometimes, it was said, spreading out over a hundred thousand acres of
wonderfully fertile pastures. There must of course, have been much
guess-work in estimating the numbers of these vast herds, generally
wandering unattended at their pleasure. But with such supplies of animal
and vegetable food there was no fear of want. The indolent Indians
consequently gathered around the Missions in great numbers. They were all
fond of show, and not unwillingly became such Christians as consists in
attending the ceremonies of the church.
The Mission, with its buildings, cultivated fields and vast herds, seemed
like the garden of Eden to our weary travellers. They however, remained
here but one day, as they were not on a tour of pleasure but in pursuit of
furs. A day's travel brought them to another but much smaller Mission,
called San Fernando. Without any delay they pushed on towards the west,
their object being to enter the valley of the Sacramento river, where they
had been told that beavers could be found in great abundance. They
expected to reach the banks of this now renowned, but then scarcely known
river, after a few days' journey in a northeast direction. They were now
in a delightful region. The climate was charming. Brooks of crystal water,
and well filled with fishes, often crossed their path. There was abundant
forage for their cattle; and forest and prairie seemed alive with game.
They soon reached the banks of the San Joaquin, a lovely stream flowing
northerly and emptying into the Sacramento near its mouth. There, finding
a very eligible camping site, and many indications of beaver in the
stream, Mr. Young halted his party, to rest for a few days, and in the
meantime to set their traps. The general character of the scenery around
them may be inferred from Mr. Bryant's description of a similar encampment
in his overland journey to California.
"Finding here an abundance of grass, we remained the following day for the
benefit of our animals. The valley was probably fifteen miles in length,
with a variable width of two or three miles. It was a delightful spot.
Wild plants grew in profusion, many-hued flowers studded its surface, and
silvery streams, bordered by luxuriant verdure and shrubs, were winding
through it. On both sides the mountains towered up by continuous
elevations of several thousand feet, exhibiting a succession of rich
vegetation, and then craggy and sterile cliffs, capped by virgin snow, the
whole forming a landscape of rare combinations of the beautiful and
sublime."
After a short rest the trappers continued their journey slowly, setting
their traps on the San Joaquin and its tributaries. Pretty soon, much to
their surprise, they saw indications that there was another band trapping
on the same streams. In a short time they met, and it was found that the
other party belonged to the Hudson Bay Company, and was commanded by Peter
Ogden.
It is pleasant to record that the two parties, instead of fighting each
other as rivals, cordially fraternized. For several weeks they trapped
near together, often meeting and ever interchanging the courtesies of
brotherly kindness. These men were from Canada. They were veterans in the
profession of hunting and trapping, having long been in the employment of
the Hudson Bay Company, and having served a regular apprenticeship to
prepare them for their difficult and arduous employment. Here again the
peculiarity of Kit Carson's character was developed. Instead of assuming
that he knew all that was to be known about the wilderness, and the
business in which he was engaged, he lost no opportunity of acquiring all
the information he could from these strangers. He questioned them very
carefully, and his experience was such as to enable him to ask just such
questions as were most important.
There is scarcely a man in America who has not heard the name of Kit
Carson. No man can make his name known among the forty millions of this
continent, unless there be something extraordinary in his character and
achievements. Kit Carson was an extraordinary character. His wide-spread
fame was not the result of accident. His achievements were not merely
impulsive movements. He was a man of pure mind, of high morality, and
intensely devoted to the life-work which he had chosen. His studies
during the winter in the cabin of Kin Cade, had made him a proficient in
the colloquial Spanish language. This proved to him an invaluable
acquisition. He had also gathered and stored away in his retentive memory
all that this veteran ranger of the woods could communicate respecting the
geography of the Far West, the difficulties to be encountered and the mode
of surmounting them. And now he was learning everything that could be
learned from these Canadian boatmen and rangers.
Already young Carson had attained eminence. It was often said, "No matter
what happens, Kit Carson always knows at the moment exactly what is best
to be done."
Both as a hunter and a trapper, though he had not yet attained the age of
manhood, he was admitted to be the ablest man in the party. And his native
dignity of person and sobriety of manners commanded universal respect. In
this lovely valley both parties lived, as trappers, luxuriously. They were
very successful with their traps. And deer, elk and antelope were roving
about in such thousands, that any number could be easily taken. These were
indeed the sunny, festival days of our adventurers.
The two united parties, trapping all the way, followed down the valley of
San Joaquin to the Sacramento. Here they separated. The Hudson Bay
Company set out for the Columbia river. Mr. Young and his party remained
to trap in the valley of the Sacramento. At this time an event occurred
which again illustrates the fearlessness, sagacity and energy of Kit
Carson.
Not very far from their encampment there was the Catholic Mission of San
Rafael. Some Indians belonging to that Mission, after committing sundry
atrocities, fled, and took refuge in a distant Indian village. It was
deemed important, in order that the Indians might be held under salutary
restraint, that such a crime should not go unpunished. A force was sent to
demand the surrender of the fugitives. But the Indians assumed a hostile
attitude, refused to give up the criminals, and fiercely attacking the
Mission party, drove them back with loss.
The Mission applied to the trappers for assistance. The request was
promptly granted. Such a victory would puff up the Indians, render them
insolent, and encourage them to make war upon other parties of the whites.
Eleven volunteers were selected for the expedition, and the young and
fragile Kit Carson was entrusted with the command. In manners he was
gentle as a girl, with a voice as soft as that of a woman. He had no
herculean powers of muscle, but he had mind, mental powers which had been
developed in a hundred emergencies. And these stout, hardy veterans of
the wilderness seem with one accord to have decided that he was the
fitting one to lead them into battle, where they were to encounter perhaps
hundreds of savage warriors.
[Illustration]
Cautiously Kit Carson led his little band so as to approach the Indian
village unperceived. At a given signal they raised the war-whoop and
impetuously charged into the cluster of wigwams. As the terrified warriors
rushed out of the huts, all unprepared for battle, these unerring marksmen
laid them low. One-third of the warriors were slain. The rest fled in
dismay. The village was captured with the women and the children. The
victorious Carson then demanded the immediate surrender of the criminals.
The next day they were brought in, strongly bound, and delivered to the
Mission. With his heroic little band Kit Carson returned to the
encampment, apparently unconscious that he had performed any unusual feat.
The trappers purchased of the Mission sixty horses, paying for them in
beaver skins, which always had a cash value. These horses were
indispensable to the trapper. It required a large number to carry the
packs of a successful trapping party. It would be impossible for the
trappers to transport the packs upon their own backs. A party of forty
trappers would need each a horse to ride. Then generally each man led a
spare horse, lest the one he rode should break a limb or in any other way
give out in the midst of the wilderness. If the expedition were
successful, each trapper would have three or four horses or mules to lead
or drive, laden with the packs of skins, the traps, camping utensils and a
supply of food for an emergency. Thus a party of forty men would sometimes
be accompanied by more than two hundred horses. Horses were cheap, and
their food on the rich prairies cost nothing. But it was necessary to
guard the animals with the greatest care, for the Indians were continually
watching for opportunities to steal them.
Soon after Mr. Young, whose party it will be remembered now consisted of
eighteen men, had made his purchase of horses, in preparation for a
return, as the animals were feeding on the open prairie, a band of Indians
succeeded one night in stealing sixty of them, and with their booty, like
the wind they fled towards the valleys of the Snow mountains. Such a
cavalcade of horses in one band, travelling over the turf of the prairie,
would leave a trail behind which could easily be followed. The number of
the Indian thieves was not known, though the boldness of the robbery and
their tracks indicated that the band must have been large.
Twelve men were immediately detached to pursue the gang. Young Carson was
then appointed leader. There were but fourteen horses left in the camp.
Carson, having mounted his twelve men, had the other two horses led, to
meet any emergency. Vigorously the pursuit was pressed. There was no
difficulty in keeping the track. The Indian with all his cunning was never
the equal of the far more intelligent white man. Indeed the ordinary
savage was often but a grown-up child.
For more than one hundred miles Carson continued his pursuit before he
came up with the robbers. They had already entered the green valleys of
the Snowy mountains. The eagle eye of the pursuer saw some smoke circling
up in the distance. No ordinary eye would have perceived it. Immediately
he dismounted his men, and tethered the horses. The rifles were carefully
examined, that every one might be loaded, primed, and in perfect order.
The band then cautiously pressed forward, led by their boy captain, till
they came to the entrance of a wild but lovely glen, where at the distance
of perhaps a mile, they saw these savage warriors, enjoying all the luxury
of a barbaric encampment. A mountain stream, rippled through the valley.
The horses were grazing in the rich pasture. The thieves had killed six of
the fat young horses, and having cooked them and feasted to utter
repletion, were lounging around, basking in the sun, in the fullness of
savage felicity. Little were they aware of the tempest of destruction and
death about to burst upon them.
The Indians could not have chosen a more delightful spot for their
encampment and their feast. Neither could they have selected a spot more
favorable for the unseen approach of the pursuers. But the savages, having
accomplished more than a hundred miles, deemed themselves perfectly safe.
Carson carefully reconnoitred the position, gave minute directions to his
men, and they all, with the noiseless, stealthy movement of the panther,
worked their way along until they were within rifle distance of their
foes. Every man selected his victim and took deliberate aim. The signal
was given. The discharge was simultaneous. Twelve bullets struck twelve
warriors. Most of them dropped instantly dead. Almost with the rapidity of
thought the rifles were loaded, and the little band rushed upon the
bewildered, terror-stricken, bleeding savages. The Indians scattered in
every direction. Eight were killed outright. Carson had no love of
slaughter. Many more, in their flight, might have been struck by the
bullet; but they were allowed to escape. All the horses were recovered
excepting the six which the Indians had killed.
Great was the rejoicing in the camp when the victorious party returned so
abundantly successful. One of the annalists of this extraordinary man
speaking of the enterprise, very truthfully writes:
"Carson, though at that day a youth in years and experience, had risen
rapidly in the estimation of all, and had excited the admiration and
enlisted the confidence of the entire band. When called upon to add his
counsel, concerning any doubtful enterprise, his masterly foresight and
shrewdness, as well as clearness in attending to details, gave him willing
auditors.
"But it was the modest deportment he invariably wore, which won for him
the love of his associates. Kit Carson's power in quickly conceiving the
safest plan of action in difficult emergencies, and his bravery, which in
his youth, sometimes amounted to rashness, caused his companions to follow
his leadership. His courage, promptitude, self-reliance, caution, sympathy
and care for the wounded, marked him at once as the master mind. Like the
great Napoleon, when he joined the army for his first campaign, he was a
hero, in spite of his youth, among men grown grey with experience."
The highest style of manhood, the most attractive character is that in
which the mildness and the delicacy of the woman is combined with the
energy and the fearlessness of the man. In Kit Carson we witness a
wonderful combination of these two qualities. An acquaintance of the
writer, who spent many years of his early life roving through the
wilderness of the far West, and who had often met Kit Carson, said he
never heard an oath from his lips. Even the rude and profane trappers
around him could appreciate the superior dignity of such a character.
Rev. Dr. Bushnell, speaking of the region in which our trappers were
engaged, says, "Middle California, lying between the head waters of the
two great rivers, and about four hundred and fifty or five hundred miles
long from north to south, is dividend lengthwise parallel to the coast,
into three strips or ribbons of about equal width. First the coastwise
region comprising two, three, and sometimes four parallel tiers of
mountains, from five hundred to four thousand, five thousand or even ten
thousand feet high. Next, advancing inward we have a middle strip, from
fifty to seventy miles wide, of almost dead plain, which is called the
great valley; down the scarcely perceptible slopes of which from north to
south, and south to north run the two great rivers, the Sacramento and the
San Joaquin, to join their waters at the middle of the basin, and pass off
to the sea. The third long strip or ribbon is the slope of the Snowy
mountain chain which bound the great valley on the East, and contains in
its foothills, or rather its lower half, all the gold mines."
It was in this middle region called The Great Valley, that Mr. Young and
his trappers pursued their vocation. They commenced far south, at the head
waters of the San Joaquin, and trapped down that stream, a distance of
about one hundred and fifty miles. They then struck the greater flood of
the Sacramento, and followed up that stream nearly three hundred and fifty
miles. They had now obtained furs enough to load down all the horses and
mules at their disposal. They prepared to return to Santa Fe, where they
were sure of a ready market for their furs, which would be sent to Europe
for their final sale.