LIFE ON THE GREAT PLAINS IN PIONEER DAYS.
Nothing better shows the rapid advance of civilization in this
country, than the fact that multitudes of the actors of those eventful
years of pioneer life in Oregon and California yet live to see and
enjoy the wonderful transformation. In fact, the pioneer, most of all
others, can, in its greatest fullness, take in and grasp the luxuries
of modern life.
Taking his section in a palace car in luxurious ease, he travels in
six days over the same road which he wearily traveled, forty-five and
fifty years ago, in from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and
ninety days. The fact is not without interest to him that for more
than a thousand miles of the way on the great central routes, he can
throw a stone from the car window into his old camping grounds.
The old plainsmen were not bad surveyors. They may not have been
advanced in trigonometry or logarithms, but they had keen eyes and
ripe practical judgment, which enabled them to master the situation.
The trails marked and traveled by the old missionaries, nine times in
every ten, proved the best. Many a time did I, and others, by taking
what seemed to be inviting "cutoffs," find out to our sorrow that the
old trailers of ten years before us had been wiser.
I make this a chapter of personal experience, not for any personal
gratification, but because of the desire to make it real and true in
every particular, and because the data and incidents of travel of the
old missionaries are meager and incomplete.
The experiences in 1836, 1843 and 1850, were much the same, save and
except that in 1850 the way was more plainly marked than in 1836,
which then was nothing more than an Indian trail, and even that often
misleading. Besides that, the pioneer corps had made passable many
danger points, and had even left ferries over the most dangerous
rivers.
From 1846 to 1856 were ten years of great activity upon the frontier.
The starting points for the journey across the plains were many and
scattered, from where Kansas City now stands to Fort Leavenworth.
The time of which I write was 1850. Our little company of seven chosen
friends, all young and inexperienced in any form of wild life,
resolved upon the journey, and began preparations in 1849 and were
ready in March, 1850, to take a steamer at Cincinnati for Fort
Leavenworth. We had consulted every authority within reach as to our
outfit, both for our safety and comfort, and few voyagers ever started
upon the long journey who had nearer the essential things, and so few
that proved useless.
In one thing we violated the recommendations of all experienced
plainsmen, and that was in the purchase of stock. We were advised to
buy only mustangs and Mexican mules, but chose to buy in Ohio the
largest and finest mules we could find. Our wagons were selected with
great care as to every piece of timber and steel in their make-up, and
every leather and buckle in the harness was scrutinized.
Instead of a trunk, each carried clothes and valuables in a two-bushel
rubber bag, which could be made water-tight or air-tight, if required.
Extra shoes were fitted to the feet of each mule and riding horse and
one of the number proved to be an expert shoer. The supply of
provisions was made a careful study, and we did not have the
uncomfortable experience of Dr. and Mrs. Whitman, and run out of flour
before the journey was half over.
There is nothing that develops the manhood of a man, or the lack of
it, more quickly than life on the plains. There is many a man
surrounded by the sustaining influence of the home and of refined
society, who seems very much of a man; and yet when these influences
are removed, he wilts and dwarfs. I have seen men who had been
religious leaders and exemplary in their lives, come from under all
such restraints, and, within two months, "swear like troopers."
Our little company was fortunate in being made up of a manly set of
young men, who resolved to stand by each other and each do his part.
We soon joined the Mt. Sterling Mining Company, led by Major Fellows
and Dr. C. P. Schlater, from Mt. Sterling, Ills. They were an
excellent set of men and our company was then large enough for
protection from any danger in the Indian country, and we kept together
without a jar of any kind.
In the year 1850, the Spring upon the frontier was backward. The
grass, a necessity for the campaigner upon the plains, was too slow
for us, so we bought an old Government wagon, in addition to our
regular wagons, filled it with corn, and upon May 1st, struck out
through Kansas. It was then unsettled by white people.
On the 5th day of May, we woke up to find the earth enveloped in five
inches of snow, and matters looked discouraging, but the sun soon
shone out and the snow disappeared and we began to enter into the
spirit and enjoyment of the wild life before us.
[Illustration: THE LOG SCHOOL HOUSE ON THE WILLAMETTE.]
The Indians were plentiful and visited us frequently, but they were
all friendly that year with the whites throughout the border. A war
party of the Cheyenne Indians visited us on their way to fight their
enemy, the Pawnees. They were, physically, the finest body of men I
ever saw. We treated them hospitably and they would have given up
their fight and gone with us on a grand buffalo hunt, had we
consented. The chief would hardly take no for an answer.
One of the great comforts of the plains traveling in those days, was
order and system. Each man knew his duty each day and each night. One
day a man would drive; another he would cook; another he would ride on
horseback. When we reached the more dangerous Indian country, our camp
was arranged for defense in case of an attack, but we always left our
mules picketed out to grass all night, and never left them without a
guard.
About the most trying labor of that journey was picket duty over the
mules at night, especially when the grass was a long distance from the
camp, as it sometimes was. After a long day's travel it was a
lonesome, tiresome task to keep up all night, or even half of it. The
animals were tethered with a rope eighteen feet long buckled to the
fore leg, and the other end attached to an iron pin twelve to eighteen
inches long, securely driven into the ground. As the animals fed they
were moved so as to keep them upon the best pasture. In spite of the
best care they would occasionally cross and the mischief would be to
pay, unless promptly relieved.
Our greatest fear was from the danger of a stampede, either from
Indians or from wild animals. The Indian regards it as a great
accomplishment to steal a horse from a white man. One day a
well-dressed and very polite Indian came into camp where we were
laying by for a rest. He could talk broken English and mapped out the
country in the sand over the route we were to travel--told us all
about good water and plenty of grass. He informed us that for some
days we would go through the good Indian's country, but then we came
to the mountains; and then he began to paw the air with his arms and
snap an imaginary whip and shout, "Gee Buck--wo haw, damn ye!" Then
says our good Indian, "Look out for hoss thieves." Then he got down in
the grass and showed us how the Indian would wiggle along in the grass
until he found the picket pin and lead his horse out so slowly that
the guard would not notice the change, until he was outside the line,
when he would mount and ride away.
That very night two of the best horses of the Mt. Sterling Mining
Company were stolen in just that way, and to make the act more
grievous, they were picketed so near to the tents as to seem to the
guards to be perfectly safe. We may have misjudged our "good Indian"
who came into camp, but we have always believed that he was there to
see whether there were any horses worth stealing, and then did the
stealing himself.
We can bear testimony also, that he was a good geographer. His map
made in the sand and transferred to paper was perfect, and when we
came to the mountains, his "Gee Buck, wo haw, damn ye!" was heard all
up and down that mountain. The Indian had evidently been there and
knew what he was saying. They gave us but little trouble except to
watch our live stock, as the Indian never takes equal chances. He
wants always three chances to one, in his favor. To show you are
afraid, is to lose the contest with an Indian. I have many times, by
showing a brave front, saved my scalp.
Upon one occasion when I had several loose mules leading, I allowed
myself unthinkingly to lag for two miles behind the company through a
dangerous district. I was hurrying to amend the wrong by a fast trot,
when upon a turn in the road a vicious-looking Indian, with his bow
half bent and an arrow on the string, stepped from behind a sage bush
to the middle of the road and signaled me to stop when twenty feet
away.
I was unarmed and made up my mind at once to show no fear. Upon coming
within six or eight feet of him, I drove the spurs into my horse and
gave such a yell that the Indian had all he could do to dodge my
horse's feet. He was evidently astonished and thought, from the
boldness of the move, that I had others near by. My horse and mules
went on a dead run and I expected, as I leaned forward, every moment
to feel his arrow.
I glanced back when fifty yards away and he was anxiously looking back
to see who else was coming and I was out of his reach before he had
made up his mind. I was never worse frightened.
Upon another occasion I bluffed an Indian just as effectively. With
two companions I went to a Sioux village to buy a pair of moccasins.
They were at peace and we felt no danger. Most of the men were absent
from the village, leaving only a small guard. I got separated from my
companions, but found an Indian making moccasins, and I stood in the
door and pointed to a new pair about the size I wanted, that hung on
the ridge pole, and showed him a pair of handsome suspenders that I
would give him for them. He assented by a nod and a grunt, came to the
door, took the suspenders and hung them up, deliberately sat down on
the floor and took off a dirty old pair he was wearing and threw them
to me. I immediately threw them back, and stepping into the tepee,
caught hold of the moccasins I had bought, but by a quick motion he
snatched them from me.
I then caught hold of the suspenders and bounded out of the door.
When fifty feet away I looked back and he had just emerged from his
tepee and began loading his rifle. I had emptied both barrels of my
shotgun at a plover just before reaching the village and my gun was
fortunately unloaded. It gave us equal chances: I stopped still, threw
my gun from the strap and began loading. In those days I was something
of an expert and before the Indian withdrew his ramrod, I was putting
caps on both barrels and he bounded inside his wigwam, and I lost no
time in putting a tepee between us, and finding my friends, when we
hastily took leave.
Our company took great comfort and pride in our big American mules,
trained in civilized Ohio. A pair of the largest, the wheelers in the
six-mule team, were as good as setter dogs at night. They neither
liked Indians, wolves nor grizzlies; and their scent was so keen they
could smell their enemies two hundred yards away, unless the wind was
too strong.
When on guard, and in a lonesome, dangerous place, we generally kept
close to our long-eared friends, and when they stopped eating and
raised their heads and pointed those ponderous ears in any direction,
we would drop in the grass and hold ourselves ready for any emergency.
They would never resume their feeding until assured that the danger
had passed.
And then what faithful fellows to pull! At a word they would plant
their feet on a mountain side and never allow the wagon to give back a
single foot, no matter how precipitous; and again at the word, they
would pull with the precision of a machine.
The off-leader, "Manda," was the handsomest mule ever harnessed. As
everybody remarked, "She was as beautiful as a picture." She would
pull and stand and hold the wagon as obedient to command as an animal
could be, but she was by nature wild and vicious. She was the worst
kicker I ever saw. She allowed herself to be shod, seeming to
understand that this was a necessity. But no man ever succeeded in
riding her. She beat the trick mules in any circus in jumping and
kicking.
One night we had a stampede, and one of the flying picket pins struck
the mule between the bones of the hind leg, cutting a deep gash, four
inches or more long; the swelling of the limb causing the wound to
gape open fully two inches. She did not attempt to bear her weight
upon the limb, barely touching it to the ground. The flies were very
bad, and knowing the animal, and while prizing her so highly, we were
all convinced that we must leave her. The train pulled out. It was my
duty that morning to bring on the loose stock, and see that nothing of
value was overlooked in camp. I was ready to leave, when I went up to
the mule that had come with us all the way from home, nearly three
thousand miles, and had been a faithful servant, and began petting
her, expressing my pity and sorrow that we had to leave her here for
the Indians and the wolves. As I rubbed her head and talked to her,
the poor dumb brute seemed to understand every word said.
Never before in all the long journey had the famous six-mule team gone
without Manda prancing as off leader. She rubbed me with her nose and
laid it upon my shoulder, and seemed to beg as eloquently as a dumb
beast can, "Don't leave me behind." With it all, there was a kindly
look in her eye, I never before had seen. I stood stroking her head
for some time, then I patted her neck and walked a little back, but
constantly on guard. It was then the animal turned her head and looked
at me, and at the same time held up the wounded leg. My friend Moore,
who had staid back to assist, was a little distance off, and I called
him.
As he came up, I said to him: "This mule has had a change of heart."
He put a bridle upon her so that he could hold up her head, and
rubbing her side, I finally ventured to take hold of the wounded leg.
I rubbed it and fondled it without her showing any symptom of
resentment.
I got out instruments, sewed the wound up, and sewed bandages tight
about the leg, made a capital dressing and we started, leading Manda.
She soon began to bear weight upon the wounded limb, and had no
difficulty in keeping up with the train. When the bandages would get
misplaced, one could get down in the road with no one to assist, and
adjust them. We took Manda all the way, and no handsomer animal ever
journeyed across the plains. She was never known to kick afterward.
People call it "instinct in animals," but the more men know and study
dumb life, the more they are impressed with their reasoning
intelligence. Dr. Whitman's mule, finding camp in the blinding snow
storm on the mountains, when the shrewd guide was hopelessly lost; my
old horse leading me and my friend in safety through the Mississippi
River back water in the great forest of Arkansas, as well as this,
which I have told without an embellishment, all teach impressively the
duty of kindness that we owe to our dumb friends.
In Mrs. Whitman's diary we frequently find allusion to her faithful
pony, and her sympathy with him when the grass is scarce and the work
hard, is but an evidence of true nobility in the woman. In a long
journey like the one made from Ohio to the Pacific Coast, it is
wonderful what an affection grows up between man and his dumb helpers.
And there is no mistaking the fact that animals appreciate and
reciprocate such kindness. Even our dog was no exception.
As I have started in to introduce my dumb associates, it would be a
mistake, especially for my boy readers, to omit Rover. He was a young
dog when we started, but he was a dog of thorough education and large
experience before he reached the end of his journey. He was no dog
with a long pedigree of illustrious ancestors, but was a mixed St.
Bernard and Newfoundland, and grew up large, stately and dignified. He
was petted, but never spoiled. When he was tired and wanted to ride,
he knew how to tell the fact and was never told that he was nothing
but a dog.
He was no shirk as a walker, but the hot saleratus dust and sand wore
out his feet. We took the fresh skin of an antelope and made boots for
him, but when no one was looking at him he would gnaw them off. When
the company separated after reaching the coast, Rover, by unanimous
consent, went with his favorite master, J. S. Niswander, now a
gray-haired, honored citizen of Gilroy, Cal. A few years ago I visited
Niswander and Dr. J. Doan, who, with myself, are the only living
survivors of our company, and he gave me the history of Rover after I
left for Oregon.
Niswander was a famous grizzly bear hunter, and with Rover as a
companion, he made journeys prospecting for gold, and hunting, long
distances from civilization. When night came the pack mule was
picketed near by and a big fire built, with plenty of wood to keep it
replenished during the night. Rover laid himself against his master's
feet, and in case of danger he would always waken him with a low growl
close to his ear, and when this was done, he would lope off in the
dark and find out what it was, while Niswander held his gun and
revolver ready for use. If the dog came back and lay down he knew at
once it was a false alarm and dropped to sleep in perfect security.
At one time he brought among his provisions a small firkin of butter,
a great luxury at that time. He took the firkin and set it in the
shade of a great red-wood, tumbled off the rest of his goods, picketed
his mule, and went off prospecting for gold, telling Rover to take
care of the things until he returned. He was gone all day and returned
late in the evening, and looking around could not see his firkin of
butter. He told me he turned to the old dog and said: "Rover, I never
knew you to do such a trick before and I am ashamed of you." The old
fellow only hung his head upon being scolded. But soon after Mr. N.
noticed a suspicious pile of leaves about the roots of the tree, and
when he had turned them aside he found his firkin of butter untouched.
The high wind which had arisen had blown the paper cover from the
butter and the dog knew it ought to be covered, and with his feet and
nose had gathered the leaves for more than a rod around and covered
it up.
The Indians finally poisoned the old dog for the purpose of robbing
his master. Said he: "When Rover died I shed more tears than I had
shed for years."
While reading, as I have, Mrs. Whitman's daily diary of her journey in
1836, I am most astonished at the lack of all complaints and
murmurings. I know so well the perils and discomforts she met on the
way and see her every day, cheerful and smiling and happy, and filled
with thankfulness for blessings received, that she seems for the very
absence of any repining, to be a woman of the most exalted character.
I have traveled for days and weeks through saleratus dust that made
lips, face and eyes tormentingly sore, while the throat and air tubes
seemed to be raw. She barely mentions them. I have camped many a time,
as she doubtless did, where the water was poisonous with alkali, and
unfit for man or beast. I have been stung by buffalo flies until the
sting of a Jersey mosquito would be a positive luxury. She barely
mentions the pests. She does once mildly say: "The mosquitoes were so
thick that we could hardly breathe," and that "the fleas covered all
our garments" and made life a burden until she could get clear of
them.
Then there were snakes. As far as I know she never once complained of
snakes. This makes it all the more necessary in giving a true picture
of pioneering upon the plains, to give a real experience. There is
nothing more hateful than a snake. We were introduced to the prairie
rattler very early in the journey and some had sport over it. We all
wore high, rattlesnake boots; they were heavy and hard on the feet
that had been accustomed to softer covering.
One of our gallant boys had received a present of a pair of beautiful
embroidered slippers from a loved friend, and after supper he threw
off those high snake boots and put on his slippers. Just then he was
reminded that it was his duty that night to assist in picketing the
mules in fresh pasture. He got hold of two lariats and started off
singing "The Girl I Left Behind Me." About one hundred and fifty yards
off he heard that ominous rattle near by and he dropped those lariats
and came into camp at a speed that elicited cheers from the entire
crowd.
Early in the journey an old Indian told me how to keep the snakes from
our beds, and that was to get a lariat made from the hair of a
buffalo's neck and lay it entirely around the bed. I got the lariat
and seldom went to sleep without being inside of its coil. It is a
fact that a snake will not willingly crawl over such a rope. The
sharp prickly bristles are either uncomfortable to them, or they
expect there is danger.
One night of horrors never to be forgotten was when I did not have my
Indian lariat. Who of my readers ever had a rattlesnake attempt to
make a nest in his hair? The story may hardly be worth telling, but I
will relate it just as it occurred.
We had camped on the St. Mary's River and had gone four miles off the
road to find good grazing for our animals. Supper was over, our bugler
had sounded his last note, and we were preparing for bed when a man
came in from a camp a mile off and reported that they had found a man
on a small island, who was very sick and they wanted a doctor.
Dr. Schlater, of the Mt. Sterling Mining Company, at once got ready
and went with him. Dr. Schlater was one of the grand specimens of
manhood. He worked with the sick man all night and at daylight came
down and asked me to go up with him. While we were bathing him the
company of Michigan packers, who had found the stranger, moved off,
and left us alone with the sick man, who was delirious and could give
no account of himself.
We found from papers in his pockets that his name was West Williams of
Bloomington, Iowa, and he carried a card from the I. O. O. F. of that
place. We made him as comfortable as possible and went back to our
camp and reported his condition. We found the company all ready to
move out, only waiting for us. The man was too sick to travel and it
would not do to let him remain there alone, and it was decided that
Dr. S. and I should remain with him and try and find his friends or
hire some person to take care of him, and then, by forced marches, we
could follow on and catch the company.
We raised a purse of one hundred dollars and with such medicines as we
needed and other supplies, also kept back a light spring wagon, and
brought the sick man to our camp. I suggested to the Doctor that he
ride over to the road and put up some written notices, giving the
man's name, etc. He wrote out several and posted them on the trees
where they would attract attention from passers. While he was doing
this, a man with an ox-team came along and proved to be an old friend
of the sick man right from the same locality. His name was Van S.
Israel. He at once came with the Doctor and took charge of Williams,
greatly to our relief.
While the Doctor was upon the road he was called to prescribe for
another sick man by the name of Mahan, from Missouri. Learning where
we were located, the Mahans moved down to our camp. The sick man was
accompanied by his brother, and they had a splendid outfit. We
concluded to give the entire day to the sick men and ride across the
small desert just ahead during the night. A tent was erected for
Mahan, and he walked in and laid down.
An hour or so later I went to the tent door and looking in saw the man
lying dead. I spoke to his brother, who went into the tent convulsed
with grief. I had scarcely reached my tent before I heard a piercing
scream and rushed back, and upon opening the tent flap was horrified
to behold the largest rattlesnake I had ever seen, coiled on the
opposite side of the dead body and the living brother crowding as far
away as possible on the other side to be out of his reach.
As soon as I appeared the snake uncoiled and slipped under the edge of
the tent. I caught up a green cottonwood stick and ran around and he
at once coiled for a fight. I let him strike the stick. After striking
each time he would try to retreat, but a gentle tap with the stick
would arouse his anger and he would coil and strike again. At first a
full drop of the yellow fluid appeared upon the stick. This gradually
diminished, and with it the courage of the reptile, which seemed to
lose all fighting propensity. I then killed him.
Just before sunset we were ready to leave our sad associates, and we
rode down to the river to give our mules a drink. The St. Mary's is a
deep stream running through a level stretch with no banks. The mules
had often been caved into the deep water and learned to get down on
their knees to drink. For fear of an accident I got off and allowed my
mule to kneel and drink. As he got upon his feet I swung into the
saddle and started on. I had scarcely got firmly seated when, right
under the mule, a rattler sang out. My double-barrel gun was hanging
from my shoulder, muzzle down. As quick as a flash I slipped my arm
through the strap, cocked the gun at the same time, and the mule
shying, brought his snakeship in range, and just as he was in the act
of striking, I shot him dead. The only good thing about the rattler is
that he always gives the alarm before striking.
[Illustration: A. J. ANDERSON, Ph.D.,
First President of Whitman College.]
[Illustration: REV. JAMES F. EATON, D.D.,
Second President of Whitman College.]
It was about three o'clock in the morning when we got through the
desert and reached a cluster of trees, and resolved to stop and take a
little sleep, and give our mules the feed of grass we had tied behind
our saddles. We found a fallen tree and tied our animals to the boughs
and fed them. A small company of packers were there asleep with their
heads toward the fallen tree. We passed them to near the butt of the
tree, threw aside some rotten chunks, spread a blanket, and each
rolled up in another, lay down to rest. My snake-lariat was with the
wagon, but I was too tired to think much of it. The Doctor being up
all the night before, was asleep in two minutes. I was dozing off,
with rattlesnakes and all the horrors of the past day running
through my mind, when I was suddenly awakened by something pulling and
working in my long, bushy hair. Barbers were not plentiful on the
plains, and, besides, the plainsmen wear long hair as a protection. I
suppose it was only a few minutes of suspense, and yet it seemed an
hour, before I became wide awake, and reached at once the conclusion
that I had poked my head near the log where his snakeship was
sleeping, and the evening being cool, he was trying to secure warmer
quarters. I knew it would not do to move my head. I quietly slipped my
right arm from the blanket, and slowly moved my hand within six inches
of my head. I felt the raking of a harder material, which seemed like
a fang scraping the scalp. This made me almost frantic. Suddenly I
grasped the offender by the head, jerking hair and all, and, jumping
to my feet, yelled, so that every packer bounced to his feet, and
seized his gun, thinking we were attacked by Indians. This is a
round-about way to tell a snake story, but all the facts had to be
recited to reveal the real conditions.
It was forty-five years ago, and the sensations of the time are vivid
to this day; and it doesn't even matter that the offender was not a
rattler, but only an honest, little, cold-footed tree-toad, trying to
get warmed up. But he frightened me as badly as the biggest rattler on
the St. Mary's could, and I helped him to make a hop that beat the
record of Mark Twain's jumping-frog in his best days.
But life on the plains was not a continued succession of discomforts.
The dyspeptic could well afford to make such a journey to gain the
appetite and the good digestion. The absence of annoying insect life
during the night, and the pure, invigorating air, makes sleep
refreshing and health-giving. For a month at a time we have lain down
to sleep, looking up at the stars, without the fear of catching cold,
or feeling a drop of dew. There are long dreary reaches of plains to
pass that are wearisome to the eye and the body, but the mountain
scenery is nowhere more picturesquely beautiful.
At that time the sportsman could have a surfeit in all kinds of game,
by branching off from the lines of travel and taking the chances of
losing his scalp. Herds of antelope were seen every day feeding in the
valleys, while farther away there were buffalo by the hundred
thousand. The great butchery of these noble animals had then but
fairly begun. To-day, there still live but three small herds. Our
company did not call it sport to kill buffalo for amusement. It was
not sport, but butchery. A man could ride up by the side of his victim
and kill him with a pistol.
It was among our rules to allow no team animal to be used in the
chase. But I forgot myself once and violated the rule. We were resting
that day in camp. In the distance I saw two hunters after a huge
buffalo bull, coming toward our camp. I saw by the direction that one
could ride around the spur of a high hill about a mile distant and
intercept him. We had as a saddle horse of one team an old clay-bank,
which was one of the most solemn horses I have ever seen. His beauty
was in his great strength and his long mane and tail. But he carried
his head on a straight level with his back and never was known to put
on any airs. He stood picketed handy, and seizing a bridle and my gun
I mounted without a saddle and urged the old horse into a lope.
As I turned the spur of the hill, the bull came meeting me fifty yards
away. He was a monster; his tongue protruded, and he was frothing at
the mouth from his long run. He showed no signs of turning from his
road because of my appearance. Just then, when not more than thirty
yards away, my old horse saw him and turned so quickly as to nearly
unseat me. He threw up his head until that great mane of his enveloped
me; and he broke for the camp at a gait no one ever dreamed he
possessed. I did no shooting, but I did the fastest riding I ever
indulged in before or since. It is a fact, that a mad buffalo,
plunging toward you is only pleasant when you can get out of his way.
The slaughter and annihilation of the buffalo is the most atrocious
act ever classed under the head of sport. A few years ago, while
traveling over the Great Northern Railway, I saw at different stations
ricks of bones from a quarter to a third of a mile long, piled up as
high as the tops of the cars, awaiting shipment. I asked one of the
experienced and reliable railway officials of the traffic, and he
informed me that "Not less than 26,000 car loads of buffalo bones had
been shipped over the Great Northern Railroad to the bone factories;
and not one in a thousand of the remains had ever been touched." The
weight of a full-sized buffalo's bones is about sixty pounds. The
traffic is still enormous along these northern lines. If the Indian
had any sentiment it would likely be called out as he wanders over the
plains and gathers up the dry bones of these well-nigh extinct wild
herds, that fed and clothed his tribe through so many generations.
I have seen beautiful horses, but never saw any half so handsome as
the wild horses upon the plains. The tame horse, however well groomed,
is despoiled of his grandeur. He compares with his wild brother as the
plebeian compares with royalty. I saw a beautiful race between two
Greasers who were chasing a herd of wild horses. They were running
parallel with the road I was traveling, and I spurred up and ran by
their side some four hundred yards distant, and had a chance to study
them for many miles.
I afterward saw a handsome stallion that had just been caught. He was
tied and in a corral, but if one approached he would jump at him and
strike and kick as savagely as possible. His back showed saddle marks,
which proved that he had not always been the wild savage he had then
become. The mountains and hills where the wild horses were then most
numerous were covered with wild oats, which gave the country the
appearance of large cultivation.
Among the interesting facts which the traveler on the great plains
learns, and often to his discomfort, is the deception as to distance.
He sees something of interest and resolves "it is but two miles away,"
but the chances are that it will prove to be eight or ten miles. The
country is made up of great waves. Looking off you see the top of a
wave, and when you get there a valley that you did not see, stretches
away for miles.
We always tried to treat our Indian guests courteously, but they were
often voted a nuisance. While cooking our supper they would often form
a circle, twenty or thirty of them sitting on the ground, and they
looked so longingly at the bread and ham and coffee, that it almost
took one's appetite away. We could only afford to give the squaws what
was left. To fill up such a crowd would have soon ended our stock of
supplies.
One of the things that made an Indian grunt, and even laugh, was to
see our cook baking pancakes in a long-handled frying pan. To turn the
cake over he tossed it in the air and caught it as it came down. A
cook on the plains that could not do that was not up in his business.
Except upon the mountains and rocky canyons, the roads were as good as
a turnpike; but some of the climbs and descents were fearful, while an
occasional canyon, miles long, looked wholly impassable without
breaking the legs of half the animals and smashing the wagons.
The old plainsmen had a way of setting tires upon a loose wheel that
was novel. Our tires became very loose from the long dry reaches. We
took off the tire, tacked a slip of fresh hide entirely around the
rim, heated the tire, dropped it on the wheel and quickly chucked it
into the water and had wheels as good as new.
Our company was three nights and two days and nearly a half in
crossing the widest desert. It was a beautiful firm road until we
struck deep sand, which extended out for eleven miles from Carson
River into the desert. Before starting we emptied our rubber clothes
sacks, filled them with water, hauled hay, which we had cured, to feed
our mules, and made the trip as pleasantly as if upon green sod. The
lack of water on this wide desert had left many thousand bones of dead
animals bleaching upon its wastes. Many wells had been dug in various
places and we tested the water in them and found it intensely salt.
The entire space is evidently the bed of a salt sea.
In the long reaches where no trees of any kind grow, the entire
dependence of the early pioneer for fire was upon buffalo chips, the
animal charcoal of the plains. It makes a good fire and is in no way
offensive. And if no iron horse had invaded the plains, buffalo chips
would be selling all along the route to-day at forty dollars per ton.
One of the pleasant historical events in which our company naturally
takes a pride is, that one night we camped upon a little mountain
stream near where the city of Denver now stands; the whole land as
wild as nature made it. Many years afterward one of the little band,
Frank Denver, was elected Lieutenant-Governor of Colorado, and Gen. J.
W. Denver was among the most prominent politicians of the coast, and
the city of Denver was named in honor of them. I have thus, as
concisely as I could, sketched life as it was in a wagon journey
across the plains forty-five and fifty years ago. It was a memorable
experience, and none who took it will fail to have of it a vivid
remembrance as long as life lasts. If its annoyances were many, its
novelties and pleasing remembrances were so numerous as to make it the
notable journey of even the most adventurous life.
APPENDIX.
NARRATIVE OF THE WINTER TRIP ACROSS THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS OF DR. MARCUS
WHITMAN AND HON. A. LAWRENCE LOVEJOY, IN 1842, FURNISHED BY REQUEST,
FROM MR. LOVEJOY, THE SURVIVOR.
Oregon City, Feb. 14, 1876.
Dr. Atkinson--Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I will
endeavor to give you some idea of the journey of the late Dr. Marcus
Whitman from Oregon to Washington, in the winter of 1842 and '43.
True, I was the Doctor's traveling companion in that arduous and
trying journey, but it would take volumes to describe the many
thrilling scenes and dangerous hair-breadth escapes we passed through,
traveling, as we did, almost the entire route through a hostile Indian
country, and enduring much suffering from the intense cold and snow we
had to encounter in passing over the Rocky Mountains in midwinter. I
crossed the plains in company with Dr. White and others, and arrived
at Waiilatpui the last of September, 1842. My party camped some two
miles below Dr. Whitman's place. The day after our arrival Dr. Whitman
called at our camp and asked me to accompany him to his house, as he
wished me to draw up a memorial to Congress to prohibit the sale of
ardent spirits in this country. The Doctor was alive to the interests
of this coast, and manifested a very warm desire to have it properly
represented at Washington; and after numerous conversations with the
Doctor touching the future prosperity of Oregon, he asked me one day
in a very anxious manner, if I thought it would be possible for him to
cross the mountains at that time of the year. I told him I thought he
could. He next asked: "Will you accompany me?" After a little
reflection, I told him I would. His arrangements were rapidly made.
Through the kindness of Mr. McKinly, then stationed at Fort Walla
Walla, Mrs. Whitman was provided with suitable escorts to the
Willamette Valley, where she was to remain with her missionary friends
until the Doctor's return. We left Waiilatpui, October 3, 1842,
traveled rapidly, reached Fort Hall in eleven days, remained two days
to recruit and make a few purchases. The Doctor engaged a guide and we
left for Fort Uintah. We changed from a direct route to one more
southern, through the Spanish country via Salt Lake, Taos and Santa
Fe. On our way from Fort Hall to Fort Uintah, we had terribly severe
weather. The snows retarded our progress and blinded the trail so we
lost much time. After arriving at Fort Uintah and making some
purchases for our trip, we took a new guide and started for Fort
Uncompahgra, situated on the waters of Grand River, in the Spanish
country. Here our stay was very short.
We took a new guide and started for Taos. After being out some four or
five days we encountered a terrible snow storm, which forced us to
seek shelter in a deep ravine, where we remained snowed in for four
days, at which time the storm had somewhat abated, and we attempted to
make our way out upon the high lands, but the snow was so deep and the
winds so piercing and cold we were compelled to return to camp and
wait a few days for a change of weather.
Our next effort to reach the high lands was more successful; but after
spending several days wandering around in the snow without making much
headway, our guide told us that the deep snow had so changed the face
of the country that he was completely lost and could take us no
farther. This was a terrible blow to the Doctor, but he was determined
not to give it up without another effort. We at once agreed that the
Doctor should take the guide and return to Fort Uncompahgra and get a
new guide, and I remain in camp with the animals until he could
return; which he did in seven days with our new guide, and we were now
on our route again. Nothing of much importance occurred but hard and
slow traveling through deep snow until we reached Grand River, which
was frozen on either side about one-third across. Although so
intensely cold, the current was so very rapid, about one-third of the
river in the center was not frozen. Our guide thought it would be
dangerous to attempt to cross the river in its present condition, but
the Doctor, nothing daunted, was the first to take the water. He
mounted his horse and the guide and myself shoved the Doctor and his
horse off the ice into the foaming stream. Away he went completely
under water, horse and all, but directly came up, and after buffeting
the rapid, foaming current he reached the ice on the opposite shore a
long way down the stream. He leaped from his horse upon the ice and
soon had his noble animal by his side. The guide and myself forced in
the pack animals and followed the Doctor's example, and were soon on
the opposite shore drying our frozen clothes by a comfortable fire. We
reached Taos in about thirty days, suffering greatly from cold and
scarcity of provisions. We were compelled to use mule meat, dogs and
such other animals as came in our reach. We remained at Taos a few
days only, and started for Bent's and Savery's Fort, on the headwaters
of the Arkansas River. When we had been out some fifteen or twenty
days, we met George Bent, a brother of Gov. Bent, on his way to Taos.
He told us that a party of mountain men would leave Bent's Fort in a
few days for St. Louis, but said we would not reach the fort with our
pack animals in time to join the party. The Doctor being very anxious
to join the party so he could push on as rapidly as possible to
Washington, concluded to leave myself and guide with the animals, and
he himself, taking the best animal, with some bedding and a small
allowance of provision, started alone, hoping by rapid travel to reach
the fort in time to join the St. Louis party, but to do so he would
have to travel on the Sabbath, something we had not done before.
Myself and guide traveled on slowly and reached the fort in four days,
but imagine our astonishment, when on making inquiry about the Doctor,
we were told that he had not arrived nor had he been heard of.
I learned that the party for St. Louis was camped at the Big
Cottonwood, forty miles from the fort, and at my request, Mr. Savery
sent an express telling the party not to proceed any further until we
learned something of Dr. Whitman's whereabouts, as he wished to
accompany them to St. Louis. Being furnished by the gentlemen of the
fort with a suitable guide, I started in search of the Doctor, and
traveled up the river about one hundred miles. I learned from the
Indians that a man had been there, who was lost, and was trying to
find Bent's Fort. They said they had directed him to go down the
river, and how to find the fort. I knew from their description it was
the Doctor. I returned to the fort as rapidly as possible, but the
Doctor had not arrived. We had all become very anxious about him.
Late in the afternoon he came in very much fatigued and desponding;
said that he knew that God had bewildered him to punish him for
traveling on the Sabbath. During the whole trip he was very regular in
his morning and evening devotions, and that was the only time I ever
knew him to travel on the Sabbath.
The Doctor remained all night at the fort, starting early on the
following morning to join the St. Louis party. Here we parted. The
Doctor proceeded to Washington. I remained at Bent's Fort until Spring,
and joined the Doctor the following July, near Fort Laramie, on his
way to Oregon, in company with a train of emigrants. He often
expressed himself to me about the remainder of his journey, and the
manner in which he was received at Washington, and by the Board for
Foreign Missions at Boston. He had several interviews with President
Tyler, Secretary Webster, and a good many members of Congress--Congress
being in session at that time. He urged the immediate termination of
the treaty with Great Britain relative to this country, and begged
them to extend the laws of the United States over Oregon, and asked
for liberal inducements to emigrants to come to this coast. He was
very cordially and kindly received by the President and members of
Congress, and, without doubt, the Doctor's interviews resulted greatly
to the benefit of Oregon and to this coast. But his reception at the
Board for Foreign Missions was not so cordial. The Board was inclined
to censure him for leaving his post. The Doctor came to the frontier
settlement, urging the citizens to emigrate to the Pacific. He left
Independence, Mo., in the month of May, 1843, with an emigrant train
of about one thousand souls for Oregon. With his energy and knowledge
of the country, he rendered them great assistance in fording the many
dangerous and rapid streams they had to cross, and in finding a wagon
road through many of the narrow rugged passes of the mountains. He
arrived at Waiilatpui about one year from the time he left, to find
his home sadly dilapidated, his flouring mill burned. The Indians
were very hostile to the Doctor for leaving them, and without doubt,
owing to his absence, the seeds of assassination were sown by those
haughty Cayuse Indians which resulted in his and Mrs. Whitman's death,
with many others, although it did not take place until four years
later.
I remain with great respect,
A. LAWRENCE LOVEJOY.
[Illustration: HEE-OH-KS-TE-KIN.--The Rabbit's Skin Leggins.
(Drawn by George Catlin.)
The only one of five Nez Perces Chiefs (some say there were only
four) who visited St. Louis in 1832, that lived to return to his
people to tell the story.]
[Illustration: HCO-A-HCO-A-HCOTES-MIN.--No Horns on His Head.
This one died on his return journey near the mouth of Yellowstone
River.
This is what Catlin says himself: "These two men when I
painted them, were in beautiful Sioux dresses, which had
been presented to them in a talk with the Sioux, who treated
them very kindly, while passing through the Sioux country.
These two men were part of a delegation that came across the
Rocky Mountains to St. Louis, a few years since, to inquire
for the truth of a representation which they said some white
man had made among them, "That our religion was better than
theirs, and that they would be all lost if they did not
embrace it." Two old and venerable men of this party died in
St. Louis, and I traveled two thousand miles, companions
with these two fellows, toward their own country, and became
much pleased with their manners and dispositions. When I
first heard the report of the object of this extraordinary
mission across the mountains, I could scarcely believe it;
but, on conversing with Gen. Clark, on a future occasion, I
was fully convinced of the fact."
See Catlin's Eight Years, and Smithsonian Report for 1885,
2nd part.]
DR. WHITMAN'S LETTER.
TO THE HON. JAMES M. PORTER, SECRETARY OF WAR, WITH A BILL TO BE LAID
BEFORE CONGRESS, FOR ORGANIZATION OF OREGON.
* * * * *
The Rev. Myron Eells obtained from the original files of the office of
the Secretary of War two valuable papers. They bear this endorsement:
"Marcus Whitman inclosing synopsis of a bill, with his views in
reference to importance of the Oregon Territory, War. 382--rec. June
22, 1844.
To the Hon. James M. Porter, Secretary of War:
Sir--In compliance with the request you did me the honor to make last
Winter, while in Washington, I herewith transmit to you the synopsis
of a bill which, if it could be adopted, would, according to my
experience and observation, prove highly conducive to the best
interests of the United States, generally, to Oregon, where I have
resided for more than seven years as a missionary, and to the Indian
tribes that inhabit the immediate country. The Government will now
doubtless for the first time be apprised through you, or by means of
this communication, of the immense immigration of families to Oregon
which has taken place this year. I have, since our interview, been
instrumental in piloting across the route described in the
accompanying bill, and which is the only eligible wagon road, no less
than three hundred families, consisting of one thousand persons of
both sexes, with their wagons, amounting to one hundred and twenty,
six hundred and ninety-four oxen, and seven hundred and seventy-three
loose cattle.
The emigrants are from different States, but principally from
Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and New York. The majority of them are
farmers, lured by the prospect of bounty in lands, by the reported
fertility of the soil, and by the desire to be first among those who
are planting our institutions on the Pacific Coast. Among them are
artisans of every trade, comprising, with farmers, the very best
material for a new colony. As pioneers, these people have undergone
incredible hardships, and having now safely passed the Blue Mountain
Range with their wagons and effects, have established a durable road
from Missouri to Oregon, which will serve to mark permanently the
route for larger numbers, each succeeding year, while they have
practically demonstrated that wagons drawn by horses or oxen can cross
the Rocky Mountains to the Columbia River, contrary to all the
sinister assertions of all those who pretended it to be impossible.
In their slow progress, these persons have encountered, as in all
former instances, and as all succeeding emigrants must, if this or
some similar bill be not passed by Congress, the continual fear of
Indian aggression, the actual loss through them of horses, cattle and
other property, and the great labor of transporting an adequate amount
of provisions for so long a journey. The bill herewith proposed would,
in a great measure, lessen these inconveniences by the establishment
of posts, which, while having the possessed power to keep the Indians
in check, thus doing away with the necessity of military vigilance on
the part of the traveler by day and night, would be able to furnish
them in transit with fresh supplies of provisions, diminishing the
original burdens of the emigrants, and finding thus a ready and
profitable market for their produce--a market that would, in my
opinion, more than suffice to defray all the current expenses of such
post. The present party is supposed to have expended no less than
$2,000 at Laramie's and Bridger's Forts, and as much more at Fort Hall
and Fort Boise, two of the Hudson Bay Company's stations. These are at
present the only stopping places in a journey of 2,200 miles, and the
only place where additional supplies can be obtained, even at the
enormous rate of charge, called mountain prices, i. e., $50 the
hundred for flour, and $50 the hundred for coffee; the same for sugar,
powder, etc.
Many cases of sickness and some deaths took place among those who
accomplished the journey this season, owing, in a great measure, to
the uninterrupted use of meat, salt and fresh, with flour, which
constitute the chief articles of food they are able to convey on their
wagons, and this could be obviated by the vegetable productions which
the posts in contemplation could very profitably afford them. Those
who rely on hunting as an auxiliary support, are at present unable to
have their arms repaired when out of order; horses and oxen become
tender-footed and require to be shod on this long journey, sometimes
repeatedly, and the wagons repaired in a variety of ways. I mention
these as valuable incidents to the proposed measure, as it will also
be found to tend in many other incidental ways to benefit the
migratory population of the United States choosing to take this
direction, and on these accounts, as well as for the immediate use of
the posts themselves, they ought to be provided with the necessary
shops and mechanics, which would at the same time exhibit the several
branches of civilized art to the Indians.
The outlay in the first instance would be but trifling. Forts like
those of the Hudson Bay Company's surrounded by walls enclosing all
the buildings, and constructed almost entirely of adobe, or sun-dried
bricks, with stone foundations only, can be easily and cheaply
erected.
There are very eligible places for as many of these as the Government
will find necessary, at suitable distances, not further than one or
two hundred miles apart, at the main crossing of the principal streams
that now form impediments to the journey, and consequently well
supplied with water, having alluvial bottom lands of a rich quality,
and generally well wooded. If I might be allowed to suggest, the best
sites for said posts, my personal knowledge and observation enable me
to recommend first, the main crossing of the Kansas River, where a
ferry would be very convenient to the traveler, and profitable to the
station having it in charge; next, and about eighty miles distant, the
crossing of the Blue River, where in times of unusual freshet, a ferry
would be in like manner useful; next and distant from one hundred to
one hundred and fifty miles from the last mentioned, the Little Blue,
or Republican Fork of the Kansas; next, and from sixty to one hundred
miles distant from the last mentioned, the point of intersection of
the Platte River; next, and from one hundred to one hundred and fifty
miles distant from the last mentioned, crossing of the South Fork of
the Platte River; next, and about one hundred and eighty or two
hundred miles distant from the last mentioned, Horseshoe Creek, which
is about forty miles west of Laramie's Fork in the Black Hills. Here
is a fine creek for mills and irrigation, good land for cultivation,
fine pasturage, timber and stone for building. Other locations may be
had along the Platte and Sweetwater, on the Green River, or Black's
Forks of the Bear River, near the great Soda Springs, near Fort Hall,
and at suitable places down to the Columbia. These localities are all
of the best description, so situated as to hold a ready intercourse
with the Indians in their passage to and from the ordinary buffalo
hunting grounds, and in themselves so well situated in all other
respects as to be desirable to private enterprise if the usual
advantage of trade existed. Any of the farms above indicated would be
deemed extremely valuable in the States.
The Government cannot long overlook the importance of superintending
the savages that endanger this line of travel, and that are not yet in
treaty with it. Some of these are already well known to be led by
desperate white men and mongrels, who form bandits in the most
difficult passes, and are at all times ready to cut off some lagging
emigrant in the rear of the party, or some adventurous one who may
proceed a few miles in advance, or at night to make a descent upon the
sleeping camp and carry away or kill horses and cattle. This is the
case even now in the commencement of our western immigration, and
when it comes to be more generally known that large quantities of
valuable property and considerable sums of money are yearly carried
over this desolate region, it is feared that an organized banditti
will be instituted. The posts in contemplation would effectually
counteract this. For the purpose they need not, or ought not, to be
military establishments. The trading posts in this country have never
been of such a character, and yet with very few men in them, have for
years kept the surrounding Indians in the most pacific disposition, so
that the traveler feels secure from molestation upon approaching Fort
Laramie, Bridger's Fort, Fort Hall, etc., etc. The same can be
obtained without any considerable expenditure by the Government, while
by investing the officers in charge with competent authority, all
evil-disposed white men, refugees from justice, or discharged
vagabonds from trading posts might be easily removed from among the
Indians and sent to the appropriate States for trial. The Hudson Bay
Company's system of rewards among the savages would soon enable the
posts to root out these desperadoes. A direct and friendly intercourse
with all the tribes, even to the Pacific, might be thus maintained;
the Government would become more intimately acquainted with them, and
they with the Government, and instead of sending to the State courts
a manifestly guilty Indian to be arraigned before a distant tribunal
and acquitted for the want of testimony, by the technicalities of
lawyers and of the law unknown to them, and sent back into the
wilderness loaded with presents as an inducement to further crime, the
post should be enabled to execute summary justice, as if the criminal
had been already condemned by his tribe, because the tribe will be
sure to deliver up none but the party whom they know to be guilty.
They will in that way receive the trial of their peers, and secure
within themselves to all intents and purposes, if not technically the
trial by jury, yet the spirit of that trial. There are many powers
which ought to reside in some person on this extended route for the
convenience and even necessity of the public.
In this the emigrant and the people of Oregon are no more interested
than the resident inhabitants of the States. At present no person is
authorized to administer an oath, or legally attest a fact, from the
western line of Missouri to the Pacific. The immigrant cannot dispose
of his property at home, although an opportunity ever so advantageous
to him should occur after he passes the western border of Missouri. No
one can here make a legal demand and protest of a promissory note or
bill of exchange. No one can secure the valuable testimony of a
mountaineer, or an immigrating witness after he has entered this, at
present, lawless country. Causes do exist and will continually arise,
in which the private rights of citizens are, and will be, seriously
prejudiced by such an utter absence of legal authority. A contraband
trade from Mexico, the introduction from that country of liquors to be
sold among the Indians west of the Kansas River, is already carried on
with the mountain trappers, and very soon the teas, silks, nankeens,
spices, camphor and opium of the East Indies will find their way, duty
free, through Oregon, across the mountains and into the States, unless
Custom House officers along this line find an interest in intercepting
them.
Your familiarity with the Government policy, duties and interest
renders it unnecessary for me to more than hint at the several objects
intended by the enclosed bill, and any enlargement upon the topics
here suggested as inducements to its adoption would be quite
superfluous, if not impertinent. The very existence of such a system
as the one above recommended suggests the utility of postoffices and
mail arrangements, which it is the wish of all who now live in Oregon
to have granted them; and I need only add that contracts for this
purpose will be readily taken at reasonable rates for transporting the
mail across from Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia in forty days,
with fresh horses at each of the contemplated posts. The ruling
policy proposed regards the Indians as the police of the country, who
are to be relied upon to keep the peace, not only for themselves, but
to repel lawless white men and prevent banditti, under the solitary
guidance of the superintendents of the several posts, aided by a well
directed system to induce the punishment of crime. It will only be
after the failure of these means to procure the delivery or punishment
of violent, lawless and savage acts of aggression, that a band or
tribe should be regarded as conspirators against the peace, or
punished accordingly by force of arms.
Hoping that these suggestions may meet your approbation, and conduce
to the future interest of our growing country, I have the honor to be,
Honorable Sir,
Your obedient servant,
MARCUS WHITMAN.
COPY OF PROPOSED BILL PREPARED BY DR. MARCUS WHITMAN IN 1843 AND SENT
TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR.
A bill to promote safe intercourse with the Territory of Oregon, to
suppress violent acts of aggression on the part of certain Indian
tribes west of the Indian Territory, Neocho, better protect the
revenue, for the transportation of the mail and for other purposes.
SYNOPSIS OF THE ACT.
Section 1.--To be enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, that from and
after the passage of this act, there shall be established at suitable
distances, and in convenient and proper places, to be selected by the
President, a chain of agricultural posts or farming stations,
extending at intervals from the present most usual crossing, of the
Kansas River, west of the western boundary of the State of Missouri,
thence ascending the Platte River on the southern border, thence
through the valley of the Sweetwater River to Fort Hall, and thence to
settlements of the Willamette in the Territory of Oregon. Which said
posts will have for their object to set examples of civilized
industry to the several Indian tribes, to keep them in proper
subjection to the laws of the United States, to suppress violent and
lawless acts along the said line of the frontier, to facilitate the
passage of troops and munitions of war into and out of the said
Territory of Oregon, and the transportation of the mail as hereinafter
provided.
Section 2.--And be it further enacted, that there shall reside at each
of said posts, one superintendent having charge thereof, with full
power to carry into effect the provisions of this act, subject always
to such instructions as the President may impose; one deputy
superintendent to act in like manner in case of death, removal or
absence of the superintendent, and such artificers and laborers, not
exceeding twenty in number, as the said superintendent may deem
necessary for the conduct and safety of said posts, all of whom shall
be subject to appointment and liable to removal.
Section 3.--And be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of
the President to cause to be erected, at each of the said posts,
buildings suitable for the purpose herein contemplated, to-wit, one
main dwelling house, one storehouse, one blacksmith's and one
gunsmith's shop, one carpenter shop, with such and so many other
buildings, for storing the products and supplies of said posts as he
from time to time may deem expedient. To supply the same with all
necessary mechanical and agricultural implements, to perform the
labor incident thereto, and with all other articles he may judge
requisite and proper for the safety, comfort and defense thereof.
To cause said posts in his discretion to be visited by detachments of
troops stationed on the western frontier, to suppress through said
posts the sale of munitions of war to the Indian tribes in case of
hostilities, and annually to lay before Congress, at its general
session, full returns, verified by the oaths of the several
superintendents, of the several acts by them performed and of the
condition of said posts, with the income and expenditures growing out
of the same respectively.
Section 4.--And be it further enacted, that the said superintendents
shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent
of the Senate for the term of four years, with a salary of two hundred
dollars payable out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise
appropriated; that they shall respectively take an oath before the
District Judge of the United States for the Western District of
Missouri, faithfully to discharge the duties imposed on them in and by
the provisions of this act, and give a bond to the President of the
United States and to his successors in office and assigns, and with
sufficient security to be approved by the said judge in at least the
penalty of twenty-five thousand dollars, to indemnify the President
or his successors or assigns for any unlawful acts by them performed,
or injuries committed by virtue of their offices, which said bonds may
at any time be assigned for prosecution against the said respective
superintendents and their sureties upon application to the said judge
at the instance of the United States District Attorney or of any
private party aggrieved.
Section 5.--And be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of
said superintendents to cause the soil adjacent to said posts, in
extent not exceeding 640 acres, to be cultivated in a farmer-like
manner and to produce such articles of culture as in their judgment
shall be deemed the most profitable and available for the maintenance
of said posts, for the supply of troops and other Government agents
which may from time to time resort thereto, and to render the products
aforesaid adequate to defraying all the expenses of labor in and about
said posts, and the salary of the said deputy superintendent, without
resort to the Treasury of the United States, remitting to the
Secretary of the Treasury yearly a sworn statement of the same, with
the surplus moneys, if any there shall be.
Section 6.--And be it further enacted, that the said several
superintendents of posts shall, ex-officia, be Superintendents of
Indian Affairs west of the Indian Territory, Neocho, subordinate to
and under the full control of the Commissioner-General of Indian
affairs at Washington. That they shall by virtue of their offices, be
conservators of the peace, with full powers to the extent hereinafter
prescribed, in all cases of crimes and misdemeanors, whether committed
by citizens of the United States or by Indians within the frontier
line aforesaid. That they shall have power to administer oaths, to be
valid in the several courts of the United States, to perpetuate
testimony to be used in said courts, to take acknowledgments of deeds
and other specialties in writing, to take probate of wills and the
testaments executed upon the said frontier, of which the testators
shall have died in transit between the State of Missouri and the
Territory of Oregon, and to do and certify all notarial acts, and to
perform the ceremony of marriage, with as legal effect as if the said
several acts above enumerated had been performed by the magistrates of
any of the States having power to perform the service. That they shall
have power to arrest and remove from the line aforesaid all disorderly
white persons, and all persons exciting the Indians to hostilities,
and to surrender up all fugitives from justice upon the requisition of
the Governor of any of the States; that they shall have power to
demand of the several tribes within the said frontier line, the
surrender of any Indian or Indians committing acts in contradiction of
the laws of the United States, and in case of such surrender, to
inflict punishment thereon according to the tenor and effect of said
laws, without further trial, presuming such offending Indian or
Indians to have received the trial and condemnation of the tribe to
which he or they may belong; to intercept and seize all articles of
contraband trade, whether introduced into their jurisdiction in
violation of the acts imposing duties on imports, or of the acts to
regulate trade and intercourse with the several Indian tribes, to
transmit the same to the Marshal of the Western District of Missouri,
together with the proofs necessary for the confiscation thereof, and
in every such case the Superintendent shall be entitled to receive
one-half the sale value of the said confiscated articles, and the
other half be disposed of as in like cases arising under the existing
revenue laws.
Section 7.--And be it further enacted, that the several
Superintendents shall have and keep at their several Posts, seals of
office for the legal authentication of their public acts herein
enumerated, and that the said seals shall have as a device the
spread-eagle, with the words, "U. S. Superintendency of the Frontier,"
engraved thereon.
Section 8.--And be it further enacted, that the said Superintendents
shall be entitled, in addition to the salary hereinbefore granted, the
following perquisites and fees of office, to-wit: For the
acknowledgment of all deeds and specialties, the sum of one dollar;
for the administration of all oaths, twenty-five cents; for the
authentication of all copies of written instruments, one dollar; for
the perpetuation of all testimony to be used in the United States
courts, by the folio, fifty cents; for the probate of all wills and
testaments, by the folio, fifty cents; for all other writing done, by
the folio, fifty cents; for solemnizing marriages, two dollars,
including the certificate to be given to the parties; for the
surrender of fugitives from justice, in addition to the necessary
costs and expenses of arrest and detention, which shall be verified to
the demanding Governor by the affidavit of the Superintendent, ten
dollars.
Section 9.--And be it further enacted, that the said Superintendents
shall, by virtue of their offices, be postmasters at the several
stations for which they were appointed, and as such, shall be required
to facilitate the transportation of mail to and from the Territory of
Oregon and the nearest postoffice within the State of Missouri,
subject to all the regulations of the Postoffice Department, and with
all the immunities and privileges of the postmasters in the several
States, except that no additional compensation shall be allowed for
such services; and it is hereby made the duty of the Postmaster
General to cause proposals to be issued for the transportation of the
mail along the line of said Posts to and from said Territory within
six months after the passage of this Act.
Section 10.--And be it further enacted, that the sum of ---- thousand
dollars be, and the same is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in
the treasury not otherwise appropriated, for the purpose of carrying
into effect the several provisions of this act.
DR. WHITMAN'S SUGGESTIONS TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR, AND TO THE
COMMISSIONERS ON INDIAN AFFAIRS AND OREGON, IN THE U. S. SENATE AND
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, DATED OCTOBER 16, 1847.
Perhaps the last work or writing of a public character done by Dr.
Whitman, bears the date of Waiilatpui, October 16th, 1847. It was only
one month before the massacre, and addressed as follows:
To the Honorable the Secretary of War, to the Committees on Indian
Affairs and Oregon, in the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States, the following suggestions are respectfully submitted:
1st. That all Stations of the United States for troops be kept upon
the borders of some State or Territory, when designed for the
protection and regulation of Indian territory.
2nd. That a line of Posts be established along the traveled route to
Oregon, at a distance, so far as practicable, of not more than 50
miles. That these Posts be located so as to afford the best
opportunity for agriculture and grazing, to facilitate the production
of provisions, and the care of horses and cattle, for the use and
support of said Posts, and to furnish supplies to all passers through
Indian territory, especially to mail-carriers and troops.
These Posts should be placed wherever a bridge or ferry would be
required to facilitate the transport of the mail, and travel of troops
or immigrants through the country.
In all fertile places, these Posts would support themselves, and give
facilities for the several objects just named in transit. The other
Posts, situated where the soil would not admit of cultivation, would
still be useful, as they would afford the means of taking care of
horses, and other facilities of transporting the mails.
These Posts could be supplied with provisions from others in the
vicinity. A few large Posts in the more fertile regions could supply
those more in the mountains.
On the other hand, military Posts can only be well supplied when near
the settlements. In this way all transports for the supply of interior
military Posts would be superseded.
The number of men at these Posts might vary from five to twenty-five.
In the interior the buildings may be built with adobes, that is,
large, unburnt bricks; and in form and size should much resemble the
common Indian Trading Posts, with outer walls and bastions.
They would thus afford the same protection in any part of the
territory as the common Trading Posts.
If provided with a small amount of goods, such goods could be bartered
with the Indians for necessary supplies, as well as, on proper
occasions, given to chiefs as a reward for punishing those who disturb
or offend against the peace of the territory.
By these means the Indians would become the protectors of those
Stations.
At the same time by being under one General Superintendent, subject to
the inspection of the Government, the Indians may be concentrated
under one general influence.
By such a superintendence the Indians would be prevented from fleeing
from one place to another to secrete themselves from justice. By this
simple arrangement all the need of troops in the interior would be
obviated, unless in some instance when the Indians fail to co-operate
with the Superintendent of the Post or Posts, for the promotion of
peace.
When troops shall be called for, to visit the interior, the farming
Posts will be able to furnish them with supplies in passing so as to
make their movements speedy and efficient.
A code of laws for the Indian territory might constitute as civil
magistrates the first, or second, in command of these Posts.
The same arrangement would be equally well adapted for the respective
routes to California and New Mexico.
Many reasons may be urged for the establishment of these Posts, among
which are the following:
1st. By means of such Posts, all acts of the Indians would be under a
full and complete inspection. All cases of murder, theft, or other
outrage would be brought to light and the proper punishment inflicted.
2nd. In most cases this may be done by giving the Chiefs a small fee
that they may either punish the offenders themselves, or deliver them
up to the commander of the Post. In such cases it should be held that
their peers have adjudged them guilty before punishment is inflicted.
3rd. By means of these Posts it will become safe and easy for the
smallest number to pass and repass from Oregon to the States; and with
a civil magistrate at each Station, all idle wandering white men
without passports can be sent out of the territory.
4th. In this way all banditti for robbing the mails or travelers would
be prevented, as well as all vagabonds removed from among the Indians.
5th. Immigrants now lose horses and other stock by the Indians,
commencing from the border of the States to the Willamette. It is much
to the praise of our countrymen that they bear so long with the
Indians when our Government has done so little to enable them to pass
in safety.
For one man to lose five or six horses is not a rare occurrence, which
loss is felt heavily, when most of the family are compelled to walk,
to favor a reduced and failing team.
6th. The Indians along the line take courage from the forbearance of
the immigrants. The timid Indians on the Columbia have this year in
open day attacked several parties of wagons, numbering from two to
seven, and robbed them, being armed with guns, bows and arrows, knives
and axes. Mr. Glenday from St. Charles, Mo., the bearer of this
communication to the States, with Mr. Bear, his companion, rescued
seven wagons from being plundered, and the people from gross insults,
rescuing one woman, when the Indians were in the act of taking all the
clothes from her person. The men were mostly stripped of their shirts
and pantaloons at the time.
7th. The occasional supplies to passing immigrants, as well as the aid
which may be afforded to the sick and needy, are not the least of the
important results to follow from these establishments.
A profitable exchange to the Posts and immigrants, as also to others
journeying through the country, can be made by exchanging worn-out
horses and cattle for fresh ones.
8th. It scarcely need be mentioned what advantage the Government will
derive by a similar exchange for the transport of the mail, as also
for the use of troops passing through.
9th. To suppress the use of ardent spirits among the Indians it will
be requisite to regard the giving or furnishing of it in any manner as
a breach of the laws and peace of the territory.
All Superintendents of Posts, traders, and responsible persons, should
be charged on oath, that they will not sell, give or furnish in any
manner, ardent spirits to the Indians.
10th. Traders should be regarded by reason of the license they have to
trade in the territory, as receiving a privilege, and therefore should
be required to give and maintain good credentials of character. For
this reason they may be required to send in the testimony of all their
clerks and assistants of all ranks, to show under the solemnity of an
oath, that the laws in this respect have not been violated or evaded.
If at any time it became apparent to the Superintendent of any Post
that the laws have been violated, he might be required to make full
inquiry of all in any way connected with or assisting in the trade, to
ascertain whether the laws were broken or their breach connived at.
This will avail for the regular licensed trader.
11th. For illicit traders and smugglers it will suffice to instruct
Commanders of Posts to offer a reward to the Indians for the safe
delivery of any and all such persons as bring liquors among them,
together with the liquors thus brought.
It is only on the borders of the respective States and Territories
that any interruption will be found in the operation of these
principles.
12th. Here also a modification of the same principle enacted by the
several States and Territories might produce equally happy results.
13th. The mail may, with a change of horses every fifty miles, be
carried at the rate of one hundred to one hundred and fifty miles in
twenty-four hours.
14th. The leading reason in favor of adopting the aforesaid
regulations would be, that by this means the Indians would become our
faithful allies. In fact, they will be the best possible police for
such a territory. This police can safely be relied upon when under a
good supervision. Troops will only be required to correct their faults
in cases of extreme misconduct.
15th. In closing, I would remark that I have conversed with many of
the principal fur-traders of the American and Hudson Bay Companies,
all of whom agree that the several regulations suggested in this
communication will accomplish the object proposed, were suitable men
appointed for its management and execution.
Respectfully yours,
MARCUS WHITMAN.
Waiilatpui, Oct. 16th, 1847.
End of Project Gutenberg's How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon, by Oliver W. Nixon