Alter, J. Cecil: _James Bridger, Trapper, Frontiersman, Scout and
Guide_, Shepard Book Company, Salt Lake City 1925.
Chittenden, Hiram Martin: _A History of the American Fur Trade of the
Far West_, Academic Reprints, Stanford, California 1954.
Mattes, Merrill J.: "Jackson Hole, Crossroads of the Western Fur Trade,
1807-1840, _The Pacific Northwest Quarterly_, Volume 37, April,
1946 and Volume 39, January, 1948.
Morgan, Dale: _Jedediah Smith and the Opening of the West_, The
Bobbs-Merrill Company, Incorporated, New York 1953.
Sullivan, Maurice S.: _Jedediah Smith, Trader and Trailbreaker_, Press
of the Pioneers, Incorporated, New York 1936.
Sunder, John E.: _Bill Sublette, Mountain Man_, University of Oklahoma
Press, Norman, Oklahoma 1959.
Vestal, Stanley: _Jim Bridger, Mountain Man_, William Morrow and
Company, New York 1946.
[Illustration: Riverboat]
THE DOANE EXPEDITION OF 1876-77
FORT ELLIS, MONTANA TERRITORY TO FORT HALL, IDAHO
By Merlin K. Potts, _former Chief Park Naturalist_
Telegram
St. Paul, Minnesota
October 4, 1876
To the
Commanding Officer
Fort Ellis, Montana Territory
Under authority received from the Lieut-General, 1st. Lieut. G. C.
Doane, 2d Cavalry is ordered to make exploration of Snake River from
Yellowstone Lake to Columbia River. He will be furnished a mounted
detail of one noncommissioned officer and five men of the 2d Cavalry.
The pack animals, 60 days rations for party, and the necessary camp
equipage. You will cause also a small boat to be built by the
quartermaster for Lieut. Doane's use, under his directions. Lieut.
Doane will send back his Detachment from mouth of Snake River to Fort
Ellis, and will himself return to his post via San Francisco,
California, remaining at the latter place long enough to make his
report.
By command of Gen. Terry
(Signed) Edw. Smith
Capt. of A. D. C.
Headquarters, Fort Ellis, Montana Territory
October 7, 1876
Special Orders
No. 142
Extract
II. 1st. Lieut. G. C. Doane, 2d Cavalry is hereby relieved from duty
at his post and will comply with telegraphic instructions from
Headquarters, Department of Dakota, Saint Paul, Minn. date Oct. 4th,
1876.
III. The following named enlisted men are hereby detailed for detached
service mounted, and will report to 1st. Lieut. G. C. Doane, 2d
Cavalry for duty.
Sergeant, Fred Server, Company "G" 2d Cavalry
Private, F. R. Applegate, Company "G" 2d Cavalry
Private, Daniel Starr, Company "F" 2d Cavalry
Private, William White, Company "F" 2d Cavalry
Private, John B. Warren, Company "H" 2d Cavalry
Private C. R. Davis, Company "L" 2d Cavalry
They will be furnished with sixty (60) days rations.
IV. The Post Quartermaster is hereby directed to furnish 1st. Lieut.
G. C. Doane, 2d Cavalry with pack animals, camp equipage and boat,
necessary, to enable him to carry out the telegraphic instructions
from Headquarters, Department of Dakota, Saint Paul, Minn., dated
October 4, 1876.
By order of Captain Ball
(Signed) Chas. B. Schofield
2nd Lieut. 2nd Cavalry
Post Adjutant
The foregoing orders initiated one of the most unusual and bizarre
expeditions in the history of the west. Unusual because of the lack of
judgment shown in selecting late fall and winter for the journey;
bizzarre in the impracticability, in fact the impossibility, of
execution of the orders.
Lieutenant Gustavus C. Doane, selected to lead the party, was without
question as capable a leader as could have been chosen. Lieutenant Doane
had been detailed, with 5 cavalrymen, to accompany General Henry D.
Washburn, Nathaniel Pitt Langford, and their party of 1870 on the
memorable exploration of the area destined to become Yellowstone
National Park 2 years later. His record of service with that expedition
was exemplary; he had a firsthand knowledge of much of the country to be
traversed, at least over the early stages of the route; he lacked
neither courage nor aptitude; and he possessed the ability to observe,
describe, and record in detail the experiences and observations of the
expedition.
Hiram Martin Chittenden, in the biographical notes appended to his book,
_The Yellowstone National Park_, has given us, very briefly, an
impression of the man and his background.
Lieutenant Doane was born in Illinois, May 29, 1840, and died in
Bozeman, Montana, May 5, 1892. At the age of five he went with his
parents, in wake of an ox team, to Oregon. In 1849 his family went to
California at the outbreak of the gold excitement. He remained there
ten years, in the meanwhile working his way through school. In 1862 he
entered the Union service, went East with the California Hundred, and
then joined a Massachusetts cavalry regiment. He was mustered out in
1865 as a First Lieutenant. He joined the Carpetbaggers and is said to
have become the Mayor of Yazoo City, Mississippi. He was appointed
Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army in 1868, and continued in the
service until his death, attaining the rank of Captain.
Doane's whole career was actuated by a love of adventure. He had at
various times planned a voyage to the Polar regions, or an expedition
of discovery into Africa. But fate assigned him a middle ground, and
he became prominently connected with the discovery of the upper
Yellowstone country. His part in the Expedition of 1870 is second to
none. He made the first official report (to the War Department) upon
the wonders of the Yellowstone, and his fine descriptions have never
been surpassed by any subsequent writer. Although suffering intense
physical torture (from a felon on his thumb, finally lanced by Mr.
Langford) during the greater portion of the trip, it did not
extinguish in him the truly poetic ardor with which those strange
phenomena seem to have inspired him. Dr. Hayden (Ferdinand V. Hayden,
United States Geologist, Department of the Interior, 1871) says of
this report: "I venture to state, as my opinion, that for graphic
description and thrilling interest it has not been surpassed by any
official report made to our government since the times of Lewis and
Clark."
Doane's record, unpublished, of his heroic attempt to lead his party
through the wilderness of the Yellowstone, southward through Jackson
Hole, and down the "Mad River" to the Columbia is no less graphic in its
vividness, no less thrilling in its expression of the hazards and the
wild beauty of the land. It is marked by his absolute determination, no
matter what the odds, to carry out his orders.
The Lieutenant, as his journal records, had previous notice that the
expedition was to be ordered, and partial preparation had been made
before the orders were received at Fort Ellis, near the present city of
Bozeman, Montana. Ration boxes were prepared and a boat was built,
possibly the first such "prefabricated" craft ever constructed. It was a
double-ender, 22 feet long, 46 inches in the beam, 26 inches deep, and
curved strongly fore and aft.
It was built entirely of inch plank, and put together with screws,
then taken apart again and the lumber lashed in two equal bundles,
like the side bars of a litter. The whole forming an easy load for two
pack mules.
For shelter the party carried an "Indian Lodge," constructed of army
wagon covers cut to the proper pattern and with a diameter of 14 feet.
The shelter weighed "but thirty pounds and sheltered the entire party."
On the evening of October 10th, all preparations were complete for an
expedition never attempted before in the winter time, and never
accomplished since. The enlisted force was of picked men selected for
special qualifications. In addition to those enumerated in the
previous order, Private Morgan Osborn "G" Troop, the carpenter who
built the little boat, and John L. Ward of "L" Troop, a teamster and
packer, were taken along to bring back extra mules and the wagon from
whatever point might be selected enroute.
On October 11, the expedition moved out from Fort Ellis and
south-eastward toward the valley of the Yellowstone, reached that stream
the following day and thence up that "wild and winding" river toward the
"Mammoth Springs." The wagon bearing supplies was drawn by 8 mules, 2
others carried the boat material, each man was mounted except the
teamster, an extra horse was led for him. All went smoothly until the
third day, when, not far from the northern boundary of the Park, the
... wagon came to grief, an unruly wheeler failed to pull at the right
time, and the heavy vehicle cramped and went over crushing a hind
wheel and reducing the body to something resembling kindling wood.
As a result of this not unexpected mishap, the wagon was abandoned, the
load, comparatively undamaged, was made into packs, and after a 2-day
delay to rest the animals and arrange the loads, the party proceeded. In
his entry of October 16, Doane enumerates the equipment carried by his
party.
Our outfit was an arctic one, omitting the stereotyped religious
literature. We had buffalo coats and moccasins, rubber boots and
overshoes, heavy underclothing, and plenty of robes and blankets. The
detachment carried carbines only. Pistols are worthless in the
mountains. In fact they are worthless anywhere in the field. I carried
a 12-pound Sharpes Buffalo Rifle, with globe sight on the stock and
chambered for long range cartridges. Our provisions did not include
pemmican, Biltongue, limejuice or any other of the orthodox food
preparations, but consisted of plain American rations, with some added
commissaries, and an abundance of tea and tobacco. Matches were packed
on every animal, and each individual carried several boxes constantly.
Each man had a good hunting knife, not the crossed hilted and
murderous looking kind but a short one intended for cutting up game.
Our cooking apparatus included two fry pans, two Dutch ovens, four
camp kettles, and some mess pans. We had plenty of axes and each man
carried a hatchet on his saddle. To put together the boat required
only a saw, a screw driver and a Gimlet, and we had a sack of oakum,
with which to calk the seams. Before starting, there had been no
solemnites, but each man's personal outfit was complete, arranged with
a view to meet all possible contingencies without delay. I had
duplicate notebooks, one of which Sergeant Server carried and from
his, the only one left, I take my notes for this report. Of
instruments, I carried a prismatic compass, Aneroid Barometer, max and
min thermometers, and a long tape measure. None of these were provided
by a generous government, but all were purchased by myself--as usual
in such cases.
On October 17, the party lost the first of the pack animals.
The morning air broke chilly and the air filled with frosty mist. One
mule, a queer slabsided one was down, paralyzed across the kidneys.
Here was an emergency. It was unable to stand alone when lifted to its
feet, and would starve to death in a few days if we left it. But one
remedy was available and that was a severe one. We heated kettles of
water and scalded the animal along the spine. The first kettleful
brought him to his feet, without further assistance, and a few cups
full from a second restored his nerves enough so that he kicked
vigorously at his kind physicians, and refused further treatment. He
was fearfully scalded but restored, and returned to Fort Ellis next
spring of his own volition, got entirely well and survived all of his
comrades of the pack train several years.
A heavy snow storm began on the night of October 19, the party laid over
on October 20, and on October 21 made an early start for Mount Washburn,
camping on its upper slopes that night, to the great relief of the
Lieutenant.
This was the highest point to be crossed (9,200 feet) and I was
terribly uneasy lest we should find it (the gap) blocked with snow as
a depth of 30 feet is not unusual in February. Beyond and at our feet
now lay the Great Basin of the Yellowstone, with its dark forests, its
open spaces all wintry white, and its steam columns shooting upward in
every direction. It was like coming suddenly upon the confines of the
unknown, so differently did the snow landscape appear in the
summertime. To us it was an enchanted land, the portals of which had
just been safely passed, and we struck the downward trail full of
enthusiasm, reached the open basin of Chrystal Spring Creek, the
lowest point in the Great Basin, and camped in snow two feet in depth.
Distance 18 m. Elevation 7250 feet.
On October 23, the party reached Yellowstone Lake, camping at its
outlet. En route that day Doane encountered a tremendous elk herd.
Taking light loads and leaving a man with balance of the plunder to
keep off the bears as these animals are affected with a childish
curiosity in relation to government rations, I started in advance of
the party on the Lake trail, and was riding along slowly with my eyes
shaded when my horse shied violently, with a snort, and stood
trembling. I jerked away the shade and saw that I had ridden close up
to a herd of at least two thousand elk. They had been lying in the
snow, and had all sprung up together, frightening my horse. In a
minute the great herd was out of sight, crashing through the forest,
the old bulls screaming their strange fog-horn cry. It was a
magnificent sight as the bulls were in full growth of horns, and the
calves all large enough to run freely with the herd. No game animal
has the majestic presence of a bull elk when he is not frightened, and
in herds they manuevre with a wonderful precision breaking by file at
a long swinging trot and coming into line right-left or front to gaze
at some object of apprehension with a celerity and absence of
confusion truly remarkable. In chasing them on horseback the first
effect is to break them into a gallop, when they move more slowly and
soon tire. In deep snow, when the herd breaks the trail for the horse
to follow in, there is no difficulty in catching them.
I remember a chase in the Yellowstone Valley one winter day when two
of us killed seventeen elk in less than an hour. Two large wagon loads
of meat. On this occasion I did not shoot, as we had a long march to
make and it would have caused delay, but watched them 'til lost to
view and rode on. This sign of abundant game was exceedingly favorable
and gave a confidence which nothing else could have inspired.
For the following 2 days the expedition remained in camp on the shore of
the lake, preparing the outfit for double transportation by land and
water, the pack animals and part of the men to follow the shoreline, the
others to take the boat across the lake. The little boat was assembled,
the seams pitched, and the "Teeps" erected for the first time, bough
shelters having been used previously.
On October 24, the men worked until late in the night making equipment
ready and
... retired to rest feeling all was well so far. During the night the
stock stampeded and ran in close to the camp fire. A strange,
threatening voice was heard in the dense forest nearby, a noise I had
never heard before. A loud roaring was repeated. Applegate gathered
his belt and carbine and I the big rifle, and while the others quieted
the stock we moved out in the direction from which the sound came. It
receded as we advanced, and shortly, with a continued crashing the
animal retreated out of hearing into the timber. We soon came upon its
trail and I sent back for a lantern. It was an old bull moose. It had
pawed up quite a space and barked a couple of young trees with its
horns thus producing the crashing sound we had first noticed. In
accounts of moose hunting, read previously, I had never seen it stated
that a moose gave any call whatever. These in the Park have voices,
unquestionably, and use them with the utmost freedom. Toward morning
we were again roused by a flock of swans circling over us with their
wild and splendid notes, harmonized to a glorious symphony. In the
morning I shot and wounded a large wolverine but did not stop him, and
Starr, while prowling along the river bank below camp, shot a goose
and found a small plank canoe in which he proceeded to paddle out into
the lake.
Doane's description of the moonlight night which followed is a classic
example of his ability to portray, in words, a picture of the wilderness
he loved so well.
That evening, the moon was in full and rising high above the lake and
mountain, its soft light bathed the splendid landscape in floods of
silver. The mighty ranges of the great divide were sharply outlined in
cold, gleaming white. Below their ragged summits dark green forest
masses filled the spaces to the margin of the water. At intervals,
steam jets played along the shore and the deep valley of the Upper
Yellowstone reached the farthest limit of vision in the foreground. On
the left front appeared a group of ghastly hills of chalky lustre by
the banks of Pelican Creek, and beyond there a winding valley
constantly rising as it receded with glittering channels, from thermal
springs threading its long, green slopes. On the right front loomed up
the yellow flank of Mount Sheridan, seemingly ready to burst forth
with sulphurous flames; and flooding the space between lay the
glorious lake with its rippling moonlit waters, its long sand beaches
and deeply indented shores, its rocky islands of splendid coloring,
its cliffs and inlets, and its still lagoons. A picture indescribable,
unequalled and alone. From the distant marshes on the newborn
Yellowstone came the sound of fluttering cries of restless waterfowl.
From the echoing forest beyond, the mountain lions screaming and
moaning at intervals while we put the finishing touches on our little
vessel. Starr and Applegate, both expert boatmen, paddled the little
canoe far out on the sparkling waters and sang Crow Indian war songs,
as the work went on. The horses and mules having stuffed themselves
with luxuriant mountain grasses, came up and stood meditatively with
their noses over the camp fires in thorough contentment. It was a
night and a scene to be remembered--a touch of nature vibrating into
infinity.
In this entry also, seated by the campfire in a wonderfully expansive
mood of the utmost wellbeing, touched by the serene beauty of his
surroundings, Doane takes occasion to describe the other members of his
party, the "picked men selected for special qualifications."
Of the men who composed my party, Sergeant Fred Server was a
Philadelphian of good family--a wild boy--who had settled down to a
splendid daring soldier, an expert horseman, a good shot, a man of
perfect physique and iron constitution.
Private F. R. Applegate was a small, wiry Marylander, used to hard
knocks, thoroughly at home anywhere, full of expedients and know all
about managing small water craft.
Private Daniel Starr was a man of powerful voice and massive form, had
served on a war vessel, could turn his hand to any work. A man of
infinite jest and humor, and reckless beyond all conception. He was
already a celebrity in Montana on account of his uproarious hilarity,
daring, and wild adventures. He ran the first boat on the Yellowstone
Lake in 1871, had piloted several parties through the Park, and was
always a volunteer in anything which promised a new field and a basis
of new stories of the most ludicrous and most exaggerated character.
Private William White was a quiet, solemn young fellow, useful in any
service, full of romantic ideas, sober, reserved. A man of fearless
disposition.
Private John B. Warren was an Englishman, very set in ideas, an older
man than the others. A man of intelligence, a most indefatigable
fisherman and an all round utility man.
Private C. B. Davis was a born cook. He lived for his stomach alone
and knew how to prepare food for its pacification. He saw no value in
anything that was not edible; talked, thought, and dreamed of good
things to eat, but came out strongly over a camp fire. With a
dishcloth in one hand and "something dead" in the other, he smiled
beamingly into the yawning interior of an open Dutch oven, and inhaled
with unspeakable delight the fragrant aroma of a steaming coffee pot.
The above formed the regular detail for the expedition.
The others, Private Morgan Osborn, a carpenter, was a careful, sober
man, not used to the mountains, faithful and honest and therefore
useful.
Private John L. Ward was a hardy, vigorous man, good on a trail, in a
boat, or on a wheel mule, a packer and a woodsman.
They were all enthusiastic on the subject of the present expedition,
and were reliable, intrepid men.
The "little vessel" was launched on October 26. No champagne christening
this, but she rode on an even keel and rose in fine style to the waves.
Doane, Starr, Applegate, and Ward voyaged out to Stevenson's Island and
returned. The next day the boat was carefully loaded, it carried
everything except the saddle outfits on the animals. A broken-down mule
was left behind, and with a mule harnessed to a tow line, and one man to
steer the boat off shore, she was so pulled along the beach for some 12
miles. At a rocky promontory, the tow line was taken in and two men
rowed the craft around the point. Coming close to shore a wave struck
the "little vessel under the lee quarter, and swamped her instantly."
The water was shallow and everything was saved, but camp was made at
once, 15 miles from the point of launching.
The rest of the afternoon and half the night was spent in keeping fires
going to dry out the baggage. The following morning it was discovered
that waves had knocked loose some of the calking on the bottom of the
boat. It was repaired with the remaining oakum and pitch. At this point,
the Lieutenant was "very uneasy on account of the snow in sight on the
Continental Divide in front of us", so decided to leave Starr,
Applegate, and Ward to complete repairs to the boat, while he and the
others, with all the "property, should push on, cross the divide, break
a trail and return with mules and horses to the lake shore to meet the
party with the boat."
Doane and his group accordingly struck through the forest for several
miles on October 28, reached the lake shore again and followed it to the
"lower end of the southwest arm where the foothills come on the shore.
Skirted around to the east side past the great group of silicate springs
(probably the West Thumb area) and camped at the foot of the Great
Divide at the nearest point opposite Heart Lake."
The following morning the land party remained near camp "in hopes that
the men with the boat might come", and spent their time examining the
springs.
One crater cone still active stands in front of the main group,
pouring a stream of boiling water into the cold surrounding lake. It
is here that anglers catch the trout and cook them on the hook.
The boat failing to appear, Doane and his men started up the slope to
the Divide in a "heavy and blinding snow storm" through a "tangled
forest." The weather turned very cold, travel was difficult up the
slopes in snow some 2 feet in depth. On the top of the ridge it was
necessary to stop and build a fire, the animals and men were "loaded
with snow and ice." The party reached a "hot spring basin" a mile from
Heart Lake long after dark, built a great fire of seasoned pines, and
spent most of the night drying out.
Doane was not at all satisfied with the route he had followed, and on
the following day, in clear weather, the party worked its way back to
Yellowstone Lake by a route which proved to be much shorter. The boat
not having arrived, a watchfire to serve as a beacon was built on a
bluff on the lake shore. Doane's entry in the journal for October 30
indicates his concern for the fate of the voyageurs, Starr, Applegate,
and Ward.
That was their third day and I was consumed with anxiety. A cold,
wintry blast was driving down the lake in a direction at right angles
to their course. The waves were running high and on the opposite shore
we could see the surf flying against the rocks, covering them with
glittering masses of ice. It was growing colder every minute, and the
night was intensely dark. A driving sleet began to fall. This was
dangerous, as it adhered to whatever it touched. Our apprehensions
were almost beyond endurance. I knew those men would start that night
no matter what perils might be encountered. They had twenty miles to
come, in an egg shell boat which had never been tried in rough water.
Nothing could live in that icy flood half an hour, if cast overboard.
The wind and cold were both increasing constantly. Hour after hour
passed. I followed the beach a couple of miles, but finding no traces
returned. The Sergeant went in the other direction with like results.
We were standing together on the shore despairing when suddenly there
was borne to us on the driving blast the sound of boisterous and
double jointed profanity. The voice was Starr's and we knew that the
daring, invincible men were safe and successful. We ran to meet them
and helped them beach, and unload the few articles that the boat
contained. The oars were coated an inch thick and the boat was half
full of solid ice. When the three men came in front of the camp fire,
they were a sight to behold. Their hair and beards were frozen to
their caps and overcoats and they were sheeted with glistening ice
from head to foot.
The boat had nearly filled three different times, but Applegate, who
steered, threw her bow to the waves and held her there while the
others bailed her out. They found that she would not bear the cross
sea, so they kept her head to the wind, and forced her to make leeway
by pulling stronger on the opposite side and working the steering oar
to correspond. Thus they battled with the storm hour after hour until
they had drifted twenty miles and reached the other shore. We changed
clothing with them and after giving them a warm supper made them go to
bed at once. The rest of the night we put in drying their clothes, as
they soundly slept.
On October 31, the boat was cleared of ice by chopping it out with axes,
hot ashes were thrown in to dry her out inside, and "slipper poles" were
cut and fitted under her to serve as runners. Dragging side poles were
also attached to fend her off standing trees in passing. Two mules were
hitched to the boat in tandem to drag her, and although progress was
slow because the boat frequently became wedged between trees, and the
deep snow made travel very difficult for the mules, the Divide was
crossed, and "at 9 o'clock at night we left her on the Pacific slope of
the Rocky Mountains, and went on with the tired stock into camp."
On November 2, the extra men, Ward and Osborn, with their horses and the
3 poorest mules, were started back to Fort Ellis, since they were no
longer needed. They were to pick up the mules and property left at
different points on the way, and after an arduous trip of several days
they reached Fort Ellis safely.
The Lieutenant and his reduced party now had 7 horses and 4 pack mules.
In camp at Heart Lake it was necessary to make extensive repairs to the
boat, the cold had "shrunken the boards and opened all the seams." She
was finally in order and launched on Heart Lake on November 5. During
this layover the party feasted on baked porcupine, which "resembled in
taste young pork with a faint flavor of pine."
The party moved across and around Heart Lake on November 6, the boat
loaded with all the equipment, the horses and mules taken along the
western shore. It was necessary to drag the boat across the frozen lower
section of the lake for some 3 miles to the outlet, there the volume of
the stream was so small it would not float the craft, even unloaded,
over the rocks of the stream bed. For the next several days the "little
vessel," the men, and the animals took a beating from the stream, the
weather, and the terribly hard going.
November 18th. Reached camp in the forenoon with all the calking
melted out of the seams and all the ice thawed out of the interior of
the boat by the floods of boiling water passed through in the river
channel just above. Took her out of the water and put her on the
stocks to be dried out and thoroughly repaired. Her bottom was a sight
to behold. The green pine planks were literally shivered by pounding
on the rocks. The tough stripping of the seams, two inches or more in
thickness, was torn away. Two of the heaviest planks were worn through
in the waist of the vessel, and three holes were found in her sides.
The stern was so bruised and stove that we had to hew out a new one.
We took out the seats, floor, and bulkheads, and this gave us lumber
enough to put on a new bottom. Mended the holes with tin and leather.
Recalked her, using candles and pitch mixed for the filling. Split
young pines and put a heavy strip on each seam and made her stronger
than ever. This occupied the 19th which was a stormy day, and the
20th, which was clear long enough to enable us to finish the boat.
When it is remembered that the wood had to be dry before the pitch
would adhere, and that we were obliged to keep a bed of coals under
the boat constantly to effect this on ground saturated with snow water
and with the snow falling most of the time, it can be realized that
the labor was of the most fatiguing description. Half of the party
worked while the others cared for the animals and slept. Warren here
came out as an invaluable member of the party. He kept the camp full
of trout and we fared sumptuously. The stream from Shoshone Lake is
the true Snake River and not the one we are on. It is twice as large
as this one, and should be mapped as the main stream.
From this point we feel sure of plenty of water and will start with a
partial load in the boat. The strain on the animals has been terrible
as they have had to double trip the route almost constantly, which
means three times the distance of actual progress. We have had but
little depth of snow, and this, while favorable in one sense, has been
detrimental in another, as it has allowed the game to run high on the
mountains, where we had not time to go. Had there been deeper snow,
the water supply would have been greater, the game would have been
forced down to the valleys, and we would not have been obliged to use
the animals so constantly.
The problem was to get where the boat would carry the property and
make distance before the animals gave out. Also to get to settlements
before rations were exhausted. I knew we had the formidable "Mad River
Canyon" of the old trappers between us and human habitations. With
plenty of large game in range, this would have caused no uneasiness,
but we were descending daily and leaving the game behind.
I spend many an hour over this problem studying all the chances, and
endeavoring to be prepared to act instantly in any possible emergency
that might arise.
The party resumed their travel on November 21, Doane, Starr, Applegate,
and White in the boat, Sergeant Server, Warren, and Davis with the
animals. The boat was headed down the now powerful stream, Applegate
steering, Starr astride the bow. Starr and White were armed with "spike
poles" to push her off rocks and guide her into deep channels.
All was lovely. Starr had just begun to sing one of his favorite
missionary hymns, something about "the Gospel ship is sailing now,"
when the river made a sudden turn to the left with a boiling eddy, and
the boat crashed head on against the overhanging wall of rock,
smashing all the lodge poles and compelling the boisterous singer to
turn a somersault backward to save himself from being instantly
killed. The gallant little craft bore the shock without bursting, and
we went down stream (stern) foremost a short distance onto a shelfing
rock where an examination developed the fact that nothing was damaged
excepting twenty-two fine lodge poles.
On November 23, nearing Jackson Lake, the valley of the Snake was
opening before the party.
Hundreds of otter were seen. These growled at us in passing from their
holes in the bank, not being accustomed to boats. We shot several....
An hour later we ran out into Jackson's Lake, and passed the train
just as a mule fell under a log across the trail, struggled a moment,
and died. Camped on the lake shore three miles from the inlet.[1]
The following day both land and water parties progressed along the
western shore of Jackson Lake, the train finding
... terrible severe traveling, climbing over rocks and through tangled
forests of pine, aspen, and other varieties of timber.... Abandoned
one horse.... We were too near the mountains to get a full view, but
above us rose the huge masses of glistening granites too steep to
retain much snow.... On the opposite shore are extensive Beaver
swamps, and great areas of marsh, now frozen.[2]
The trout bite well, and we have a good supply. Ate our last flour
today. Starr cooked one of the fine otter killed the day before. The
flesh was nice looking. It was very fat and tempting. Baked in a Dutch
oven and fragrant with proper dressing we anticipated a feast, were
helped bountifully and started with voracious appetites. The first
mouthful went down, but did not remain. It came up without a struggle.
Only Starr could hold it. The taste was delicately fishy, and not
revolting at all, but the human stomach is evidently not intended for
use as an Otter trap. Like Banquo's ghost, "It will not down." We did
not try Otter again.
November 25th. Laid over, giving the stock a rest and repaired boat.
Warren kept us well supplied with trout, which were in fine condition.
In the afternoon my attention was called to an object moving in the
lake. It proved to be a deer, swimming from the large island across to
the opposite shore of the little bay. We had just finished with the
little boat, and catching up the big rifle, while the others pushed
off, Starr and Applegate rowed (me) out to intercept the deer. It saw
us coming and turning to the left reached the shore about three
hundred yards away, where it stopped, shivering on the bank. We
stopped and let the boat settle to steadiness and I fired. The deer
was badly hit, and stood still. I fired again, and it fell into the
water dead. It was the first game we had killed for a long time and
came in the nick of time. After dragging it into the boat we found the
two bullet holes about three inches apart and the last one had gone
through the heart of the animal.
When the gun was fired first, the whole party turned out along the
shore thinking than an avalanche was coming, and the noise of the
second discharge had not ceased when we landed with the game. It was
an echo. We spent hours testing it afterward, and surely nothing on
earth can equal it. The report of the big rifle was followed by a
prolonged roar that seemed to eddy in the little bay in a vast volume
of condensed thunder, then charged up the great channel in a hollow,
deep growl giving consecutive reports which bounded from cliff to
cliff and these re-echoed until far up the canyon came back a rattle
of musketry as on a skirmish line, mingled with mournful waves of
vibratory rumbling. These were succeeded by cracks and rustlings, and
a moaning sigh which slowly receded and died away far up along the
heights. Time, one minute and 25 seconds. We tried our voices
together, and the result was deafening and overwhelming. There were
seven in the party, and we were answered back by a hoarse mob of
voices in accumulating thousands from the great gorge, and these, a
moment after retreating up the channel called to each other and back
at us 'til the multiplied voices mingled in a harsh jargon of weird
and wild receding volume of sound, ending in a long moaning sigh and a
rustling as of falling leaves among the gleaming spires far away above
us.
I then tried Starr's tremendous voice alone, and had him call, "Oh,
Joe!" with a prolonged rising inflection on the first and an equally
prolonged falling inflection on the second word, repeating it at
intervals of 30 seconds. Experience had taught us that this call could
be heard more distinctly and farther in the mountains than any other
practiced. The sound of his voice at the first call had not ceased
when a hundred exact repititions were reflected to the little bay.
Then a rush of hoarse exclamations followed up the gorge and the
fusilade of calls on very rock and cliff answered, "Oh, Joe!" And
these sounds echoed and re-echoed a thousand times reaching higher and
higher along the mighty walls, 'til faint goblin whispers from the
cold, icy shafts and the spectral hollows answered back in clicking
notes and hisses, but distinctly always the words, "Oh, Joe!"
A full band of music playing here would give such a concert as the
world has never heard. There is a weird, unearthly volume and
distinctness to the echo here, and a chasing afar off and returning of
the sounds, unequalled and simply indescribable. We named this inlet
Spirit Bay.[3]
The party continued along the lake shore, the usual mode of travel being
3 men in the boat, 4 with the animals on land. Doane's horse was
abandoned on November 26. All of the men were violently ill from the
deer meat, the Lieutenant diagnosing the sickness as "cholera morbus."
The party was forced to lay over most of 2 days, but reached the outlet
of the lake on November 30, started down river, and camped 2 miles
downstream from the Buffalo Fork on that date, the boat having made
about 30 miles that day.
December 1st. Moved on down the river. Sergeant and myself still very
weak. Camped opposite Gros Ventre Butte, which is in the middle of the
valley, and in front of Mount Hayden (earlier name for the Grand
Teton) and its mighty canyon. (From this description this camp appears
to have been opposite Blacktail Butte, in the vicinity of the present
location of Moose.) During the day Warren and White followed a herd of
Elk 'til dark, but did not get one. Light snow on the ground. Weather
warm. At noon 65 degrees. Distance 12 m.
The boat now carries all the property as the animals can carry no
more. The river is a fine broad stream but the current is that of a
mountain torrent and the channel divides so often that we counted over
one hundred islands today. Occasionally therefore, we came to shoal
water by getting in the wrong shute and had to lift her over. The bed
of the stream is entirely of coarse gravel and boulders, mostly of
granite, and the banks are low. Fishing good, but fresh fish is too
thin a diet to subsist on alone. We have now no coffee, sugar, tea,
bacon, and worst of all, no tobacco. Nothing but a few beans left. The
game is scarce and shy. I cannot hunt and keep the observations at the
same time. The boat can now go faster than the stock, but we cannot
separate, with "Mad River Canyon" in front of us.
A glorious night, moon in the full, but empty stomachs. We are now far
enough away from the lakes to be clear of the clouds of vapor and
local snow storms. Our camp is about at a central point with reference
to obtaining a view of the Tetons, and at a distance of fifteen miles
from the nearest part of the range. (Distance actually about 7 miles,
Doane's estimate inaccurate.) The moonlight view was one of
unspeakable grandeur. There are twenty-two summits in the line, all of
them mighty mountains, with the gleaming spire of Mount Hayden rising
in a pinnacle above all. The whole range is of naked rock in vast
glittering masses, mostly coarse granites, but with some carboniferous
and metamorphose rocks, the splendid colorings of these sheeted as
they were with ice, contrasted finely with the snowy masses in all
places where the snow would lie, and with the sombre depths of the
great avalanche channels and mighty canyons. Of the latter the
grandest is the Teton (Cascade Canyon) which half surrounds Mount
Hayden, is four thousand feet deep, where it opens out into the valley
in front of us, has a splendid torrent of roaring cascades in its
channel and a baby glacier still at its head. The wide valley in
front, seamed with rocky channels and heaped with moraines, is a grim,
ruinous landscape. There are no foothills to the Tetons. They rise
suddenly in rugged majesty from the rock strewn plain. Masses of heavy
forests appear on the glacial debris and in parks behind the curves of
the lower slopes, but the general field of vision is glittering,
glaciated rock. The soft light floods the great expanse of the valley,
the winding silvery river and the resplendent, deeply carved mountain
walls. The vast masses of Neve on the upper ledges from their lofty
resting places shine coldly down, and stray masses of clouds, white
and fleecy, cast deep shadows over land and terrace, forest and
stream. And later on when the moon had gone down in exaggerated volume
behind the glorified spire of the Grand Teton (Doane must have used
the names Mount Hayden and Grand Teton interchangeably) the stars
succeeded with their myriad sparkling lights, and these blazed up in
setting on the sharpcut edges of the great, serrated wall like Indian
signal fires in successive spectral flashes, rising and dying out by
hundreds as the hours passed on. On the wide continent of North
America there is no mountain group to compare in scenic splendor with
the Great Tetons. There was not a pound of food in camp. We ate the
last beans for supper, before going out to make notes on the Teton
view.