Early in the summer the grass is green, but later it is hay made
naturally, root and branch dried on the ground--there is no sod--and
this, though less agreeable, is more nutritious for the animals than
fresh grass.
A scattered growth of fine old trees furnishes shade at every camp, and
immediately about the great tent they afford protection from the sun to
parties of card players, or a "Grocery stand," at which the principal
article of sale is "whiskey by the glass;" and perhaps, further on is a
_monte_ table, parties from several Indian tribes, and the pioneer of
semi-civilization--the back-woodsman--has come in "with his traps," a
few bags of flour, and possibly some cheese and butter, and the never
failing cask of whiskey. Perhaps his wagon is the grocery stand, to
which we have just alluded. Without extenuation, these encampments were
grand occasions of which a few descriptions may be found written at the
time by men of science and intellectual culture, like Sir Wm. Stewart,
who traveled upon these plains for pleasure, or the Rev. Samuel Parker,
who happened at a Green River rendezvous, in 1835, while on his way to
the Columbia River, under the auspices of the American Board of
Commissioners for Foreign Missions. This was long before Brigham Young
came West--before his scheme of religious colonization had its birth.
There is now--has been for years--a trading post where a Canadian
Frenchman and an American partner, with Indian wives, have provided
entertainment or furnished supplies to emigrants and Indians. It is near
the Green River crossing, on the road from the South Pass to great Salt
Lake City, via Fort Bridger.
Amid the motley company it might be expected that quarrels would arise,
and disorderly conduct, growing out of the feuds among the tribes of
Indians. These were kept in abeyance as much as possible, and already
Carson's popularity with them enabled him to act the part of peace-maker
between them and the quarrelsome whites, as well as between each other,
for many of them recognized him as the brave who had led excursions,
whose success they had felt and suffered, and even though leader of
victorious parties against themselves, they admired his prowess still;
for the party of Blackfeet came to the rendezvous under the protection
of the white flag, and for the time, no one more truly buried the
hatchet than Carson, though just recovered from a wound given by a party
of that tribe, which had nearly cost him his life, and of which we have
written in a previous chapter.
There was belonging to one of the trapping parties a Frenchman by the
name of Shuman, known at the rendezvous as "the big bully of the
mountains," exceedingly annoying on account of his boasts and taunts, a
constant exciter of tumult and disorder, especially among the Indians.
Bad enough at any time, with the means now for intoxication, he was even
more dangerous.
The habits of the mountaineers, without law save such as the exigency of
the moment demanded, required a firm, steady hand to rule. Carson had
feared the results of this man's lawlessness, and had often desired to
be rid of him, but he had not as yet found the proper opportunity. The
mischiefs he committed grew worse and worse, and yet for the sake of
peace they were borne unresistingly. At length an opportunity offered to
try his courage. One day Shuman, boasting of his exploits, was
particularly insolent and insulting toward all Americans, whom he
described as only fit to be whipped with switches. Carson was in the
crowd, and immediately stepped forward, saying, "I am an American, the
most inconsiderable one among them, but if you wish to die, I will
accept your challenge."
[Illustration: CARSON WAS IN THE CROWD, AND IMMEDIATELY STEPPED FORWARD
SAYING, "I AM AN AMERICAN."]
Shuman defied him. He was sitting upon his horse, with his loaded rifle
in his hand. Carson leaped upon his horse with a loaded pistol, and both
rushed into close combat. They fired, almost at the same moment, but
Carson an instant before his boasting antagonist. Their horses' heads
touched, Shuman's ball just grazing Carson's cheek, near the left eye,
and cutting off some locks of his hair. Carson's ball entered Shuman's
hand, came out at the wrist, and passed through his arm above the elbow.
The bully begged for his life, and it was spared; and from that time
forward, Americans were no more insulted by him.
If, as in other duels, we were to go back to remoter causes, and find in
this too, the defence of woman--a Blackfoot beauty--whom Shuman had
determined to abuse, which Carson's interference only had prevented, for
the sake of truth, of honor, and virtue, as against insolence,
falsehood, and treachery, although the girl did belong to a tribe that
was treacherous; we shall be but giving a point to the story that it
needs for completeness, and show Carson in the exalted manliness and
fidelity of his character.
The trappers made arrangements at the rendezvous for the fall hunt; and
the party who were so fortunate as to secure Carson's services, went to
the Yellowstone River, in the Blackfeet country, but met with no
success. Crossing through the Crows' country to the Big Horn River, they
met the party of Blackfeet returning from Green River. Carson held a
parley with them, as was his custom whenever it was safe to go to an
Indian camp. He told them he had seen none of their people, and that the
tomahawk was buried if they were faithful to him. "But," said he, "the
Crows are my friends, and while I am with them, they must be yours."
On the Big Horn, too, their success was no better, and Carson did not
meet his Crow friends. On the Big Snake, too, which they next visited,
the result was the same.
They here met a party from the Hudson Bay Company, led by a Mr. McCoy.
Carson and five of his companions accepted the offer he made them, and
went with him to the Humboldt river, trapping with little success from
its source to the desert where it loses itself, and where the termini of
several other large rivers are all within a day's ride, according to the
statement of residents at this point. Capt. McCoy said to Carson, as he
and two of the company started off upon the desert,
"Do not be gone longer than to-morrow night, and if you strike a stream
where there is beaver--there must be water between here and those snow
mountains--we will trap a few days longer."
On they rode over the artemisia plain till the lake was out of view from
an eminence which Carson climbed; then struck a tract of country
entirely destitute of every sign of animal or vegetable life, with
surface as smooth as the floor for miles in extent, then broken by a
ridge a few feet high, like the rim to a lake, whose bottom they had
passed, to plunge immediately upon another like it, with perhaps a white
and glistening crystalization spread thinly over it.
Carson knew he must be upon the celebrated Mud Lakes of which he had
heard, and of which he had seen miniature specimens further east. Over
these lake bottoms of earth, that broken, seemed like mingled sand and
ashes, but which bore the tread of their horses, and over which they
seemed to fly rather than to step, so fragrant and exhilarating was the
atmosphere, they traveled thirty miles, then struck the artemisia plains
again, only there was less of even this worthless production for the
next ten miles than he had seen before for long a distance.
Through a heavy sand, the weary horses plod, for they had come forty or
fifty miles beneath a burning sun without food and without water. On
they ride, for rest and refreshment to themselves was not to be thought
of till they have it for the animals. The river is gained! a broad, deep
current of water, muddy like that of the Platte, supplies the moisture
to the trees, whose tops ascend only a few feet above the desert level,
and whose trunks rise from green meadows but little above the surface of
the water. The bottom lands are narrow, and the abrupt bank descends to
the water perpendicularly twenty feet or more, seemingly of clayey
earth, so soft, the water constantly wore upon it, and evidently the
river channel was settling, as the years advanced. There were no signs
of beaver, and, from the nature of the banks, there could be none,
unless high up on the stream.