Produced by Melissa McDaniel and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive)
Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
The following alternate spellings may be typos, or refer to different
places or people.
Willamet and Willamette
Choteau and Chouteau
Mohave and Mojave
Pratt and Pratte
Purisima and Purissima
Radisson and Raddison
The photograph of "Navajo Silver Beads" shown in the list of
illustrations as being on page 72 does not appear in the book.
Duplicated advertisements in the front and back matter of the book
have been removed from the front.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_.
[Illustration: THE SIERRA BLANCA
Blanca Peak, 14,390 feet. Baldy Peak, 14,176 feet.
Blanca Peak is the Third Highest in Colorado.
The point of view is on Trinchera Creek looking north from an
altitude of about 8000 feet. To the left is the San Luis Valley
through which flows the Rio Grande, and to the right are the
two high passes known as Veta and Sangre de Cristo. The Sierra
Blanca forms the southern end of the Sangre de Cristo Range and
was one of the great landmarks of the Wilderness.
Sketch in oils made at the place by F. S. Dellenbaugh.]
Breaking the
Wilderness
The Story of the Conquest of the Far West, from the Wanderings
of Cabeza de Vaca, to the First Descent of the Colorado by
Powell, and the Completion of the Union Pacific
Railway, with Particular Account of the
Exploits of Trappers and Traders
By
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh
Member of the Powell Colorado River Expedition; Author of "The
Romance of the Colorado River," "The North Americans of Yesterday,"
etc.
"Accursèd wight!
He crowds us from our hills. He hacks and hews,
Digs up our metals, sweats and smelts and brews."
Hauptmann, _The Sunken Bell_.
[Illustration]
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1908
Copyright, 1905
BY
FREDERICK S. DELLENBAUGH
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO
ALMON HARRIS THOMPSON
WHOSE ABILITY, FORESIGHT, AND GOOD JUDGMENT
SO VITALLY AIDED THE COLORADO RIVER EXPEDITION OF
1871 AND 1872
AND FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS
HAVE SO GREATLY PROMOTED
THE SUCCESS OF GOVERNMENT EXPLORATION AND SURVEY
THIS VOLUME
IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO COMMEMORATE TRAVELS TOGETHER
IN
THE WILDERNESS
PREFACE
In this volume I have endeavoured to present a review in chronological
order of the important events which contributed to breaking the
Wilderness that so long lay untamed west of the Mississippi, mentioning
with as much detail as possible in a single popular volume the principal
persons and happenings in proper sequence, but paying special attention
to the trapper and trader element, which, more than any other, dispelled
the mysteries of the vast region.
I believe this to be the first book so fully to treat the subject as a
consecutive narrative. By means of it, not only may the story of the
struggle to master the Wilderness be examined, but the place of the
trapper and trader in the work of its reduction, and that of Coronado,
Mackenzie, Lewis and Clark, Frémont, Powell, and similar explorers, may
be determined with reference to each other as well as with reference to
the general order.
Many people seem to know little about Western history; about Coronado,
Cabeza de Vaca, or even about Mackenzie; and others are by no means
clear as to where in the historical scale these characters belong.
While the name of Daniel Boone is familiar to every child, names of
men equally eminent in the same pursuits, like Jedediah Smith, Bridger,
Fitzpatrick, etc., are scarcely known at all. Nor have many persons a
just appreciation of the numerous attempts that were made to explore the
Western Wilderness, or of the extremely early period in the history of
North America when these attempts began. Many are surprised, therefore,
to learn that the first European entrance into the western part of the
United States occurred over three and a quarter centuries ago. At least
partly, this vagueness is due to the one-sidedness up to the present
of the usual works dealing with American history, most of which are
only histories of the eastern part of the country, with mere offhand
references to the important events of the region beyond the Mississippi.
Numerous details are presented of early Virginia and of New England,
but the happenings in New Mexico and in California, and the great West
generally, are dismissed with a few superficial notes.
Within the last year or two much has been written about Lewis and Clark,
and consequently their grand exploit is well known, but its relation
in the popular mind as to accomplishment and position with reference
to other explorations is often quite uncertain. It therefore appeared
to me that a single volume which should tell the Wilderness story in
unbroken sequence, with special emphasis on the trapper and trader,
would be of value. I have consequently shown the first attacks by sea
and land, and the gradual closing in on all sides, through the matchless
trail-breaking of the trappers and traders, down to the year when Powell
practically finished this particular white man's task by his bold and
romantic conquest of the Colorado,—the year when the first railway
trains crossing the continent began a new era. In order that the subject
might be still clearer and more comprehensive, I have gone farther and
have told the story of the chief denizens of the pristine Wilderness:
the beaver, the buffalo, and their close associates, those indomitable,
iron-nerved people, the Amerinds; the North-Americans of yesterday.
Sometimes it is difficult to describe with precision the route of an
explorer without searching his original story, and, in my studies,
this has not always been practicable. For example, I do not know
where the journals of Hunt and Bonneville now are, if extant. Irving's
interpretation seems fairly accurate, but as he was entirely unfamiliar
with the region west of the Rocky Mountains, his description is not
always clear. In other cases, especially in that of Verendrye, I have
relied on the transcripts of others. The trail of Coronado I have long
studied with special care, and I have reached the conclusions embodied
in the map on page 115,—conclusions entirely at variance with all
accepted authorities, but which I feel confident, nevertheless, are in
the main correct.
One early explorer in the Minnesota and Hudson Bay regions I have
not mentioned. This is Radisson, who, it is claimed, saw the upper
Mississippi before Marquette. The omission was an oversight. Miss A. C.
Laut has given a convincing account of his travels in her _Pathfinders
of the West_, to which I take pleasure in referring the reader for
information on this point.[1]
A completed book is the mirror of the writer's shortcomings. I hope
the reflections which may fall to my lot in this one will not be too
painful, for I have had in contemplation others to fill in a general
scheme. One starts with a desire for perfection, but without the
resources of a Carnegie he is apt to fall so far short of the mark that
he fears to look in the glass at all.
With the Wilderness, however, I can claim some degree of familiarity,
for I may be said to have been "in at the death," as I was one of
Powell's companions down the Colorado on his second voyage, 1871-72, and
have been over portions of almost every one of the principal historical
trails. I have travelled there on foot, on horseback, by boat, by
waggon, and by railway,—even by Pullman "Palace" car. I have lived under
its open sky through summers and through winters; its snows, its rains,
its burning heat, have baptised me one of its children. In some cases my
footsteps have been among the first of our race to break the surface;
and if I have not visited every nook and corner of it during the last
thirty four years it is the fault of my purse, not of my spirit.
My remarks on supplying whiskey to the natives may by some be deemed too
severe, but in my own opinion there is no expression of condemnation
adequate to denounce the debauchment of the American tribes by this
foul means. It was a crime against civilisation, against humanity; a
cruel, dastardly outrage against these people who by its means largely
have been reduced to the lowest degree and are sneered at by those
who have profited by their debasement. In the final chapter I have
thought it desirable to add a footnote to the effect that I am neither
a teetotaler nor a prohibitionist for the reason that my condemnatory
remarks might otherwise be attributed to the prejudice of zeal, rather
than to indignation at the low devices resorted to by white men to work
the Amerinds for their own profit. A great deal that is base and mean is
now excused on the ground that this is a commercial age, but I can only
remark that if there is to be no standard for measuring modern conduct
but financial profit, the white man's footsteps are surely on the wrong
trail.
The reader in following these pages must remember that comfort is
generally relative, and that what appears hard from the chimney corner
may have been comparative luxury. I have never slept more comfortably
anywhere than under a foot of snow.
I have had much kind assistance and am grateful for it. I am
particularly obliged to Mr. William J. Schieffelin for the generous and
unlimited use of valuable books from his library; to Mr. E. H. Harriman
for transportation favours; also for the same to Mr. S. K. Hooper;
to Mr. F. M. Bishop for the loan of a volume on Jacob Hamblin not
otherwise obtainable; to Mr. O. D. Wheeler and the Montana Historical
Society for cuts; to Captain E. L. Berthoud, Edgar A. Rider, and Jack
Sumner for manuscript notes; to Mr. L. H. Johnson for manuscript notes
and photographs; to Mr. B. L. Young for a special drawing of the rock
pecking of a buffalo in southern Utah; to Mr. R. H. Chapman, Mr. J. B.
Lippincott, Mr. J. K. Hillers, Mr. E. E. Howell, Mr. Delancy Gill, for
photographs; and to the United States Bureau of Ethnology for the use
of illustration material. I would also here thank my publishers for
their constant consideration, for presents of books pertaining to my
subject, and for the loan of others; and Mr. H. C. Rizer, chief clerk
of the United States Geological Survey, for assistance and courtesies
extending over a long series of years. Finally I wish to express my
renewed thanks for many favours to the veteran geographer and explorer,
A. H. Thompson, of the United States Geological Survey, to whom I have
the honour of dedicating this book.
Frederick S. Dellenbaugh.
New York, December 7, 1904.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I PAGE
Extent of the Wilderness—The First White Man—The Backbone
of the Continent—A Vanished Sea and a Petrified Ocean—The
Biggest Trees—The Spike of Gold 1
CHAPTER II
The Intelligent Beaver, Chief of the Rodents—A
Four-footed Engineer—A Builder of Houses, Artificial
Canals, Dams, Ponds, and Lakes—Beaver Meadows—A Masterful
Woodchopper—A Tail for the Epicure—Muskbogs—The Fatal
Trap 13
CHAPTER III
A Monarch of the Plains—The Hunchback Cows of Cibola—A
Boon to the Frontiersman—Wide Range of the Bison—Marrow
Bones for the Epicure—Washington Irving a Buffalo
Hunter—The Rushing Run of the Bison Herd—The Sacred White
Buffalo Cow Skin—A Calf with a Bull Head—Wolves and White
Bears 32
CHAPTER IV
The People of the Wilderness—Men without Rights—Killing
by Alcohol—Change in the Character of the Native—Growth
of the War Spirit—Classification by Language—Dwellers
in Tents and Builders of Houses—Farmers and
Hunters—Irrigation Works—The Coming of the Horse 54
CHAPTER V
Three Conditions of Wilderness Life—Farming in the
Driest Country—The _Cache_—The Clan, the Unit of the
Tribe—Hospitality—Totems and Totem Marks—Dress—An
Aboriginal Geographer—The Winter Life—The War-path,
the Scalp-lock, and the Scalp-dance—Mourning the Lost
Braves—Drifting 75
CHAPTER VI
Lost in the Wilderness—Cabeza de Vaca, Great Medicine
Man—The Wilderness Traversed—Spanish Slave Hunters—The
Northern Mystery—The Monk and the Negro—The Great
Coronado Expedition—The Settlement of New Mexico and the
Pueblo Rebellion—California Missions—Escalante to Salt
Lake Valley 103
CHAPTER VII
Soto and the Mississippi—The Gate to the Wilderness—The
_Voyageur_—Champlain to Mackinaw—Pandemonium of Wars—Down
the Mississippi to Soto's Grave—Louisiana—La Salle and
his Death—_Coureurs de Bois_—First Sight of the Northern
Rockies—Where Rolls the Oregon—The American Revolution 126
CHAPTER VIII
The United States Borders the Wilderness—American Ships
to the Pacific Coast—The North-West Company—Mackenzie
Spans the Continent—Meares and Vancouver Baffled by
Breakers—Captain Robert Gray, Victor—The Columbia at
Last—The Louisiana Purchase a Pig in a Poke, and a
Boundless Wilderness—Claims All Round to the Centre—The
Perfidious Napoleon—The Spanish Sentinel Steps Back 144
CHAPTER IX
Jefferson's Hobby—Two Noblemen—An Indefinite
Transaction—Expedition to the Wilderness—Fort Mandan—The
Roche Jaune and the First View of the Great Range—The
Long-lost Sister—Depths of the Unknown—Starvation
on the Trail—Music of the Breakers—Fort Clatsop—The
Return—Medicine Men Again—Two Natives Shot—Premature
Death of the Captain 156
CHAPTER X
The Metropolis of the Far Wilderness—James Pursley
Arrives—Pike up the Mississippi and across the Plains—A
Spanish War Party—A Breastwork to Mark the Site of
Pueblo—Polar Weather and No Clothing—Pike Sees the
Grand Peak—San Luis Valley—The Americans Captured by
Diplomacy—Pursley Finds Gold—Malgares, the Gentleman—The
Pike Party Sent Home 175
CHAPTER XI
A Race for Life—Colter Wins—The Missouri Fur Company—The
American Fur Company—The Pacific Fur Company—A Great
Project Foredoomed—Disaster at the Columbia Bar—The
Destruction of the _Tonquin_—Hunt Starts for the Columbia
Overland—The _Voyageurs_ Baulked—The Caldron Linn—Dog
Steak at a Premium—Misery and Danger—Success at Last 193
CHAPTER XII
Eastward from Astoria—The War of 1812 on a Business
Basis in Oregon—Astoria Becomes Fort George—The Pacific
Fur Company Expires—Louisiana Delimited at Last—The
Expedition of Major Long—A Steamboat on the Missouri—The
First Man on Pike's Peak—The Elusive Red River Refuses to
be Explored—Closing on the Inner Wilderness—The Spanish
Sentinel Turns Mexican 215
CHAPTER XIII
The Wilderness Breaker—Lisa Closes his Account—General
Ashley Takes a Hand—The Religious Jedediah—Green River
Valley—What a White Bear could Do—Ashley Navigates Red
Canyon of Green River—Discovery of Salt Lake—Ashley
Retires Rich—The Rocky Mountain Fur Company—Sylvester
and James O. Pattie—Pattie's Journey in the Valley of
the Colorado—The Great Circuit of Jedediah Smith 229
CHAPTER XIV
A Brood of Wilderness Breakers—Kit Carson the
Dauntless—Campbell, 1827, Santa Fé to San Diego—Becknell
and the Santa Fé Trail—Wheel Tracks in the Wilderness—The
Knight in Buckskin Dies—Pegleg Smith the Horse
Trader—The Apache Turns Forever against the American—New
Mexico the Dreamland—Wolfskill Breaks a Trail to the
Pacific—Bonneville, Captain Courteous; and Wyeth, Leader
Hopeful—Bonneville Forgets a Duty 253
CHAPTER XV
Bonneville Dropped from the Army—Indian Shooters—The
Mythical Rio Buenaventura—Bonneville Twice to the
Columbia—Wyeth Again—The Oregon Trail—The Big Thunder
Canoe—A Wilderness Whiskey Still—Missionaries to
Oregon—The North-West Boundary Settlement—Decline of the
Beaver—Through the Canyon of Lodore on the Ice—Frémont,
the Scientific Pathfinder—The Spanish Sentinel Turned to
the Wall—Fortune's Blindfold 276
CHAPTER XVI
Free Distribution of Frémont's Reports—Latter Day
Saints—Murder of a Prophet—Brigham Young Guides Saints
to the Wilderness—The State of Deseret—California the
Golden—Massacre at Mountain Meadows—Old Jacob, the Mormon
Leatherstocking—Steam on the Lower Colorado—Old Jacob
Finds the Crossing of the Fathers—Circumtouring the Grand
Canyon—Solitudes of the Colorado—Last of the Wilderness
Problems—Powell Solves it by Masterful Courage—The Iron
Trail—The End and the Beginning 303
INDEX 339
[Illustration]
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
THE SIERRA BLANCA _Frontispiece_
Blanca Peak, 14,390. Baldy Peak, 14,176. Blanca Peak is
the third highest in Colorado.
The point of view is on Trinchera Creek looking north
from an altitude of about 8000 feet. To the left is the
San Luis Valley through which flows the Rio Grande, and
to the right are the two high passes known as Veta and
Sangre de Cristo. The Sierra Blanca forms the southern
end of the Sangre de Cristo Range and was one of the
great landmarks of the Wilderness.
Sketch in oils made at the place by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
THE BACKBONE OF THE CONTINENT 3
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.
WILDERNESS OF THE UPPER MISSOURI 5
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.
THE YOSEMITE VALLEY 7
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
THE GRIZZLY GIANT 9
Height, 285 feet. Circumference, 93 feet.
Copyright by C. C. Pierce & Co.
A WILDERNESS HOME 11
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.
THE MOUNTAIN PART OF THE WILDERNESS 14
Relief map by E. E. Howell.
NO PLACE FOR BEAVER 15
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
BEAVER COUNTRY 17
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
GREAT BEAVER DAM—GRASS LAKE, 260 FEET LONG 19
From Morgan's _American Beaver_.
RED CANYON—GREEN RIVER 20
Where Ashley went for beaver in 1825.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, Colo. Riv. Exp.
BEAVER CANAL 22
From Morgan's _American Beaver_.
LOWER COLORADO RIVER—MOUTH OF GILA ON RIGHT 23
Where Pattie trapped beaver in 1826.
Photograph by Delancy Gill.
TREES CUT BY BEAVERS 26
From Morgan's _American Beaver_.
BEAVER TRAP 29
THE BEAVER 30
Copyright, 1901, by Doubleday, Page, & Co.
THE MONARCH OF THE PLAINS 33
The figure a photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
PICTURE OF BUFFALO ON CLIFF WALL, SOUTHERN UTAH 37
Pecked drawing, copied by B. L. Young.
THE GRAND TETON FROM JACKSON'S HOLE 39
The buffalo reached this valley by 1824.
Photograph by W. H. Jackson, U. S. Geol. Survey.
CANYON OF LODORE—GREEN RIVER 41
Canyons of this character are almost continuous from a
few miles below the Union Pacific Railway crossing.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
HEAD OF BISON BULL 43
Specimen shot by Theodore Roosevelt, Dec. 17, 1883.
From Roosevelt's _Hunting Trips of a Ranchman_.
BUFFALO CHASE 45
After Catlin. From _Smithsonian Report_, 1888.
CHARACTER OF BUFFALO RANGE IN GREEN RIVER VALLEY 47
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, U. S., Colo. Riv. Exp.
CANYON OF DESOLATION—GREEN RIVER 50
A barrier to the buffalo's westward movement.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
MANDAN BUFFALO DANCE 51
After Catlin From _Smithsonian Report_, 1885.
BUFFALO SWIMMING MISSOURI RIVER 52
After Catlin. From _Smithsonian Report_, 1885.
A VILLAGE OF THE PLAINS 55
This form of tipi was readily taken down and as
readily set up again.
Photograph by U. S. Government.
A PAI UTE FAMILY AT HOME 57
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
A UTE MOUNTAIN HOME 58
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
VILLAGE OF THE PUEBLOAN TYPE. VIEW IN THE MOKI
TOWN OF MISHONGNAVI, ARIZONA 59
Photograph by U. S. Bu. Eth.
UMATILLA TIPI OF RUSH MATS ON COLUMBIA RIVER 61
From _Lewis and Clark_, by O. D. Wheeler.
AMERIND LINGUISTIC MAP 62
After Bu. of Eth. Seventh An. Rep.
A PUEBLOAN FARMHOUSE 64
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
PLENTY-HORSES, A CHEYENNE 65
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
A PAI UTE MODERNISED 67
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
RUIN CALLED CASA GRANDE, ARIZONA 69
Photograph by Cosmos Mindeleff, U. S. Bu. of Eth.
SOUTH PORTION OF THE TEWA PUEBLO OF TAOS, NEW
MEXICO 71
Photograph by U. S. Bu. of Eth.
NAVAJO SILVER BEADS—ACTUAL SIZE 72
From U. S. Bu. Eth.
SOUTH-WESTERN BASKETS—APACHE, PIMA, ETC. NAVAJO
BLANKETS BEHIND 73
Photograph by J. B. Lippincott, U. S. Geol. Survey.
MOKI WOMAN MODELLING A CLAY JUG 76
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
EARTHENWARE FROM MOKI REGION 77
THE RUINS IN CANYON DE CHELLY, ARIZONA, CALLED
"CASA BLANCA." THESE WERE ONCE CONNECTED. 78
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
OLD MANDAN HOUSE 79
From _Wonderland_, 1903, Northern Pacific Railway.
A YOUNG COCOPA 80
Photograph by Delancy Gill.
REAR VIEW OF MANDAN VILLAGE, SHOWING BURIAL-GROUND 81
Drawing by Catlin, plate 48, vol. i.; Catlin's _Eight
Years_. Reproduction from _Smithsonian Report_, 1885,
part ii.
A DAKOTA OF THE PLAINS 83
Figures from photograph by U. S. Government.
A UINTA UTE 84
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
UMATILLA WOMAN AND CHILD 85
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
MANDAN VILLAGE ON THE MISSOURI, 1832 86
Drawing by Catlin, plate 47, vol. i.; Catlin's _Eight
Years_. Reproduction from _Smithsonian Report_, 1885,
part ii.
A GROUP OF CROW CHIEFS 87
Photograph by U. S. Government about 1875.
GRANARY—CLIFFS OF GREEN RIVER, THIRTY FEET ABOVE
GROUND 90
Photograph by L. H. Johnson.
INTERIOR OF A MOKI HOUSE 91
The women at the back are grinding corn, while those
at the right are baking bread on a hot slab in
paper-like sheets. Above is the chimney-hood. U. S.
Bu Eth.
SITTING BULL 93
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
BELLOCHKNAHPICK—THE BULL DANCE 94
Mandan ceremonial. Drawing by Catlin, plate 67, vol.
i., Catlin's _Eight Years_. Reproduction from
_Smithsonian Report_, 1885, part ii.
DETAILS OF NAVAJO LOOM CONSTRUCTION 95
U. S. Bu. Eth.
A NAVAJO 96
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
SCALP-DANCE OF THE SIOUX 97
Drawing by Catlin, plate 297, vol ii., Catlin's _Eight
Years_. Reproduction from _Smithsonian Report_, 1885,
part ii.
A GROUP OF DAKOTAS 98
Photograph by U. S. Government about 1875.
NECKLACE OF HUMAN FINGERS 99
HOUSE RUIN ON GREEN RIVER, UTAH 101
Photograph by L. H. Johnson.
ALARÇON'S SHIPS IN THE TIDAL BORE, MOUTH OF THE
COLORADO, 1540 105
Drawing by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
CHARACTER OF THE SEVEN CITIES WHICH FRIAR MARCOS
SO GLOWINGLY DESCRIBED 109
Drawing by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
NEW MEXICO, 1540 TO 1630 115
CHURCH AND MISSION OF SAN XAVIER DEL BAC, ARIZONA 118
Mission founded 1699. The church here shown was
finished in 1797.
ON THE YUMA DESERT 120
Character of the country around the head of the Gulf
of California.
Photograph by Delancy Gill.
CHURCH OF THE MISSION SAN CARLOS DE MONTEREY 121
Mission founded in 1770.
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
GLEN CANYON, COLORADO RIVER 123
This shows the nature of the Colorado where Escalante
crossed in 1776. The surface on each side is barren
sandstone.
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
BARRIERS OF ADAMANT, MISSION RANGE 128
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.
A RECEPTION COMMITTEE 131
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
IN THE HEART OF THE WILDERNESS—SOUTHERN UTAH 135
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
GREAT FALLS OF THE MISSOURI 137
From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, O. D. Wheeler.
GREAT FOUNTAIN GEYSER—YELLOWSTONE PARK 141
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
SUMMITS OF THE BACKBONE 145
Gray's Peak, 14,341 feet; Torrey's Peak, 14,336 feet.
Photograph by U. S. Geol. Survey.
MOUTH OF THE COLUMBIA FROM ASTORIA 149
Cape Disappointment, left distance. From _The Trail
of Lewis and Clark_, O. D. Wheeler.
MAP OF THE WILDERNESS SHOWING AMERICAN ACQUISITIONS 154
MOUNT HOOD—FROM CLOUD CAP INN 159
From _Wonderland_, 1903, Northern Pacific Railway.
CANYON OF THE GATES OF THE MOUNTAINS 165
From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, O. D. Wheeler.
JUNCTION OF THE MADISON AND JEFFERSON 167
The Madison at left, the Jefferson at the right centre.
From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, O. D. Wheeler.
THE DALLES OF THE COLUMBIA 169
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
SNAKE RIVER BELOW LEWISTON. ON LEWIS AND CLARK'S
TRAIL 171
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
ROUTE OF LEWIS AND CLARK FROM MARIA'S RIVER TO
TRAVELLER'S REST AND RETURN 173
From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, by O. D. Wheeler.
NEW MEXICAN CART 177
Drawing by Julian Scott. From Bulletin of the Eleventh
Census.
A ROCKY MOUNTAIN TORRENT 179
Photograph by J. K. Hillers, U. S. Geol. Survey.
A GLADE FOR THE WEARY. ALTITUDE 8000 FEET 183
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
PIKE'S PEAK THROUGH THE GATEWAY OF THE GARDEN OF
THE GODS 187
(Pike got his view of it from a mountain to the left,
not seen.)
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
VEGETATION OF THE SOUTH-WEST 191
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
CANYON OF THE YELLOWSTONE FROM GRAND VIEW 195
From _Wonderland_, 1903, Northern Pacific Railway.
A MANSION OF THE WILDERNESS 197
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
SAWMILL GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK 201
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
THE DEADLY RATTLER 203
From _The Mystic Mid-Region_, by A. J. Burdick.
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
SHOSHONE FALLS, IDAHO, FROM SOUTH SIDE, BELOW 205
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
SHOSHONE FALLS, SNAKE RIVER, IDAHO, FROM BELOW 207
Sketch by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
SHOSHONE FALLS, SNAKE RIVER, IDAHO, FROM ABOVE, SOUTH
SIDE 209
Photograph by G. K. Gilbert.
BOAT MADE OF FRAMEWORK OF STICKS COVERED WITH BISON- OR
HORSE-HIDE 211
Frequently used in early days of the West.
From _The Trail of Lewis and Clark_, by O. D. Wheeler.
ON THE VIRGIN RIVER, SOUTHERN UTAH 217
Near where Escalante went in 1776. Pine Valley Mountain
in distance.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
AN ARIZONA THISTLE 220
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
A FULL LARDER 223
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
STANDING ROCKS, COMMON IN THE WILDERNESS 227
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
IN THE MOUNTAIN WILDERNESS—VULTURE PEAK 230
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.
BEFORE SUNRISE 231
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
GREEN RIVER VALLEY 233
Photograph by C. R. Savage.
ARROW WEED IN THE YUMA COUNTRY 236
Photograph by Delancy Gill.
RED CANYON OF GREEN RIVER 239
Length, 25 miles. Walls 1800 to 2500 feet high.
Average width of water, 250 feet. Ashley was the
first white man to pass through this gorge.
ASHLEY FALL, RED CANYON, GREEN RIVER 241
Ashley's name was found on right of the picture
on one of the huge fallen rocks, about at the top of
the old dead tree.
LOWER FALLS OF THE YELLOWSTONE 245
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
ON THE GILA RIVER, ARIZONA 248
This is the place chosen for the San Carlos irrigation
dam.
Photograph by J. B. Lippincott.
HEADWATERS OF VIRGIN RIVER 251
Named Adams River by Jedediah Smith in 1826.
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
PRAIRIE DOGS 254
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
ON THE YUMA DESERT. A DYING HORSE 256
Photograph by Delancy Gill.
AN OLD BEAVER HAUNT 261
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
THE HEART OF THE SIERRA 263
Photograph by Watkins.
A ROSE OF NEW MEXICO 266
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.
ON THE GILA 268
Photograph by J. B. Lippincott.
CAPTAIN BONNEVILLE 271
A General when this was taken, long after his
trapping career.
Photograph from Montana Historical Society.
"OLD FAITHFUL" GEYSER, YELLOWSTONE PARK 274
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
ELK IN WINTER 277
From _Wonderland_, Northern Pacific Railway.
IN THE SIERRA NEVADA 279
On the Merced, Yosemite Valley. Walker, 1833, was
probably the first white man here.
Copyright C. C. Pierce & Co.
A WILDERNESS WAGGON ROAD 282
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
STEAMER "YELLOWSTONE" ASCENDING THE MISSOURI IN
1833 285
From _Travels_, etc., 1832-3-4, by Maximilian, Prince
of Wied, 1843.
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
BEFORE THE SAWMILL COMES 289
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
THE GREAT OR LOWER FALL OF THE YELLOWSTONE 291
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
JIM BRIDGER IN HIS LATTER DAYS 293
Photograph from Montana Historical Society.
GREEN RIVER FROM GREEN RIVER VALLEY TO WONSITS
VALLEY 295
SNOW-BOUND IN THE WILDERNESS—1875 297
Pencil sketch on the spot by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
CANYON OF LODORE, GREEN RIVER 299
The first on record to go through this and the canyons
immediately below it—that is, from Brown's Park to
Wonsits Valley—was Joe Meek and a party of trappers
on the ice, in the winter of 1838-39.
Photograph by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv. Exp.
A CHANCE MEETING 301
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
A MORMON SORGHUM MILL AND EVAPORATING PANS 306
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
A SETBACK 307
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
IN COUNCIL 311
General Sherman third from left of white group.
Photograph from United States Government.
THE STEAMBOAT "EXPLORER" 316
In which Lieutenant Ives, in 1858, ascended the
Colorado to the foot of Black Canyon.
Sketch by H. B. Mollhausen.
WHERE THE WILDERNESS LINGERS 319
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
RUNNING THE COLORADO 321
Drawing by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
UPPER PART OF MARBLE CANYON—COLORADO RIVER 323
This gorge merges into the Grand Canyon at the mouth
of the Little Colorado. The length of both together
is about 300 miles. The first to travel this
distance were Powell and his men, 1869.
THE GRAND CANYON REGION 326
THE THOUSAND-MILE TREE 328
A hemlock 1000 miles from Omaha.
Photograph by C. R. Savage.
SECRET TOWN TRESTLE 329
1000 feet long. Maximum height, 90 feet.
Photograph by C. R. Savage.
SNOW SHEDS IN THE SIERRA 331
Photograph by C. R. Savage.
ADOBE RUINS OF GREEN RIVER—UNION PACIFIC TERMINUS 332
Photograph, 1871, by E. O. Beaman, U. S. Colo. Riv.
Exp.
SCENE BEFORE DRIVING THE LAST SPIKE—PROMONTORY
POINT, UTAH, MAY 10, 1869 333
John Duff in front, immediately beneath engine.
Sidney Dillon at his left. The Reverend Doctor
Todd asking a blessing.
Photograph by C. R. Savage for the Union Pacific
Railway.
THE AMES MONUMENT—UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY 334
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
DRIVING THE LAST SPIKE, 3.05 P.M. (NEW YORK TIME), MAY
10, 1869 335
Locomotive "Jupiter" of the Central Pacific, and "119"
of the Union Pacific about to meet when last spike is
driven.
Photograph by C. R. Savage for the Union Pacific
Railway.
THE LAST TIE 336
Union Pacific Railway, 1869. Made of California
laurel polished, and with a silver plate on the side.
THE LAST SPIKE 337
Union Pacific Railway. Made of gold.
A MODERN FAST TRAIN 337
From _Wonderland_, 1901, Northern Pacific Railway.
THE MORMON TEMPLE—SALT LAKE CITY 338
Photograph by F. S. Dellenbaugh.
CANADA LYNX 361
From _Wonderland_, 1904, Northern Pacific Railway.
[Illustration]
BREAKING THE WILDERNESS
[Illustration]
CHAPTER I
Extent of the Wilderness—The First White Man—The Backbone of
the Continent—A Vanished Sea and a Petrified Ocean—The Biggest
Trees—The Spike of Gold.
The natural habitat of man is the wilderness. No matter how civilised he
may become, his heart turns with longing to the woods, to the sea, and
to the mountains. There he is unconventional; animals are his compeers,
the forest his friend, the free-flowing stream nectar to his lips.
Civilised peoples, after all, are but wanderers driven from the Garden
of Eden by the sword of necessity. Of the virtues they claim, a large
proportion is imperative, the result of conflicting numbers—society's
effort to preserve itself. Men are no better, no worse, in the
wilderness or in civilisation; nor does race or colour appear exactly
to define quality. By noting this at the outset we may be inclined to
be more sympathetic; and therefore may better understand the superb
wilderness which forms the subject of this work.
Nearly two-thirds of the entire present area of the United States was
comprised in it, extending between the north and south bounds of the
Union, from the Mississippi on the one hand, to the Pacific on the
other; a vast region of marvellous diversity, greater far than several
of the Old-World empires rolled into one. Up to the hour when the Santa
Maria flung her parting banners out and under the steady will of the
Admiral moved upon the Western Mystery, no European had ever beheld the
wide horizon of this splendid realm, nor yet even dreamed of it, for
whatever in the way of exploration prior to Columbus the Northmen may
have accomplished on the Atlantic coast of America, we may be sure not
one of them ever set foot beyond the banks of the Father of Waters. And
so this land, unknown to Europeans, remained unknown till the year when
Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, escaping from the terrible disasters of the
Narvaez Florida expedition, in his enforced long wanderings, crossed
the lower margin, now the State of Texas, and in 1536, less than four
decades after the Discovery, gave to expectant Europe first news of
the "hunchback cows" and the great interior. That was a day of marvels.
After Mexico and Peru anything! Though we may smile at the imaginings
of those iron-nerved Spaniards, they were not inconsistent with their
time. Now the mighty tract is well known to us, but our knowledge has
come piecemeal through centuries of endeavour, the last portion of
the unknown yielding only so late as 1869. It is a romantic story. In
these pages the salient features will be traced with special attention
to the doings of the trappers and traders who bore in its conquest so
dominating an influence.
In the beginning it will be well to glance at the main facts of the
region, and see what it was that the newcomers were compelled to
encounter and overcome before the land became theirs. Vast mountain
chains there were, turbulent rivers, deserts and semi-deserts, and
forbidding gorges. Almost through the middle, trending north-westerly
and south-easterly, stretched the great Backbone of the continent, the
Shining Mountains, or, as we now call them, the Rocky Mountains, with
many peaks reaching up beyond the timber-line and into the realm of
perpetual snow, peaks now familiar under the names of early explorers
like Pike, Long, James, Frémont, etc., and whose meandering crest
composed the Continental Divide, casting the rains on one side into
the broad Pacific, and on the other side into the tides that laved the
shores of Europe. For a considerable portion of the year deep snows
upon these heights prevented all crossing, except at great hazard.
This mountain range was at the same time the western limit of the most
remarkable and bountiful river valley in all the world, the basin of
the Mississippi, whose other edge was bounded by the verdant slopes of
the Alleghanies, and which came within a stone's throw of the Niagara
cataract and the Great Lakes.
[Illustration: The Backbone of the Continent.
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.]
Four large rivers of immense length took their rise towards the north
on the summits of the Backbone, the greatest three springing like
triplets of a single mother from practically the same spot in what is
now Wyoming. One of these, rushing toward the north-west over a cataract
that rivals Niagara, and over falls and wild rapids, swept into the
Pacific through a line of dangerous breakers which, notwithstanding the
labours of our best engineers, still remains a barrier to the entrance.
This was the "River of the West," now the Columbia, taking its name from
the ship of Captain Gray, the first to sail into its mouth. Another
river, the real continuation of the Mississippi, ran its course for
some three thousand miles before joining the parent stream at a point
still more than a thousand miles from the Gulf of Mexico, navigable in
high-water season for boats of moderate draught for about two thousand
miles of its length above the junction. This was the Missouri, at first
the main highway from the east into the wilderness, leading the trappers
and traders to the very threshold of the great mountains. The third
river, the Seedskedee, the Rio Colorado Grande of the Spaniards, now
the Green and Colorado, started just over the range at the head of the
Missouri and the Columbia, and leaping down the westerly precipices
in bold cataracts, made for the south-west and the gulf now called
California, never heeding the mountain barriers, but for half its two
thousand miles of length cleaving through them, a series of terrifying
chasms, deep and difficult, where its waters are torn by hundreds of
loud rapids, and whose tributary chasms unite with the mother gorges
to interpose almost insurmountable obstacles in the path of the
explorer,—the last portion of the wilderness to be vanquished and,
though vanquished, yet to this day formidable and defiant. The fourth
river, less in magnitude and vigour than the others, but nevertheless
fractious, rose some miles southward of their birthplace on the rugged
slopes of spurs of the great range, and sweeping to the south and
south-east entered the Gulf of Mexico. This was the Rio Grande del
Norte, now abbreviated to Rio Grande, and forming for a long distance
the boundary of Mexico. It was on this river that the first settlements
were made in the wilderness, by Europeans, in what is now New Mexico.
[Illustration: Wilderness of the Upper Missouri.
Photograph by R. H. Chapman, U. S. Geol. Survey.]
East of the huge central mountain system there rolled away from the base
of the range to the Mississippi endless plains resembling a petrified
ocean; the prairies, treeless, sublime in their immensity. For about
half the distance from the mountains to the river, approximately as far
as the 100th meridian, this enormous territory was well-nigh rainless,
thus presenting an additional barrier to investigation from the
eastward. The remaining half was invitingly fertile. Across these wide
prairies meandered eastwardly several branches of the Missouri and the
Mississippi, chief among them the Platte, the Arkansas, and Red River.
West of the Backbone lay a maze of mountains, "parks," deep gorges,
now called canyons, cliffs, plateaus, and valleys, limited on the far
western side by a second mother-range rivalling in height and extent and
impenetrability the central system itself. This was the Sierra Nevada
and its upper continuation, the Cascade Range. About midway between
the two master ranges another, the Wasatch, extended northerly and
southerly, forming the eastern limit of the dry bed of an ancient sea of
which a small remnant remained concentrated in a salt lake some fifty
miles in length. This vanished sea is now known as Lake Bonneville,
its old bed as the "Great Basin." Its southern rim breaks down from an
altitude of about ten thousand feet in a series of mighty cliffs, like
cyclopean steps, to the canyons of the Colorado, and near the summit of
this rim a river starts north down into the basin, sweeping along for
many miles to turn suddenly to the westward and end in a lake without
visible outlet, in the middle of a stretch of desert. This is now the
Sevier. West of the salt lake another stream, the Humboldt, took its
rise and, darting boldly toward the Sierra as if to cut it in twain,
meekly collapsed in a small lake at the foot. Between the Wasatch and
the Rocky Mountains lay the valley of the Colorado, already mentioned,
a marvellous labyrinth of canyons and cliffs, of dead volcanoes, lava
beds, plateaus, and mountain peaks of rare beauty.
[Illustration: The Yosemite Valley.
Photograph by C. C. Pierce & Co.]
Some of the stream branches took their rise in a series of deep valleys
called "parks," lying close within the main range and known to-day as
North, Middle, and South parks, with still another below South Park,
called San Luis Park, in which heads the Rio Grande. Thus the wide area
intervening between the two chief mountain systems, the Rocky and the
Sierra, was one of extraordinary topographical diversity, presenting
innumerable minor mountain ranges (most of them, like the mother chains,
trending northerly and southerly), lines of high cliffs of great length,
extensive plateaus, and wonderful gorges like mountain ranges hollowed
out and turned upside down below the surface of the earth, gorges so
long and so deep as to absolutely and completely separate the areas
lying on their opposite sides. East of the Rocky Mountains was the vast
prairie land mentioned, while west of the Sierra lay the sunland now
known as California, with the moister region of Oregon immediately above
it cut in twain by the Columbia rushing triumphantly to the sea. Here
too was still another lesser mountain chain, the Coast Range.
On the headwaters of the Yellowstone branch of the Missouri was a
district of hot springs and geysers, famous now the world round. Here
also were the great falls of the Yellowstone and its celebrated canyon,
so wonderful in the variety and brilliancy of its colouring, now held,
by the wisdom of Congress, for a National Park. Farther south, like a
beacon for the Christian pilgrim, there shone aloft, formed in ice and
snow, on the topmost slopes of a high peak, the semblance of a perfect
cross. The Arkansas, in freeing itself from the mountains, carved
through them a long gorge, deep and narrow, of splendid picturesqueness,
which later made a highway for the locomotive. Besides the Great Salt
Lake there were broad salt lagoons farther south in what is now New
Mexico, and in California likewise salt spread itself by tons and tons
over the surface of the ground. In Southern Utah were the superb Temples
of the Rio Virgen. In the Sierra Nevada was the now celebrated Yosemite,
one of the grandest valleys on the globe; and there too stood the
largest known trees, patriarchs from a former age, three hundred feet
in height, with trunks of enormous circumference—the _Sequoia_. Here
also were the redwood forests, scarcely less noble than the _Sequoia_.
The vegetation was as varied as the topography. On the prairies of what
is now Kansas flourished the sensitive plant, covering the ground with
its lovely rose-coloured, rose-scented blossoms, round as a puff-ball,
the delicate stems withering at the touch of a human hand, to lift
themselves again when the intruder had withdrawn. Farther west the
antithesis of this exquisitely sensitive growth, the cactus, spread its
defiant lances everywhere, and there it was the human hand and not the
plant which withered at the touch. And the cactus was no less beautiful
than the sensitive "rose"; indeed, more beautiful, for nothing could
exceed the gorgeousness of its blossoms of various shades of red, or
yellow, or white as they stood resplendent under the glowing sun against
the soft colour of the earth.
[Illustration: The Grizzly Giant.
Height, 285 feet. Circumference, 93 feet.
Copyright by C. C. Pierce & Co.]
At the north, and on the higher lands of the south, grew the pine trees
in magnificent forests, with the beautiful spruce and cedar, the latter
attaining its noblest proportions in the north-west. Towards the south,
on the lower lands, grew the juniper and the piñon, the latter bearing
a delicious, edible nut, a boon to the native. In the south, too, were
the mesquite with its sweet bean, and the splendid yuccas, some of them
tree-like and twenty or thirty feet high, the pitahaya, and many other
plants strange to European eyes. These and the cacti require a dry
climate and a hot one, and the southern portion of the wilderness was
particularly dry and hot. The extreme south-western part was the driest
and the hottest, and there stretches of real desert interposed further
obstacles to exploration and to settlement. On the other hand, the
climate of the extreme north-west was the reverse. There mist and rain,
nearly unknown in the lower basin of the Colorado, were almost constant.
But the characteristic of the major part of the wilderness was excessive
dryness, prohibiting agriculture without irrigation. The high peaks,
receiving snow and rain in plenty, dealt out the moisture generously
through creeks and rivers upon the parching plains roundabout.
[Illustration: A Wilderness Home.
Photograph by R. H. Chapman. U. S. Geol. Survey.]
Thus there were wide deserts as well as regions of humidity; an immense
range in climate with a corresponding range in life zones, till the
biologist discovered in this area specimens ranging from the boreal to
the tropical. The animals were of all kinds found on the North American
continent. There were scorpions, tarantulas, snakes (many varieties of
rattlesnakes) in the south; there and elsewhere beaver, bison, panthers,
bears, wolves, deer, elk, mountain sheep, and small game of various
kinds, all adjusted to altitude or latitude. Bears were particularly
numerous. The bison (buffalo) roamed the east in countless numbers,
crossing the Rocky Mountains and pushing westward to the Pecos, to Green
River, and to the Columbia. As a wild animal the bison now is extinct,
and it is difficult to imagine the enormous herds that so short a time
ago at will traversed the face of the wilderness. The beaver existed in
vast numbers also, and this fact was the first incentive to exploration
of the immense tract by Americans. Deer and antelope grazed everywhere
and scarcely a day could pass without the traveller sighting some of
these animals. All furnished subsistence to the man who was there,
the Amerind. Because this person was not a European he has often been
regarded as hardly worth consideration, but he was a good specimen
of mankind in the hunter state. Physically and mentally he had few
superiors. He knew the country as well as we know it to-day. He knew
every pass in the mountains, every buffalo trail. Each tribe knew its
own land limits, as well as those of its neighbours, and each defended
its home with unsurpassed daring and bravery.
This was the wilderness when the hordes of Europe descended upon it and
claimed it for their own. Well did they fight their way into it, and
equally well did the native oppose the invasion and fight to preserve
his ancestral home in all its freedom and pristine glory. But the
Europeans were stronger and wrested it from him, from the animals, and
from Nature; yet it was never fully theirs till the sledge drove home
that last spike of gold that pinned the East and the West together and
tacked the skirts of Europe to those of Cathay.
[Illustration]
FOOTNOTE:
[1] See also Sulte (Benjamin), _Découverte du Mississippi en 1659_.
In _Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada_,
Second Series, vol. ix., (1903), section i., pp. 3-44. Radisson's
veracity is not unquestioned.
[Illustration]