1838. From Missouri Lake, Meek started alone for the Gallatin Fork of
the Missouri, trapping in a mountain basin called Gardiner's Hole.
Beaver were plenty here, but it was getting late in the season, and the
weather was cold in the mountains. On his return, in another basin
called the Burnt Hole, he found a buffalo skull; and knowing that
Bridger's camp would soon pass that way, wrote on it the number of
beaver he had taken, and also his intention to go to Fort Hall to sell
them.
In a few days the camp passing found the skull, which grinned its threat
at the angry Booshways, as the chuckling trapper had calculated that it
would. To prevent its execution runners were sent after him, who,
however, failed to find him, and nothing was known of the supposed
renegade for some time. But as Bridger passed through Pierre's Hole, on
his way to Green river to winter, he was surprised at Meek's appearance
in camp. He was soon invited to the lodge of the Booshways, and called
to account for his supposed apostacy.
Meek, for a time, would neither deny nor confess, but put on his free
trapper airs, and laughed in the face of the Booshways. Bridger, who
half suspected some trick, took the matter lightly, but Dripps was very
much annoyed, and made some threats, at which Meek only laughed the
more. Finally the certificate from their own trader, Jo Walker, was
produced, the new pack of furs surrendered, and Dripps' wrath turned
into smiles of approval.
Here again Meek parted company with the main camp, and went on an
expedition with seven other trappers, under John Larison, to the Salmon
River: but found the cold very severe on this journey, and the grass
scarce and poor, so that the company lost most of their horses.
On arriving at the Nez Perce village in the Forks of the Salmon, Meek
found the old chief _Kow-e-so-te_ full of the story of the missionaries
and their religion, and anxious to hear preaching. Reports were
continually arriving by the Indians, of the wonderful things which were
being taught by Mr. and Mrs. Spalding at Lapwai, on the Clearwater, and
at Waiilatpu, on the Walla-Walla River. It was now nearly two years
since these missions had been founded, and the number of converts among
the Nez Perces and Flatheads was already considerable.
Here was an opening for a theological student, such as Joe Meek was!
After some little assumption of modesty, Meek intimated that he thought
himself capable of giving instruction on religious subjects; and being
pressed by the chief, finally consented to preach to _Kow-e-so-te's_
people. Taking care first to hold a private council with his associates,
and binding them not to betray him, Meek preached his first sermon that
evening, going regularly through with the ordinary services of a
"meeting."
These services were repeated whenever the Indians seemed to desire it,
until Christmas. Then, the village being about to start upon a hunt, the
preacher took occasion to intimate to the chief that a wife would be an
agreeable present. To this, however, _Kow-e-so-te_ demurred, saying that
Spalding's religion did not permit men to have two wives: that the Nez
Perces had many of them given up their wives on this account; and that
therefore, since Meek already had one wife among the Nez Perces, he
could not have another without being false to the religion he professed.
To this perfectly clear argument Meek replied, that among white men, if
a man's wife left him without his consent, as his had done, he could
procure a divorce, and take another wife. Besides, he could tell him how
the Bible related many stories of its best men having several wives. But
_Kow-e-so-te_ was not easily convinced. He could not see how, if the
Bible approved of polygamy, Spalding should insist on the Indians
putting away all but one of their wives. "However," says Meek, "after
about two weeks' explanation of the doings of Solomon and David, I
succeeded in getting the chief to give me a young girl, whom I called
Virginia;--my present wife, and the mother of seven children."
After accompanying the Indians on their hunt to the Beaver-head country,
where they found plenty of buffalo, Meek remained with the Nez Perce
village until about the first of March, when he again intimated to the
chief that it was the custom of white men to pay their preachers.
Accordingly the people were notified, and the winter's salary began to
arrive. It amounted altogether to thirteen horses, and many packs of
beaver, beside sheep-skins and buffalo-robes; so that he "considered
that with his young wife, he had made a pretty good winter's work of
it."
In March he set out trapping again, in company with one of his comrades
named Allen, a man to whom he was much attached. They traveled along up
and down the Salmon, to Godin's River, Henry's Fork of the Snake, to
Pierre's Fork, and Lewis' Fork, and the Muddy, and finally set their
traps on a little stream that runs out of the pass which leads to
Pierre's Hole.
Leaving their camp one morning to take up their traps, they were
discovered and attacked by a party of Blackfeet just as they came near
the trapping ground. The only refuge at hand was a thicket of willows on
the opposite side of the creek, and towards this the trappers directed
their flight. Meek, who was in advance, succeeded in gaining the thicket
without being seen; but Allen stumbled and fell in crossing the stream,
and wet his gun. He quickly recovered his footing and crossed over; but
the Blackfeet had seen him enter the thicket, and came up to within a
short distance, yet not approaching too near the place where they knew
he was concealed. Unfortunately, Allen, in his anxiety to be ready for
defense, commenced snapping caps on his gun to dry it. The quick ears of
the savages caught the sound, and understood the meaning of it. Knowing
him to be defenceless, they plunged into the thicket after him, shooting
him almost immediately, and dragging him out still breathing to a small
prairie about two rods away.
And now commenced a scene which Meek was compelled to witness, and which
he declares nearly made him insane through sympathy, fear, horror, and
suspense as to his own fate. Those devils incarnate deliberately cut up
their still palpitating victim into a hundred pieces, each taking a
piece; accompanying the horrible and inhuman butchery with every
conceivable gesture of contempt for the victim, and of hellish delight
in their own acts.
Meek, who was only concealed by the small patch of willows, and a pit in
the sand hastily scooped out with his knife until it was deep enough to
lie in, was in a state of the most fearful excitement. All day long he
had to endure the horrors of his position. Every moment seemed an hour,
every hour a day, until when night came, and the Indians left the place,
he was in a high state of fever.
About nine o'clock that night he ventured to creep to the edge of the
little prairie, where he lay and listened a long time, without hearing
anything but the squirrels running over the dry leaves; but which he
constantly feared was the stealthy approach of the enemy. At last,
however, he summoned courage to crawl out on to the open ground, and
gradually to work his way to a wooded bluff not far distant. The next
day he found two of his horses, and with these set out alone for Green
River, where the American Company was to rendezvous. After twenty-six
days of solitary and cautious travel he reached the appointed place in
safety, having suffered fearfully from the recollection of the tragic
scene he had witnessed in the death of his friend, and also from
solitude and want of food.
The rendezvous of this year was at Bonneville's old fort on Green River,
and was the last one held in the mountains by the American Fur Company.
Beaver was growing scarce, and competition was strong. On the disbanding
of the company, some went to Santa Fe, some to California, others to the
Lower Columbia, and a few remained in the mountains trapping, and
selling their furs to the Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Hall. As to the
leaders, some of them continued for a few years longer to trade with the
Indians, and others returned to the States, to lose their fortunes more
easily far than they made them.
Of the men who remained in the mountains trapping, that year, Meek was
one. Leaving his wife at Fort Hall, he set out in company with a
Shawnee, named Big Jim, to take beaver on Salt River, a tributary of the
Snake. The two trappers had each his riding and his pack horse, and at
night generally picketed them all; but one night Big Jim allowed one of
his to remain loose to graze. This horse, after eating for some hours,
came back and laid down behind the other horses, and every now and then
raised up his head; which slight movement at length aroused Big Jim's
attention, and his suspicions also.
"My friend," said he in a whisper to Meek, "Indian steal our horses."
"Jump up and shoot," was the brief answer.
Jim shot, and ran out to see the result. Directly he came back saying:
"My friend, I shoot my horse; break him neck;" and Big Jim became
disconsolate over what his white comrade considered a very good joke.
The hunt was short and not very remunerative in furs. Meek soon returned
to Fort Hall; and when he did so, found his new wife had left that post
in company with a party under Newell, to go to Fort Crockett, on Green
River,--Newell's wife being a sister of Virginia's,--on learning which
he started on again alone, to join that party. On Bear River, he fell in
with a portion of that Quixotic band, under Farnham, which was looking
for paradise and perfection, something on the Fourier plan, somewhere in
this western wilderness. They had already made the discovery in crossing
the continent, that perfect disinterestedness was lacking among
themselves; and that the nearer they got to their western paradise the
farther off it seemed in their own minds.
Continuing his journey alone, soon after parting from Farnham, he lost
the hammer of his gun, which accident deprived him of the means of
subsisting himself, and he had no dried meat, nor provisions of any
kind. The weather, too, was very cold, increasing the necessity for food
to support animal heat. However, the deprivation of food was one of the
accidents to which mountain-men were constantly liable, and one from
which he had often suffered severely; therefore he pushed on, without
feeling any unusual alarm, and had arrived within fifteen miles of the
fort before he yielded to the feeling of exhaustion, and laid down
beside the trail to rest. Whether he would ever have finished the
journey alone he could not tell; but fortunately for him, he was
discovered by Jo Walker, and Gordon, another acquaintance, who chanced
to pass that way toward the fort.
Meek answered their hail, and inquired if they had anything to eat.
Walker replied in the affirmative, and getting down from his horse,
produced some dried buffalo meat which he gave to the famishing trapper.
But seeing the ravenous manner in which he began to eat, Walker inquired
how long it had been since he had eaten anything.
"Five days since I had a bite."
"Then, my man, you can't have any more just now," said Walker, seizing
the meat in alarm lest Meek should kill himself.
"It was hard to see that meat packed away again," says Meek in relating
his sufferings, "I told Walker that if my gun had a hammer I'd shoot and
eat him. But he talked very kindly, and helped me on my horse, and we
all went on to the Fort."
At Fort Crockett were Newell and his party, the remainder of Farnham's
party, a trading party under St. Clair, who owned the fort, Kit Carson,
and a number of Meek's former associates, including Craig and Wilkins.
Most of these men, Othello-like, had lost their occupation since the
disbanding of the American Fur Company, and were much at a loss
concerning the future. It was agreed between Newell and Meek to take
what beaver they had to Fort Hall, to trade for goods, and return to
Fort Crockett, where they would commence business on their own account
with the Indians.
Accordingly they set out, with one other man belonging to Farnham's
former adherents. They traveled to Henry's Fork, to Black Fork, where
Fort Bridger now is, to Bear River, to Soda Springs, and finally to Fort
Hall, suffering much from cold, and finding very little to eat by the
way. At Fort Hall, which was still in charge of Courtenay Walker, Meek
and Newell remained a week, when, having purchased their goods and
horses to pack them, they once more set out on the long, cold journey to
Fort Crockett. They had fifteen horses to take care of and only one
assistant, a Snake Indian called Al. The return proved an arduous and
difficult undertaking. The cold was very severe; they had not been able
to lay in a sufficient stock of provisions at Fort Hall, and game there
was none, on the route. By the time they arrived at Ham's Fork the only
atom of food they had left was a small piece of bacon which they had
been carefully saving to eat with any poor meat they might chance to
find.
The next morning after camping on Ham's Fork was stormy and cold, the
snow filling the air; yet Snake Al, with a promptitude by no means
characteristic of him, rose early and went out to look after the horses.
"By that same token," said Meek to Newell, "Al has eaten the bacon." And
so it proved, on investigation. Al's uneasy conscience having acted as a
goad to stir him up to begin his duties in season. On finding his
conjecture confirmed, Meek declared his intention, should no game be
found before next day night, of killing and eating Al, to get back the
stolen bacon. But Providence interfered to save Al's bacon. On the
following afternoon the little party fell in with another still smaller
but better supplied party of travelers, comprising a Frenchman and his
wife. These had plenty of fat antelope meat, which they freely parted
with to the needy ones, whom also they accompanied to Fort Crockett.
It was now Christmas; and the festivities which took place at the Fort
were attended with a good deal of rum drinking, in which Meek, according
to his custom, joined, and as a considerable portion of their stock in
trade consisted of this article, it may fairly be presumed that the home
consumption of these two "lone traders" amounted to the larger half of
what they had with so much trouble transported from Fort Hall. In fact,
"times were bad enough" among the men so suddenly thrown upon their own
resources among the mountains, at a time when that little creature,
which had made mountain life tolerable, or possible, was fast being
exterminated.
To make matters more serious, some of the worst of the now unemployed
trappers had taken to a life of thieving and mischief which made enemies
of the friendly Indians, and was likely to prevent the better disposed
from enjoying security among any of the tribes. A party of these
renegades, under a man named Thompson, went over to Snake River to steal
horses from the Nez Perces. Not succeeding in this, they robbed the
Snake Indians of about forty animals, and ran them off to the Uintee,
the Indians following and complaining to the whites at Fort Crockett
that their people had been robbed by white trappers, and demanding
restitution.
According to Indian law, when one of a tribe offends, the whole tribe is
responsible. Therefore if whites stole their horses they might take
vengeance on any whites they met, unless the property was restored. In
compliance with this well understood requisition of Indian law, a party
was made up at Fort Crockett to go and retake the horses, and restore
them to their rightful owners. This party consisted of Meek, Craig,
Newell, Carson, and twenty-five others, under the command of Jo Walker.
The horses were found on an island in Green River, the robbers having
domiciled themselves in an old fort at the mouth of the Uintee. In order
to avoid having a fight with the renegades, whose white blood the
trappers were not anxious to spill, Walker made an effort to get the
horses off the island undiscovered. But while horses and men were
crossing the river on the ice, the ice sinking with them until the water
was knee-deep, the robbers discovered the escape of their booty, and
charging on the trappers tried to recover the horses. In this effort
they were not successful; while Walker made a masterly flank movement
and getting in Thompson's rear, ran the horses into the fort, where he
stationed his men, and succeeded in keeping the robbers on the outside.
Thompson then commenced giving the horses away to a village of Utes in
the neighborhood of the fort, on condition that they should assist in
retaking them. On his side, Walker threatened the Utes with dire
vengeance if they dared interfere. The Utes who had a wholesome fear not
only of the trappers, but of their foes the Snakes, declined to enter
into the quarrel. After a day of strategy, and of threats alternated
with arguments, strengthened by a warlike display, the trappers marched
out of the fort before the faces of the discomfitted thieves, taking
their booty with them, which was duly restored to the Snakes on their
return to Fort Crockett, and peace secured once more with that people.
Still times continued bad. The men not knowing what else to do, went out
in small parties in all directions seeking adventures, which generally
were not far to find. On one of these excursions Meek went with a party
down the canyon of Green River, on the ice. For nearly a hundred miles
they traveled down this awful canyon without finding but one place where
they could have come out; and left it at last at the mouth of the
Uintee.
This passed the time until March. Then the company of Newell and Meek
was joined by Antoine Rubideau, who had brought goods from Santa Fe to
trade with the Indians. Setting out in company, they traded along up
Green River to the mouth of Ham's fork, and camped. The snow was still
deep in the mountains, and the trappers found great sport in running
antelope. On one occasion a large herd, numbering several hundreds, were
run on to the ice, on Green River, where they were crowded into an air
hole, and large numbers slaughtered only for the cruel sport which they
afforded.
But killing antelope needlessly was not by any means the worst of
amusements practiced in Rubideau's camp. That foolish trader occupied
himself so often and so long in playing _Hand_, (an Indian game,) that
before he parted with his new associates he had gambled away his goods,
his horses, and even his wife; so that he returned to Santa Fe much
poorer than nothing--since he was in debt.
On the departure of Rubideau, Meek went to Fort Hall, and remained in
that neighborhood, trapping and trading for the Hudson's Bay Company,
until about the last of June, when he started for the old rendezvous
places of the American Companies, hoping to find some divisions of them
at least, on the familiar camping ground. But his journey was in vain.
Neither on Green River or Wind River, where for ten years he had been
accustomed to meet the leaders and their men, his old comrades in
danger, did he find a wandering brigade even. The glory of the American
companies was departed, and he found himself solitary among his long
familiar haunts.
With many melancholy reflections, the man of twenty-eight years of age
recalled how, a mere boy, he had fallen half unawares into the kind of
life he had ever since led amongst the mountains, with only other men
equally the victims of circumstance, and the degraded savages, for his
companions. The best that could be made of it, such life had been and
must be constantly deteriorating to the minds and souls of himself and
his associates. Away from all laws, and refined habits of living; away
from the society of religious, modest, and accomplished women; always
surrounded by savage scenes, and forced to cultivate a taste for
barbarous things--what had this life made of him? what was he to do with
himself in the future?
Sick of trapping and hunting, with brief intervals of carousing, he felt
himself to be. And then, even if he were not, the trade was no longer
profitable enough to support him. What could he do? where could he go?
He remembered his talk with Mrs. Whitman, that fair, tall, courteous,
and dignified lady who had stirred in him longings to return to the
civilized life of his native state. But he felt unfit for the society of
such as she. Would he ever, could he ever attain to it now? He had
promised her he might go over into Oregon and settle down. But could he
settle down? Should he not starve at trying to do what other men,
mechanics and farmers, do? And as to learning, he had none of it; there
was no hope then of "living by his wits," as some men did--missionaries
and artists and school teachers, some of whom he had met at the
rendezvous. Heigho! to be checkmated in life at twenty-eight, that would
never do.
At Fort Hall, on his return, he met two more missionaries and their
wives going to Oregon, but these four did not affect him pleasantly; he
had no mind to go with them. Instead, he set out on what proved to be
his last trapping expedition, with a Frenchman, named Mattileau. They
visited the old trapping grounds on Pierre's Fork, Lewis' Lake,
Jackson's River, Jackson's Hole, Lewis River and Salt River: but beaver
were scarce; and it was with a feeling of relief that, on returning by
way of Bear River, Meek heard from a Frenchman whom he met there, that
he was wanted at Fort Hall, by his friend Newell, who had something to
propose to him.
[Illustration: CASTLE ROCK.]